Is the placebo effect such a bad thing?

I got to thinking today when I finally got around to reading the coat hanger article. Link

As audiophiles we seek our own definitions of great sound. Even though all the analytical instruments in the world can show me there is no difference between a coat hanger and a premium speaker wire; I will still know that there is a damn coat hanger connecting my $2800 amp to my equally as lucrative speakers.

Maybe it is my secret desire to spend more and more on audio. But I think that it is my subconscious holding onto some sliver of hope that audio manufactures know what they are doing and that there is a reason why this has cost me so much over the years.

It is the same reason that my mom and dad (bless their hearts) still love their Bose 201's from the 80's. They would laugh at you if you told them there was better out there. They've heard my meticulously arranged system, but they still praise their 201's. Because they think they are the best sounding. So to them they are the best sounding.

Something inside me is in plain denial. Because if a coat hanger can sound like oxygen injected treated and shielded copper wire, then what separates my top of the line Harman Kardon from a entry-level Sony? Its all conductive metals at the end of the day? It simply doesn't make sense. More money has to equal more R&D. And more R&D has to equal better sound quality. I simply won't admit to anything otherwise.

If I haven't made my point clear enough. Listening shouldn't be about what graphs and statistics tell us we should like. It should be about what we like. And if the placebo effect of expensive cables, expensive amps, expensive speakers, and expensive line conditioners, can help me trick myself into thinking it all sounds fantastic; then let it. Ignorance is bliss.