2009 — 22 August: Saturday

What's next, Mrs Landingham? How about another picture of Christa from the late 1970s, back in Old Windsor?

Christa in Old Windsor, late 1970s

I'm heading for sleep quite rapidly tonight. It's just midnight but I'm calling it a day. I'm delighted with the new pre/power amp. It takes me back to the level of musicality I last enjoyed with a large, rack-mounted Technics stereo power amp and those delicious Celestion Ditton 66s. Much as I liked the gigantic Yamaha A/V amp that I had from 1998 until it died on me in February this year, it never really struck me as quite such a good sound. And the Onkyo was only ever going to be a stop-gap while I sorted out a long-term replacement. Still, it's nice to realise that the main front speakers seem to be up to the challenge of the new amp. But the remote control is a shoddy disgrace.

G'night.

Earwiggo again

Can't say the weather looks too enticing this morning. It's 10:57 and I'm just about awake. Cuppa loaded; breakfast a vague plan. I've updated the photo of my A/V system¹ and it's currently blasting away with the BBC Radio 3 classical CD review. Since I forgot to buy a copy of the Radio Times yet this week, and can't be bothered to check on the web, I don't have a clue whose string quartet is currently tickling my ear drums from downstairs. Nice, though.

Right! Having answered the last of Brack's questions relating to hdcp and TV resolution, it's definitely time for brekkie. It's 11:21 and seems slightly brighter out there in the big wide whatever.

Interesting chats

The first was with the chaps in "Audio T" just down the (massively dug up) road. I toddled down there because they're nicely local² and I need to cultivate a nice, friendly relationship with them if I'm to stand a chance of getting to try out new loudspeakers before buying them. Besides, they also handle NAD kit, though they couldn't give me a price (yet) on that tasty CD player I spotted last week. No matter... it's now on my little list. They are currently thinking "PMC" speakers in the budget range I gave them as a ball-park. Specifically, the FB1i, I suspect. Good job it's only money, and a hobby (of course).

The second was with Junior, who called me from a tent somewhere in Dorset just to say "Hi, Dad" and check I was OK. I must say, he sounded pretty chipper himself, too. This is goodness. I hope he's enjoying the sunshine that has belatedly appeared hereabouts. It's 15:40 and counting. (Though not if you believe my hi-def satellite box, which remains stubbornly 10 minutes adrift from everything else, no doubt in a token protest at having been powered off for some hours yesterday while I was wreaking audio/video havoc.) I need to nip out on the supplies trail if I wish to do any more eating. I doubt that will entail any interesting chats.

Interesting chaps

Professor Grayling has, once again, made me smile:

But then Dirac married someone whom Farmelo wittily describes as his anti-particle, an ebullient and warm-hearted Hungarian divorcee, Manci, who had two children. This was perhaps the most astonishing thing Dirac ever did outside physics, but evidently it was a wise decision — and not lightly taken, as Farmelo's quotations from several years' worth of Dirac's dry and unemotional letters shows. When Manci wrote, "Do you have any feelings for me?" Dirac replied, "Yes, some." The letters briefly ceased to be reticent after the honeymoon, during which Dirac seems to have fallen in love with his wife: sex unleashed passion for a while. He was very lucky to have married a divorcee; the idea of his marrying a virgin does not bear thinking about.

AC Grayling, reviewing Graham Farmelo's biography of Paul Dirac on Barnes & Noble

This, on the other hand, is not exactly a smile-provoker. Still interesting, though, with its "tyranny of small decisions" and "naive realism" and "prospect theory" and "tit-for-two-tats"... Goodness me; nearly time for an evening meal. It's 18:08 and the sky is now essentially cloudless.

Let's see: Beethoven's Fidelio, a book, or a silver platter? Decisions, decisions. I must say, the music side of the system is now very tempting.

While listening to Fidelio I have compromised by continuing to browse the web. Those of a certain bent will find this hdmi 1.3 document (PDF file) fascinating. Even just as a tale of woe. And here's a clear explanation from a different source. I'm gently trying to find out if I need to update the firmware in my new pre-amplifier. I'm hoping not, as I would then have to unearth one of my more esoteric serial port leads. But this is the sort of thing I'm up against:

I'm (almost) certain that I was watching 1080p/24 successfully yesterday during one of my little test sessions. Now, of course, I shall have to confirm that lest I have nightmares tonight! :-)

I was. It does. I can sleep peacefully ahead of tomorrow's planned walk.

Footnotes

¹ The (silver) hourglass that now sits on top of the power amplifier was my fifth wedding anniversary gift to Christa and a "congratulations on being pregnant" token, too. While I never knowingly lied to her, I somehow never did quite admit to her how much it cost. I know she was delighted by it. It only "runs" for 57 minutes, by the way. Go figure.
² The first (of several) items I bought from them (in 1981) was my (only recently packed-up) Technics FM/AM tuner. They were "Hampshire Audio" back then. My chum Hugh — the Group Editor of the three Haymarket hi-fi magazines (for whom I did numerous reviews and rather a lot of programming) at the time — was quite chummy with the proprietor in those days.