This reminds me of an effect I’ve noticed in my listening room. If I’m playing material that has some sounds that are hard left or right in the mix, the apparent location of the sound will vary based on where I’m looking. If I’m looking directly at the speaker that’s making the sound, it appears to emanate from the speaker. If my visual attention is elsewhere, like paging through a magazine, the sound almost always seems to come from farther outboard than the speaker. It’s a pretty wild phenomenon, and at least in my case, 100% repeatable.
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I experience the same thing in my room.
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I have similar experiences but in my case, it’s when I close my eyes. I can exaggerate the experience by also tipping my head back.
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Kind of a lurker 'round here, but as a career engineer afflicted by logic, you’ve hit a point I might have spouted off myself years ago. I did get over things like the “wires make no difference” hurdle quickly, but I’ve had more than a few costly experiences where the investment did not flip that proverbial switch to my dismay.
Stranger still, I’ve had cases where I’d buy into a new brand of speaker cable and be thrilled at the instant improvement I was hearing. Now clearly biased, I enthusiastically buy the matching interconnects to start completing the loom and suddenly end up with an unlistenable system. I’d be gobsmacked if someone could prove to me that I was predisposed to that outcome.
This is why I’d never start upgrading any analog/power cable piecemeal until I’ve auditioned as much of the loom as I one day plan on buying.
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Revisiting this tour de force of a thread, that makes bashing your head against a wall seem like the preferred option, it has one positive outcome.
I only own one pair of RCA cables, 0.5m long, not much use given my phono stage as of Tuesday is now 0.8m from my integrated amplifier. So a call to Dr Sean Jacobs and about $300 + $10 next day delivery later I shall be able to listen to some records this weekend. As @Rob_W would consider me an audiophile, this represents a saving of some $9,690 on what I might be expected to spend for 1m interconnects. I assume that if you spend $10,000 on interconnects they don’t charge for delivery. I suspect @aangen can confirm.
I actually drive six hours one way to pick mine up. I usually spend on average, $40k each visit. Shipping costs would save me a lot of money!!
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Very commendable. I presume your dealer doesn’t go on cruises because he has a yacht.
The dealer I’ve used most does very high value business, but delivers and installs everything personally, whether for demo or sale, 5 miles in a car or the first plane to Dubai. He does sell $10,000 cables, just not to me.
You wouldn’t hear the difference. I can and do hear it.
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Al’s dealer is the one playing the Piano in the picture. George is a classical pianist and he knows about music. He is also a professor at DePaul University.
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Now what’s his side job?
Audio.
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And when travelling: business or pleasure? 
Somewhat sadly, pleasure.
Good for him, wait til he gets home for me.
But I am fully equipped now so we are mostly just very good friends.
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Definitively not in the same league as most of us.
Then again no reason for envy or jealousy. Happy Life everyone!
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He probably has a Steinway on his yacht.
In the lower leagues the chances of the management getting sacked are lower, in the Premier League you get judged weekly. As I’m the management, I’m happy where I am, largely immune to criticism from the powers-that-be.
Meanwhile, my new 1m interconnect arrived $10,000 less $9,690 discount. First thing, it gets redressed from bright blue to something matching the wallpaper behind, terminated with some electrical tape. This is my level of sophistication. Another $10 spent on audio.
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Whilst I happily avoided any sort of management (of people), I also completely ignored hierarchy of any sort - worked well for me for 20 years!
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I was happy to be a manager in charge of some big construction projects, but I am much happier to be a retiree now. 
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I am the designer, financial advisor and ceo of choosing components for my stereo system, and I’m not doing a good job
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Give yourself a raise, and a bonus while you’re at it.
I approve.
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Does the financial advisor report to a CFO? For me that’s how I stay out of deep, deep trouble.
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