If we lavish more attention onto the equipment we interface with the most, as discussed in yesterday's post, what does that say about our holistic approach to the system?
Unless we start from scratch, and few do, we rarely take a holistic approach to systems analysis. It's been my experience that systems are built over time, rarely curated as a whole like they used to be. The net affect of building and upgraded a system on a piecemeal basis can be both good and bad. We hear about the latest this or that, replace what we have been using with the new and if it's better, it stays, worse it goes. It's the same problem a reviewer has. Every piece of kit the reviewer reports to you on is inserted into a system that may or may not enjoy a synergistic relationship. Thus, judgment is made on a less than optimal basis. Yet, how could they do otherwise?
I remember years ago a dealer in Los Angeles called Jonas Miller. Miller was famous for curating synergistic systems. He would start with a pair of loudspeakers and work backwards to power them perfectly, add the proper preamplifier and source. I can remember Jonas refusing to sell products piecemeal. A good friend of ours at the time had heard about a new piece of gear he was excited about and drove the four hours from Santa Maria California to Los Angeles to buy it from Jonas Miller. Miller grilled him on its use and, in the end, sent him home empty handed because he felt it wouldn't enjoy any synergy.
Times have changed, certainly, and there's no practical way to take a holistic approach to systems without wholesale removal and replacement of the entire system. And, who would curate the system for you?
Tomorrow let's continue with the piecemeal method and see where it leads us.
