The story is well over a year old, longer since Ken's death, the recorded interviews, several years. He built what he thought would sound best within a generous budget for any home system. He appeared to have a large vinyl collection, and his playback equipment was the most customized of the components. The room is what seems least discussed except that the ceiling is a copy of a concert hall ceiling in Osaka, Japan and the walls are concrete (this all built not-so-harmoniously onto a pretty ordinary-looking mid-60s tract house in an ordinary-looking suburb with dowdy landscaping.) From the looks of things, Ken's efforts seemed to stay in the listening room. The splendor, if you can call it that, ended there.
People find ways to enjoy their money, or at least seem to try. Sometimes it brings satisfaction and pleasure, the interview suggested he got some from his efforts, but maybe not all he wanted. The quest vs the arrival and all. Like so many hobbies, the pleasure is in the journey more than the product.
If you appreciate fine woodworking, there is a remarkable tool case built by an American master piano maker Mr. H.O. Studley. It is now displayed in a museum in Massachusetts. The case was his own work built for himself, and is a masterpiece of organization. It is at once a display of his extraordinary woodworking skill, decorating finesse and mental organization. It cannot have been made all of a piece, but as a meticulous process of layered organization, measurement, trial-and-error and a deep knowledge of materials and craft. Although it looks finished, you have to wonder whether it ever really was done.
Ken stopped for illness, but I wonder whether he was done.
