What's It All About?

PERFECT sound is what its all about. The system must be tuned by ear until there is nothing left to criticize. 

"PERFECT sound" 

-Subjective

"The system must be tuned by ear until there is nothing left to criticize"

- will never happen 

I did both, it is fun but the kitchen took less time (and less budget).

I designed my kitchen 30 years ago - its still intact, only the appliances have changed. I designed my house and listening room therein 30 years ago -  only my audio components have changed - I'd like to say that they just wore out like my dish washer did. I'd be lying. Good thing that it would take about 6 months to renovate my kitchen - keeps me out of there. Bad thing in my music room - I just spend money and drop things in place. Oh well. Keeps me busy and physically fit. :-)

OMG, audiophilia is soooo much harder than designing a kitchen.

There are so many more dimensions to high end audio… it is about nuances of perception, subtle values, marketing hype versus reality, system synergy, dozens of sonic variables, performance as well as geometry and aesthetics.

We, redesigned out kitchen a couple years ago. Piece of cake… equivalent effort to choosing a new interconnect.

I have put thousands of hours into building audio systems over fifty years. I know a fair amount. I put 80 hours into redesigning a kitchen and choosing all the finishes and components… turned out very very well. 

Every system is a slave to the recording.

I like your analogy. I have designed & completely built or assisted building multiple kitchens in 40 years, both run my homes & restaurants.from cheap to $500K.  I’ve also always had a good sound system during this time from solid mid fi to pretty high end depending upon my finances involving my kid’s educational expenses & the financial success of my businesses. 
 

The overall design & layout of both is the most important thing to get right ( think equipment set up, speaker placement/ listening position, sound absorption etc. in  hi fi) The rest of it can be more easily changed & equipment swapped as need be. You can buy a decent home gas range ( no one serious about cooking use electric unless there’s no other option) for $1500 that you can prepare a nice meal on or you get one that costs $10K that will work better in every way; range top, oven, broiler, be faster & easier to use & you can cook for larger groups more consistently w/ no problem. You can get an exhaust that looks nice but has only 300 or 400 cfm or a truly good one that has 1000 or more & you can cook fish without any residual smell in your house & also no grease going up into the vent pipes beyond the hood. 
 

I could go on for each piece of kitchen equipment in the kitchen but the joint concept is “sound”. It just depends on how much you get into it, think details matter & get enjoyment out of it like many do here on Audiogon w/ hi fi. 

Manufacturers are genius. They've managed to convince the gullible that this is a "hobby" and therefore they should keep pouring money into it. Best. Scheme. Ever.

Sound and food.

"PERFECT sound"

I think we all agree that means; Sound with the minimum of compromises according to our tastes.

I think you need to ask Alfie.

I don't understand what perfect sound is.  Is it related to music?

Different homes have different kitchens and they can be used differently.  Same thing with audio systems.  But in both cases if you get the core elements right, you'll keep it long term and ignore some of the trends that come and go.  It doesn't have to be complicated, just well thought out.

What are you smoking?

Not sure kitchen and sound system are analgias.  The kitchen is more the instrument and the food is the  music.  HiFi is more like the taking a photo of it and posting it on Yelp.  You could give me the most expensive violin in the world and I couldn't come close to what a real musician could do with a broom and wash tub.  It's about skills. How much better is the food prepared in the perfect kitchen?  What is perfect sound?  

I was lucky enough to have some Celtic  band members come over and play in my living room.  Acoustic guitars and unamplified vocals certainly didn't sound like recorded music but both are enjoyable and neither were less perfect. 

I do know that one of the musicians (a long time friend)  listened to my HiFi made some suggestions and with a few minor tweaks improved the sound I was hearing.  So I was glad to feed him.

It's all about getting laid.

I was thinking about how designing a kitchen was similar to putting together a system.  It's an imperfect analogy, but some got it and others didn't.  Both can be done without too much effort, but a minority of people can become fixated on the details.  In both cases for the end user these minute elements can reach enormous importance.

But then again, why should I even know where the kitchen is?  As long as the servants know how to find it, should I even care?  What's the audiophile analogue of that?

I have a speaker in my kitchen so can do both simultaneously.

Some folks will jump on the “Trendy bus”, only to replace everything when some other trend comes up. Others will stay where they are until what they have is fashionable again.