Was the demo with your Nova & Olympica 2s or do you have another system? Can I ask what cables they were? I would never be in the market for cables at that price but would be genuinely curious to hear what effect they might have on an appropriately high end and transparent set up.
If you have a dedicated spur for mains, which is a cable, did you find it improved sound in any way?
I have a dedicated spur because it runs to my log cabin listening room at the top of my garden so I canāt honestly say. What I can say is that the outdoor cable is shielded and grounded. Maybe Iām relatively unique in having a shielded 45m spur and that might explain why my system sounds better than I ever imagined it would. Maybe there is someone who can help out with the science of this.
What I will say is that my Nait5si in the house is not on a dedicated spur but again sounds better than it has the right to imo so maybe my mains is particularly clean. My substation is less than 200m from the house and the main power station for my town is about 1000m away. Perhaps this is a factor but I honestly donāt know.
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The quality of power certainly has a bearing on sound as we all know - I pushed this even further by putting a dedicated transformer in place (on a dedicated spur) which had a very profound impact on the sound of my system. Donāt ask me why - I do not understand this stuff. I just trust my ears 
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I have a similar power config as I too have my listening room in a Cabin at the bottom of the garden, with its own dedicated feed off the houseās main consumer unit.
However, we live in the middle of bl@@dy know here and miles from generating sources and substations.
My system also sounds terrific. Using NACA5 to speakers and an expensive Van Den Hul RCA interconnect from Phono to NAC 202. All the connections between PSās and Amps being standard āin the boxā Naim cables.
I believe, because both my wife and I heard the difference first hand, that the Tellurium Q Black Diamond interconnect would be an improvement on my Van Den Hul, but not enough for me to reach into my pocket at this time.
The point of this rambling message is, power and cable CAN make a difference. I guess the real question is, is that difference worth the Ā£ās. To some it is, to others not so much. Peoples views are as different as their audible perceptions, so there is no single right or wrong answer here.
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So instead of expecting the manufacturer provide evidence that their claim was true, youād splash out Ā£5k to run a totally subjective, uncontrolled trial?
Am I on the only person here who thinks this approach might be just a tiny bit flawed?
With respect James and Iām in no way taking sides, I think this whole debate is flawed.
Perception in any sense (taste, touch, hearing etc) is entirely individual and unquantifiable.
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Well no - youād listen and if you like what you hear youād purchase (or not).
Why is this so complicated? 
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I think you may be addressing the wrong person. Iām not the one who has an agenda here, I was just making a comment 
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I bought it because I liked the way it looked and it was ex-demo and thus affordable (to me anyway).
Butā¦this is a fair point but an unfair comparison. Turntables are mechanical devices and manufactures do indeed provide specifications such as rumble, wow and flutter. So if a company said āour design transfers the least noise and provides the most stable platform for analogue playbackā or some such, Iād expect them to back that up with some numbers.
Because without numbers, how can they possible know that these things are even remotely true?
If you canāt show it, you donāt know it.
Iām not even sure any of the stuff that matters to emotional connection with the way music is delivered is scientifically measurable for a variety of reasons.
Just listen and enjoy or move on 
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Sorry mate, I should have put it as a general replyšš¼
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They were in the other demo room with a set of Focal Utopias. The cables were Transparent Audio.
TA cables are interesting because they contain actual filters within their design. They literally colour the sound. If I remember correctly they round off the highs a bit, which people like. You can build your own set for about Ā£10 and some solderingā¦
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I think that the idea that cables colour the sound and if you like the way they do it (others may not) then you might buy them. How much they like it and what they can afford might determine how much they spend. If that āinvestmentā achieves a result then they are happy. The same goes for cables that solve a problem. Iām comfortable with that.
In fact itās similar to the way that some prefer the Naim sound and others do not. Some prefer the 500 series sound whilst others the Olive. Sounds like the debate is just the same as any other hifi debate.
This may well be true, but the āidealā audiophile setup is meant to be audibly transparent. If cables really do colour the sound, then running a simple frequency sweep through them would instantly reveal where they are attenuating the signal. When someone tells me that their fancy new cables āreveal more bass, and give the highs a smooth, cultured feelā or some other magazine guff, I wonder if they realise that what they are saying would be easy to test. Like, really really easy.
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So you based your decision on looks and relative affordability - or at least a discount - not measurements (that the manufacturer doesnāt appear to have provided in any case). So, youāll happily invest ā000ās based upon aesthetics and price?
You canāt then decide that cables are uniquely different and require a certificate.
I am sorry Dave but your reply makes no sense whatsoever. And the manufacturer does provide a spec sheet with this turntable, with supposedly measured values for wow and flutter etc.
My reply was just totally honest: I am fully aware that I have paid Ā£Ā£Ā£ for something that looks nice in my listening room, and I am happy to say that rather than make outlandish claims for which there is no evidence.
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Only repeating what you had said.
Nothing wrong with buying something because you just happen to like it.
Itās difficult to say but I belief in total itās a bit more than 30k. And in most cases so significant that itās well worth the price. But on a total system value of about 200K it should be an ok balanceā¦
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That depends on what you are claiming to like about something. If you like the colour of your car because you like the colour, then fine. But if you like it because it ācreates a smoother airflow around critical areas, improving the steering feel and reducing cabin noiseā but you had no evidence at all that simply changing the colour could make those differences, then sorry but has moved the discussion into a different place.