Audio geekery
My brother was visiting over the weekend andâas often happens on such occasionsâwe ended up in an expensive hi-fi shop, promising ourselves that we were ‘just looking’. As we browsed the various gorgeous and ruinously expensive bits of equipment on the shelves, the following exchange took place between us:
Brother: I know it sounds a bit pervy, but come and twiddle this selection knob! Me [twiddling a huge, solid aluminium knob on a Musical Fidelity amp]: Ooo, nice. Do you think we can just buy the knob mounted on a bit of aluminium?
We are truly sad people.
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It's also going to sound a bit strange, but I wish more people would design things to feel nice. Plenty of thought goes into the look of objects, but rarely as much into how they feel to hold or use.
There ought to be a name for it - tactile design, or something.----- Nope, doesn't sound strange at all. It's very hard to describe, but that Musical Fidelity knob didn't go 'click' or 'clunk', but it was more like a damped 'thonk' (not 'thunk'). Very satisfying.
It also looks great and sounds even better. (I have an absurd fantasy that Musical Fidelity might read this and be so chuffed that I appreciated their tactile design--not a bad term--that they give me one of their amps for free. Heh.)
by bsag @ 07/07/2003 9:07 pm • Permalink •
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Tactile feel is so important for things. That, in the end, is what got me onto Macs. iBooks just scream "Hey! Come here! Don't I just look so touchable?!" And... they are!
I envy you, though. I've never had a knob that felt nice to twiddle. At the very least my coffee machine has buttons that feel nice to press.
by Nathan Ladd @ 08/07/2003 4:07 am • Permalink •
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When I was buying my first stereo, I did all the research, then bought something completely different because it looked/felt 'solid'. That was 30 years ago and the amp still runs every day
It's a Marantz 1060 btw and cost �110. The Thorens TD160 record deck, which then cost �55, bit the dust way back but had an Empire 1000 cartridge fitted to the unit. When I went to replace the stylus, I was told it would be �30! I'd clearly bought a bargain.
The 56lb solid teak Tannoy speakers eventually went to Japan, where they love 15" concentric eardrum-bursters mounted in real wood! They were replaced by B&O;RL45s - cleaner sound but don't pick up CB/radio ham messages ...
by Mr.D. @ 08/07/2003 7:07 am • Permalink •
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This has reminded me that I still need to find somewhere that sells the perfectly weighted forks that a friend has. Spindly and delicate looking, but very dense - never felt anything like them.
by Howie @ 08/07/2003 8:07 am • Permalink •
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Howie - try the silver vaults in Chancery Lane?
by Mr.D. @ 08/07/2003 11:07 am • Permalink •
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Oh. Ta, Mr D. I will.
by Howie @ 08/07/2003 3:07 pm • Permalink •
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Mr. D.: Ah, they don't make 'em like they used to, eh? When my dad was a much younger man, he built a Radford turntable and valve amp. He's still got it, and found out a few years ago that one of the valves in it is worth quite a bit.
Howie: Nicely weighted cutlery does it for me too. We've got some lovely curvy, smooth stainless steel eating irons which came from John Lewis.
by bsag @ 08/07/2003 6:07 pm • Permalink •
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My mate had a Quad valve-powered amp that drove some mains-powered electrostatic speakers - they were the size and shape of old central heating radiators! And sounded cr@p!
by Mr.D. @ 09/07/2003 2:07 pm • Permalink •
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Hehe. For all the aesthetic talk, my hifi is "ugly" NAD (I prefer "clean", or "simple", but that's not how anyone else has ever described it).
by Howie @ 09/07/2003 5:07 pm • Permalink •
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