When's the last time you went to the movies? Since my home theater was installed I haven't gone once, but I have seen a number of films. And watching those films fools you into believing the only ones that matter are the actors. If the director and crew have done their job then the stars of the film are all you see. The press and fans fawn over actors while the film crew go home and prepare for the next bit of work with little recognition.
Loudspeakers are like movie stars. We stare at them when listening to them. We fawn over them, we show them to our friends, we belong to their fan clubs, we read their latest reviews with eager anticipation, and we position them just so. Our favorites are the ones wearing the latest fashions: once natural wood, now shiny black dressed with a sock to hide what's beneath, and before that thin was in: tall, nearly bulimic panels with magnets and a see-through high voltage dress. Our love affair with loudspeakers is legendary and for good reason; they are the most important link the the music chain.
But like a great film with actors we adore, built by a crew of hundreds, the loudspeaker's a jealous starlett hiding behind the real masters of the craft responsible for its performance; those pieces that drive it.
No actor in Hollywood stands alone, and they know it, just as no loudspeakers performs without the second most important piece in the listening chain, the power amplifier; who humbly does its job day in and day out without proper recognition of its role in the making of music.
Let's work on bringing this shy 'second best' to center stage. Stay tuned.
