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Monday, April 15, 2013

Sour Grapes


Scott sent me a link to this really fancy and really expensive stereo. I took one look at it and rejected it as a possible addition to my domicile. One, it sits on a pedestal with a big fat foot print. That flat plate at the bottom is going to be a dust catcher. I hate dust catchers. Plus, if it includes the two inch thick platform underneath the flat plate, it's going to be a toe stubber as well. Two, the lid folds up, which means that anytime you want to use it, you have to open it, which means you will have to move the all the stuff that people have set down on top of it because, hey, look, a handy flat spot to set things on. Three, the unprotected speaker cones right in front, right at toddler eye level, a target for a stick if I ever saw one. Four, tubes sticking up through a fake chassis panel. In real electronics, the sockets are mounted in the panel and the entire tube is visible, not just the part that someone thinks (erroneously) is visually appealing.
    That panel is seductive, if you ignore the nonsensical construction.


But where are the labels for the knobs? You mean I have to remember what each of the four knobs is for? That's really, I dunno, stupid? Arrogant? Pretentious? Jerks. I would never buy this stereo. And the $26,000 price tag has nothing to with it. Right, Chucky, tell us another one.

4 comments:

Ole Phat Stu said...

The 'platform' may hold an exponential sub-woofer :-)

I have a friend George who is a hifi freak. He has a raised floor containing an exponential horn sub-woofer. Boy does that thing have a dynamic range! First you hear nothing at all, then Bruce Springsteen kicks in and smokes your socks off! :-)

Lloyd said...

Did you notice, all the screw heads line up!!!

Roberta X said...

But the VU meters are kinda cheap. Aligned screw heads or ANSI-spec meters, which matters more?

Chuck Pergiel said...

I think the lined up screw heads mean that the builders are more concerned with appearance here than function, which would explain the cheap VU meters. They picked them because they looked cool, they aren't going to affect the sound. But I wonder about the screw heads. Did they do that deliberately? Or is it an artifact of CNC machining?