Fremer does reviews and anecdotes (and this whole thing was an anecdote) whose sole purpose is to demonstrate how fantastically discriminating he is. He's a toxic mix of insecurity and ego. Fascinating from a psychological point of view. Not so fascinating otherwise.
I would modify that a bit. Your observation that his purpose is to demonstrate an ersatz aural discrimination is spot on, but it is not his 'sole' purpose. In addition to the ego thing, he exists as part of the 'marketing arm' of the high-end mafia. That is, magazines such as
Stereophile exist to sell ads for gear (and support dealers--what few of those are left). Fremer and his colleagues are the means by which this can be done. Also, from a personal point, it's a good way for him to keep the freebies coming, and probably helps pay his bills.
Of course this little episode isn't going to really help sell gear. It might help in selling a few 'power conditioners', but the neurotic audiophile isn't likely going to call up an electrician and have his house rewired. So Fremer's not helping out the trade.
Next, you are also correct that it's a function of a weird 'mix of insecurity and ego'. I would not call that 'fascinating', however, but grotesque. Anyone who has read in print (or witnessed in public) his past episodes of wild and outrageous behavior realizes that there is something pretty loosey-goosey going on with him. His wild rants in letters to Peter Aczel (and confronting him in public when, through ignorance of language, he thought Aczel had called him a homosexual), and his threatening to sue minor Internet blogger Art Salvatore for libel, are examples of that. Your description of 'toxic' is noted.
As far as this latest bit of Fremerism? Essentially, he's recycling nonsense from years back. You can call Fremer a lot of things, but you can't ever call him unique or inventive. The first person I ever read that thought all this ancillary electrical stuff was important was a writer for Harry Pearson's old rag, the
Absolute Sound. That was Enid Lumely. I've mentioned her before, but at the time I thought Enid was Harry writing under a pseudonym as a way to make a humorous statement about the often overblown idiocy of the 'high-end'. Until I realized that Enid was a real person, who was serious in her beliefs, and also that Harry was totally humorless. In fact, a lot of 'reviewers' don't seem to have much of a sense of humor, and if you call them on what they write, they often react very angrily.
