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There's a difference between marketing and journalism

Please don't confuse these two issues, as they are totally and completely separate.

Journalism

When Stereophile in essence endorsed Austin's dismissal of a tweak without even trying it, they crossed a line and undermined the good work they have been building for over 40 years. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the IC or whether it works or not. The fact is that when there are consistent reports from credible sources that a tweak works, then it should be investigated in a fair fashion. If they test it and find it ineffective, that's fine. (They've done precisely that on many occasions.)

Stereophile crossed another line when Austin accused Kait of ripping people by selling them snake oil. The assertion was that Kait knew the IC was worthless and was just selling it to make money. While it is possible that was the case, Austin offered no evidence of this whatsoever. Furthermore, if Stereophile has decided that their mission is to protect their readers from false advertising claims, there are *far* more egregious examples of such, including ones where it is patently obvious that the claims are cynically made knowing that they are false.

Marketing

I am something of a student of the history of high end audio. I try to learn from the mistakes of others so that I don't have to repeat them. In my opinion, Kait made a big mistake in marketing the IC in the way that he did.

If you look at the history of all of the crazy tweaks ever offered in the marketplace, they pretty much are consigned to one of two fates:

a) Either they are eventually accepted; or,

b) They fade into obscurity as a failure.

Interestingly enough, virtually all tweaks fall into category "a" -- speaker cables, tip-toes, cable risers, LP treatments, CD treatments, cartridge demagnetizers, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Out of the thousands of tweaks invented, I can think of only three previous instances *ever* when tweaks have failed to eventually become accepted in our niche market:

1) The Tice "Magic Clock".
2) The Peter Belt tweaks.
3) Various tweaks offered by Peter Moncrieff (liquid coatings, etc.)

Looking at these, we can see that they all share one common characteristic -- their construction principles and operating mechanisms were not clearly explained by their inventors. The main reason for this was undoubtedly because it would have been far too easy and inexpensive for competitors to copy these ideas if the method of construction had been explained.

These three tweaks (out of the thousands that have been invented) must have failed for one of only two reasons:

a) They did not provide the actual benefit claimed. People tried them regardless of the validity of the marketing explanations, but found them not to operate effectively; or,

b) They did provide the actual benefit claimed, but without a credible story people were reluctant to purchase them fearing they were being taken advantage of. In other words, they didn't want to be like the crowds admiring the Emperor's new clothes only to be pointed out as fools later.

Given that there were many adherents of each of these three products, I suspect that the latter is the true reason for their failures in the marketplace. Students of marketing know that there are two main tools used to sell products -- sex (if you buy this product, you'll be more attractive to the opposite sex) and fear (if you don't buy this you won't be cool, or smart, or sophisticated, et cetera). In these three cases, one of the fundamental marketing principles was working directly *against* their success -- people were afraid that they would be seen as fools if they *did* buy it.

Kait unwittingly fell into this same trap. Based on history, I don't see how the IC could possibly be successful given the way Kait has marketed it. Please note that this has nothing to do with whether or not the thing actually works. Please also note that this has nothing to do with how Stereophile should judge products.


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