Pear Cable Chickens Out of $1,000,000 Challenge, We Search For Answers

When we first criticized the $7,250 Pear Anjou speaker cables, little did we know it would stir up such a hornet's nest of controversy. James Randi, former magician and professional debunker, responded to our post by offering $1 million from his James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) to anyone who could scientifically prove in double-blind testing that those exotic cables sound any better than run-of-the-mill Monster cables. Next, Pear Cable CEO Adam Blake stepped up, calling Randi's offer a hoax. Later, he announced that audiophile journalist Michael Fremer, senior contributing editor of Stereophile Magazine, was willing to undergo the double-blind testing in an attempt to prove there is difference between Pear Anjou cables and those Monster cables that cost about $7,100 less. Then, things got complicated. We interviewed James Randi, Michael Fremer and Pear CEO Adam Blake, trying to understand why this test may not even take place at all. More »

UPDATED: Journalist Accepts $1 Million Challenge: Do $7250 Cables Sound Better or Not?

Pear Cable, makers of the $7250 audio cables we showed you a couple of weeks ago, has accepted debunker James Randi's (pictured at left) challenge, where the former magician's JREF (James Randi Educational Foundation) promised $1 million if anyone could prove the difference between Pear cables and their Monster Cable equivalent. Today we received an answer to that challenge from Pear Audio CEO Adam Blake (pictured above right, the guy who called Randi's challenge a hoax), saying the double-blind tester will be Michael Fremer, a Stereophile Magazine writer whose work also appears on musicangle.com. More »

Pear Cable CEO Calls James Randi's $1 Million Offer a Hoax

Last week, magician and paranormal debunker James Randi (pictured above left) offered the makers of Pear speaker cables $1 million if they could prove in double-blind testing there was a difference between their $7,250 cables and ordinary Monster Cables. Now, Adam Blake (pictured above right), CEO and co-founder of Pear Cable, has called Randi's offer "a fake" and a "joke". We've contacted James Randi, asking if he'd like to get together with these Pear dudes for some double-blind testing. We've also contacted Adam Blake, asking if Pear planned to participate in Randi's double-blind test. After the jump, see the full text of Pear Cable's accusations that Randi's million-dollar offer is a hoax. We'll keep you posted if anyone responds. More »

James Randi Offers $1 Million If Audiophiles Can Prove $7250 Speaker Cables Are Better

Our rant about those $7,250 Pear Anjou speaker cables found its way to the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), and Randi offered $1 million to anyone who can prove those cables are any better than ordinary (and also overpriced) Monster Cables. Pointing out the absurd review by audiophile Dave Clark, who called the cables "danceable," Randi called it "hilarious and preposterous." He added that if the cables could do what their makers claimed, "they would be paranormal." More »