Rough edges

January 24, 2018 by Paul McGowan

One of my readers sent me the following note:

"I was just at a friend of the families winery. They produce some of the best cabernets in California and have been doing it for quite some time. During a private tour with the 81 year old founder, he said an interesting thing. He described how they went about making the perfect wine. They took the best fruit, picked at the most appropriate time, made sure that no seeds or stems were present, and expected perfection. What did they get? An unremarkable wine, why? Because it turns out the slight imperfections in wine—the stems and seeds during the crush—gave it the flair of a truly extraordinary vintage. So sometimes the imperfections are what make things unique. A perfect diamond would have no color, a perfect wine no character."

His note resonated with me on any number of levels but in particular how something remarkable, extraordinary, isn't a product of perfection but rather a skillful blend of rough edges and unwavering purpose. Our upcoming P20 Power Plant might be a great example. In Music Room One a single P10 Power Plant handles both BHK 300 Monoblock amplifiers without batting an eye. The IRSV are 91dB efficient and volume levels raising the roof bother neither amp nor Power Plant. The idea of replacing this perfect Power Plant with a more powerful version makes no sense. Unless you're interested in moving from excellent to remarkable. The P20 is huge. Cumbersome. Intrusive. Stately. The P10 may be perfect—just the right size—but add the rough edges of huge, cumbersome, intrusive, and stately and we get remarkable.