Rather than a one-off thing, my hatred is reserved for something common. The complete lack of any sort of standards when it comes to the mounting and positioning of cartridges on tonearms.
Oh heck yeah! When I was in my 20s and 30s I could easily set them up. Now I'm a bit more "seasoned" and I dread having to set up a cartridge. My near-field eyesight is shot, and any attempt to wear magnifiers just results in me bumping into what I'm working on. (Because I'm a klutz and a doofus.) My fingers are nowhere near as nimble as they were--I drop things larger things I never used to drop, and I fumble tiny things constantly. And this is all
before my evening cocktail!
I could also extend this to tonearm length and positioning. With all sorts of pivot-to-spindle distances out there, we couldn't even begin to standardize cartridge mounting until there was standard here as well. Some prefer shorter arms; others prefer longer.
To me, the ideal "equalizer" in all this would be a much better alignment system than we have now. (Of course, much of this assumes the stylus and cantilever are even put together correctly...there was one notable example I had that was off in
all aspects. So even a visual alignment with the cantilever couldn't align it properly.) I'm thinking of some sort of mount the cartridge body could fit into snugly, which would solidly anchor it to the protractor or whatever is being used to line it up. The original Shure V15 Type V in 1982 came with just such an alignment jig, and it was a breeze to set up. Very clever. The later V15Vx did not come with the alignment kit.
Every Preamp should have at least 2 outputs
You know it. I shouldn't have to use a Y adapter if I need two outputs. Also, please have enough
inputs.
And all phono stages should have a Mono button.
All removable speaker grills should be magnetic - not plastic pins that break after 10-20 years
The pins were another good idea that suffered in execution. Good, sturdy pins can work well. The thin plastic pins were awful. I've had many held on with Velcro. Fine, as long as the frame of the grill is in good condition. And fine as long as the grill wasn't recessed to where it was nearly impossible to remove.
Good strong magnets solve that problem.
All remotes should have replaceable rechargeable batteries using a USB port - see billions of cell phones for an example
Better yet, we've had Qi charging since 2012 (back when my then-new phone first had it). Lay a remote on top of the audio component or a separate dock to charge it when we're done using it. No USB port to wear out. And it's fully charged for the next day's use. Heck, even my Nintendo Wii remotes had an Energizer wireless charging pad and battery system. This isn't rocket science.
A new component I just received today came with a small remote and it looks as though there is no way to replace the battery. It feels like it's milled out of a solid piece of aluminum--it's heavy for its size, and there are no seams, doors or screws on it. Interesting!
Every Disc player now should have digital ins to access its DAC
Likewise, DACs should at a bare minimum accept 24-bit, 384kHz PCM and, given the availability of SACDs and files, they should also handle at least 2x DSD. But I'm a bit weird in that I prefer my equipment somewhat future-proofed. 😉
