When Art Dudley comments upon the quality of parts in a piece of electronics, I take notice. Herb Reichert who evidently had a history of repairing electronics does this too.
I understand your point with loudspeakers and cables. I particularly shake my head at people who buy loudspeakers with their eyeyballs-looking for futuristic driver materials and cabinet shapes. But at the other extreme-call me what you will-but I reject certain speakers with my eyeballs too-Tektons in particular. Even if they sound as great as reported, I don't want those ugly things in my house.
We all make value judgments. A Rolex and an IWC may have the same cost and virtually every horology enthusiast will tell you that the IWC has the more costly movement contained inside, and yet the Rolex has more cache' and some take more joy out of having a well-known status symbol whereas the IWC is not going to be noticed for what it is except by watch enthusiasts.
As a Garrard 301 owner, let's talk about plinths. That is a DIY type of thing. But even a pretty handy guy like Art Dudley's can't build a plinth for his Thorens and Garrard that looks nearly as nice as some specialists. Does it sound just as good? That is an open question. Plinths need to be tuned (IMHO) to the motor unit. A Thorens TD124 will sound best in an open plinth-again IMHO-whereas a Garrard 301 needs a very dense-but not too dense-plinth, preferably of cherry wood. You can spend $4000 with an Artisan Fidelity plinth, 3200 on a plinth by Steve Dobbins, and $400 on a nice looking plinth from Hungary. The cost of the wood is not much. It is the labor and expertise you pay for-and you pretty much get what you pay for.
I understand your point with loudspeakers and cables. I particularly shake my head at people who buy loudspeakers with their eyeyballs-looking for futuristic driver materials and cabinet shapes. But at the other extreme-call me what you will-but I reject certain speakers with my eyeballs too-Tektons in particular. Even if they sound as great as reported, I don't want those ugly things in my house.
We all make value judgments. A Rolex and an IWC may have the same cost and virtually every horology enthusiast will tell you that the IWC has the more costly movement contained inside, and yet the Rolex has more cache' and some take more joy out of having a well-known status symbol whereas the IWC is not going to be noticed for what it is except by watch enthusiasts.
As a Garrard 301 owner, let's talk about plinths. That is a DIY type of thing. But even a pretty handy guy like Art Dudley's can't build a plinth for his Thorens and Garrard that looks nearly as nice as some specialists. Does it sound just as good? That is an open question. Plinths need to be tuned (IMHO) to the motor unit. A Thorens TD124 will sound best in an open plinth-again IMHO-whereas a Garrard 301 needs a very dense-but not too dense-plinth, preferably of cherry wood. You can spend $4000 with an Artisan Fidelity plinth, 3200 on a plinth by Steve Dobbins, and $400 on a nice looking plinth from Hungary. The cost of the wood is not much. It is the labor and expertise you pay for-and you pretty much get what you pay for.