Ever wonder why salad forks are smaller than dinner forks? Is it easier to pierce a shard of lettuce with a smaller instrument?
I suspect it is merely convention. Sometime in the past when we were worried about being fancy there likely had to be a way to distinguish between the proper etiquette of which utensil to use, which side of the plate the napkin went on, and so forth.
Downton Abbey style.
When it comes to audio we too have our conventions. The hot seat listening position. Long interconnects and short speaker cables. Long speaker cables and short interconnects. Wash the vinyl before playing. Warm the equipment before listening. Turn the lights down low.
The list is likely exhaustive.
Some conventions are born from experience while others are simply “that’s the way we’ve always done it”.
The thing about conventions is to always question them.
Are they helping or hindering?
Sometimes we realize our conventions are holding us back. That’s the time to reevaluate and readjust.
Else we get stuck in a rut.
