Originally posted by Steve Eddy at Audio Asylum Discussion Forum
Let me say that while I've been as skeptical and critical of the GSIC as anyone (and still am), I've always had the utmost respect for Wellfed. When he decided to take up the JREF challenge I let him know that I would support him in any way I could. He took me up on my offer and I've been following this whole saga both online at the JREF forums as well as via EMail and telephone conversations with Wellfed. So I'm not someone who's jumped into the fray here late in the game.
Having said that...
I read through all twenty pages of that thread and all I saw them doing is going out of their way to accomodate you and your waffling...over and over again. It was obviously something they had never done with anyone else before and I thought they were being quite patient with you. I thought for a minute they would have agreed to give you a gilded chair to sit on during the test if you'd asked. They started out very open minded and accomodating with you and it was only after you started the "I can't do THIS because of THAT" routine over and over that they began to loose patience with you. I'm amazed they played along as long as they did.
I don't know what you read, but after reading what I have (which encompasses several different threads on the Million Dollar Challenge forum), I concluded just the opposite.
In my opinion, KRAMER is an absolute prick who I think should have no business being involved in the challenge whatsoever. His role according to JREF is that of what they call a "facilitator." What a f*cking joke. "Antagonist" would be a much more suitable title.
And accommodating? I saw little or no evidence of that.
Right from the start they rejected the original protocol that Wellfed had proposed, without ever giving any particular reason for it so that any differences might be worked out.
Wellfed wanted to do the listening in his own home with his own system, which is the environment he'd been experiencing the differences all along. They didn't like that.
He also wanted to use the Walker Vivid on his discs, just as he'd been doing all along. They shot that down for no apparent reason.
And on and on.
And while this is going on, KRAMER persistently denegrated and insulted Wellfed.
The guy's a f*cking joke.
And in a post by KRAMER from yesterday, in a new thread regarding some new claimant, he wrote:
The strictest protocol will be in place for this test, based upon the original "Steven Howard Protocol" which was submitted by Mr. Anda and then, upon unconditional acceptance by Randi, withdrawn by the applicant for reasons that will, with any luck, forever remain a mystery.
This is just absolute bullsh*t. The only mystery here is how KRAMER can say this with a straight face.
Some time back, someone named Steven Howard posted a suggested protocol. Wellfed said that he liked the suggested protocol in general, but not entirely and wanted some slight changes made to it.
He sent KRAMER a paste of Steven Howard's protocol along with the changes he wanted made to it.
Then KRAMER posts that Randi had agreed to the Steven Howard protocol EXACTLY AS POSTED BY STEVEN HOWARD with NO changes or addenda.
When Wellfed said that that that's not what he had agreed to, KRAMER went on one of his smear campaigns against Wellfed, much as he does in what's quoted above, even though Wellfed was on record numerous times prior to this stating that he was only agreeable to the Steven Howard protocol WITH CHANGES.
I pointed this out on one of the threads and KRAMER instead of addressing the issue, went into this obfuscational, self-righteous indignation routine.
I found it rather ironic as his behavior was strikingly similar to that of frauds and charlatans when they're exposed for what they are.
He went into a similar self-righteous indignation routine when Wellfed requested that he have is own observer(s) for the test as if cheating on JREF's part was somehow an absolute impossibility.
ALL you had to do is try to identify whether a disk was treated or untreated. That's it...period...and you could have been an instant millionaire.
Not so simple.
They certainly didn't seem to me to be trying to deceive anyone. They were just trying to set down some solid ground rules and good controls, most obviously not to your liking.
Why should everything necessarily be to JREF's liking to the exclusion of Wellfed?
Look, Wellfed's claims with regard to his perceiving differneces with the Chip have only been within the context of the environemnt and conditions of his own home with his own system, etc.
All he's ever really wanted was to be able to do his listening under conditions as close to that as possible. Which I believe is a more than reasonable request and one in which I think there can be a suitable protocol to accommodate.
However JREF seems to want to make the conditions of his listening tests as different from those upon which he's made his claims as possible.
Bottom line I've little or no reason to believe that KRAMER and/or JREF are acting in good faith.
When Wellfed telephoned me last night and told me he was going to withdraw his claim, I understood completely why he would be compelled to do so.
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