Lazy, or sensible?
One of the emerging trends I am seeing is the desire of people to have someone else build their systems for them so that they don’t have to do the work. This being despite the fact that there is a vast amount of information ‘out there’ which should – in theory – enable most people to put together a system compromising disparate components that might all work together.
Arguably then, the era of the pre-made system is coming back into vogue. If correct (and I'm far from certain either way) then some might argue that this is the height of laziness and just goes to prove our society is crumbling. That’s a bit of a draconian view though surely? Society? Which society? The World or just the so-called audiophile society; presuming of course that such a loose association exists rather than being merely a delusion, illusion or whatever?
Audiophile fora is not, I repeat not a manifestation of the mooted ‘audiophile society’ – unless of course the unifying force, or common denominator if you prefer is that of discontentment and the occasional online bile from those who should know better!
However, I digress …
If I go out for a special meal, I want a highly trained chef to put it together for me. Why? Because he / she has, I like to believe, spent a career studying culinary arts, Thus my expectation is that the chef is significantly better than me at creating the food that I want to eat at that precise time. It’s fine for me to suggest I want some of this and some of that in (say) my Beef Rendang *** but then I need his / her expertise to assemble everything in a way that I'm just not capable of accomplishing, or perhaps too lazy to.
In the same way, I’ll bet I could put together a better system at a given price than most of my customers. Is that bragging? I don’t think so. I think it’s merely a reflection of 40 years of experience.
Congratulations
If you can assemble a state of the art high-end system on your own that you truly love, then congratulations to you. Yes, really. Not a facetious remark I have to say. So why my congratulations? Simply because so few of you out there in ‘civilian’ land can do this for yourselves. If you doubt me then just take a look at the vast and I do mean vast array of ‘hardly used and ‘near new’ current audio equipment for sale on eBay – from private buyers! My guess is that they built their own Beef Rendang’ – and failed.
All comments will be responded to by me. Thank you
MV
Please click HERE for more by Michael
*** Rendang is a spicy meat dish which originated from the Minangkabau ethnic group of Indonesia, and is now commonly served across the country. One of the characteristic foods of Minangkabau culture, it is served at ceremonial occasions and to honour guests. Rendang is also commonly served among the Malay community in Malaysia, and is also popular in Singapore, Brunei, the southern Philippines and southern Thailand. Rendang is traditionally prepared by the Indonesian and Malaysian community during festive occasions such as traditional ceremonies, wedding feasts, and Hari Raya (Eid al-Fitr). Culinary experts often describe Rendang as: 'West Sumatran caramelized beef curry'. In 2011 an online poll by 35,000 people held by CNN International chose Rendang as the number one dish of their 'World’s 50 Most Delicious Foods (Readers' Pick)' list. (From Wikipedia)
