FORUMS
Stove Piping and audiophiles
Stovepiping (also stove piping) is a metaphorical term which recalls a stovepipe's function as an isolated vertical conduit, and has been used, in the context of intelligence, to describe several ways in which raw intelligence information may be presented without proper context. It is a system created to solve a specific problem. The lack of context may be due to the specialized nature, or security requirements, of a particular intelligence collection technology. It also has limited focus and data within is not easily shared. Alternatively, the lack of context may come from a particular group, in the national policy structure, selectively presenting only that information that supports certain conclusions. The term is typically used in the health care system. An example would be how money funded for research is not evenly allocated, but instead goes toward one specific ailment remedy.
The most common types of intelligence collection, and to some extent processing, which are commonly found in "stovepipes", include signal intelligence (SIGINT), imagery intelligence (IMINT), and human intelligence (HUMINT). While there are other forms of sensitive intelligence collection, these "big three", in a proper use, complement one another. A SIGINT communications intercept, for example, may suggest the presence of a particular military unit in a given location. For example, as part of the Operation Quicksilver deception plan during World War II, dummy communications were generated for the fictitious First United States Army Group (FUSAG), ostensibly commanded by George Patton, in order to convince the Germans that the main attack would come at the Pas-de-Calais, rather than the real target of Normandy. Dummy equipment was positioned in the places consistent with the communications, and a very few German high-altitude photographic aircraft brought back evidence apparently confirming IMINT. The British, however, had jailed or turned all German HUMINT spies, through the Double Cross System. Had a real spy been able to get to a FUSAG location, he would have seen the tanks were inflatable rubber decoys. The British, however, allowed only false confirmations of real tanks to be sent.
The significance of the concept of Stove Piping to audiophiles is that audiophiles develop systems and concepts of their systems in isolation, for the most part. I'm not saying that there isn't some sharing in some cases. But just as the intelligence gathers develop "raw" data and draw conclusions from the data in isolation one audiophile might develop a system based on vacuum tubes and conclude that vacuum tubes are superior to solid state electronics based on his results, I.e., how his system sounds. But his conclusion that vacuum tubes are superior to solid state was developed in a vacuum, as it were! And any conclusion of what constitutes the correct, or best, or superior technique, methodology, concept or path for achieving the absolute sound can wind up being a Fool's Paradise, the result of Stove Piping. What is required is a synthesis of the best ideas in achieving great sound. There should probably be some serious consideration given to adding new chapters to the books already written. There can even be a chapter on pro audio, for example, or quantum mechanics, resonators, RFI/EMI, what have you. Everything is on the table, nothing is off the table. Otherwise, it's just a lot of Stove Piping, you could say the partially blind leading the partially blind.
"It's what I choose to believe." Dr. Shaw in the movie, Prometheus
Cheers,
Geoff Kait, Machina Dynamica
