Until my enthousiastic high-end shop owner demonstrated that even the type of connects he used to link speakers to the speaker wire make a difference (he replaced the banana plugs with spades).

I'm not saying I'm skeptical of things like proper interconnects in analog gear, especially in your particular example. It makes perfect sense that the more solid the connection of the speakers to the amp, the more accurate the sound will be. This is well known in all audio circles, not just home and car audio. I've done a bit of work with sound support for live rock 'n roll performances, and I know how important things like wire gauge and good plugs can be in preventing problems. In fact, invariably, the interconnects are always the weak link in the chain and are the first things you check when something goes wrong.

But that's all talking about things which carry the actual analog signal of the sound.

What I'm skeptical about is that a vibration-damping pad under a CD player can improve the soundstage. Unless there is something wrong with the CD player which the pad corrects (or unless you set the CD player directly atop a subwoofer or directly in front of your speakers), then there should be absolutely no difference in the digital bytes which reach the DACs, whether the pad is present or not. The only thing that matters are: (a) that the bytes reach the DACs undamaged, (b) how good the DACs are at turning the bytes into analog signals, and (c) what happens to the analog signal after the DACs are done making it.

(Side note: I'm enjoying our little debate here, and it seems to be staying pretty civilized. I hope that the fact some of us disagree on this point isn't a problem, because I really respect the minds and opinions of everyone participating.)

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Tony Fabris