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Re: Tinkerers who insult engineers and scientists alike rejoice!

About 20 odd years ago after a trade show on LI, I bought the demo pair of McIntosh ML-1C speakers they had used for a couple of hundred bucks. I think they actually retailed for about $400 each. In discussing them with a McIntosh rep some years later, he told me that manufacturing the special wood millwork and special extruded plastic piece which constitutes the front grill would have cost more at that time than the whole speaker system retailed for originally. Looking at it, I can believe it. Functionally, it is no better than the 50 cent masonite and linen grillcloth I just removed from an AR2a. Nice to look at but from a user's point of view, needlessly expensive useless gingerbread. A lot of high end audio equipment has that in common. I was amazed at the VTV show how much of that there was, especially those fancy front panels with just two or three knobs on it.

As for tinerers (being one at times in audio myself), I am not saying that they cannot come up with superior products, even better than those which are carefully engineered. But that result is usually the product of hit and miss trial and error efforts and because the underlying principles which make them superior are usually not understood even by the tinkerer himself, he cannot generally exptrapolate his success and refine its essence. Each successful model is a "one off" event. OTOH, while lucky unexpected accidents do happen, science and engineering are systematic processes of investigation, determination of concrete facts, and tested results. It is also notable that the products of tinkering are often inferior to mass market products but because of the enthusiasm of the tinkerer himself and his close friends and relatives, they are initially hyped far beyond their actual worth. And of course, hobbyist publications in which they are advertised or those just looking for new products to review and use to maintain interest among their subscribers are not unwilling to show unwarranted enthusiasm for ho hum products as well. Why else would every new monthly issue review equipment which "kills everything else" on the market up to that time.

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