Craig Sawyers

Well, you can either go valved, classical A or A/B, or one of the stunning new generation of class D. It's heresy, but I'd go class D. Hypex N-core has the real lead in this, and an increasing number of high end manufacturers are using them (Bel Canto, ATI, Nord etc). Distortions 0.0002% (2 parts per million), frequency, power and load independent. https://www.diyclassd.com/audio-amplifiers/ NC400 is the unit. 580W into 2 ohm, 400W into 4 ohm and 200W into 8 ohms. And it will drive down to 1 ohm, quite important for the balky load that ES speakers can present. Output impedance 0.6 milliohm. Discrete balanced input (can be configured for single ended). 125dB S/N - it goes on and on.

*Which* Quad ESL?

Only got the manufacturer's spec, one review I read that said it was great, and an Amazon price of a shade under $1500 to go on. I guess everyone is in that position, hence general lack of reply.

After the "beast from the East" that hit the UK a couple of weeks ago - followed by real spring weather (13C, or 55F today and glorious sunshine) - we're in for another bout of Winter. Temperature set to plummet to freezing tomorrow and Sunday, with significant snow fall. Mid March. In the UK - that is pretty damned unusual.

The other hidden benefit of the UK Royal Family is the number of good works they do. The charity my wife runs has a Patron. That used to be the Queen Mother, but is now Countess Wessex (wife of the Queen's youngest son). She is not just a title - she is massively engaged with the charity, most recently hosting a fund raising dinner at her house (Bagshot Park). But - that is only one of 70 charities she is patron of. That is absolutely gratis, and multiplying the effort for my wife's charity by 70 and you get pretty much a full-time job. And she is not unique - everyone in the Royal Family does this sort of thing, and is absolutely priceless to the good causes they support.

That level of snow is insane - stay safe all!

RIP Steven Hawking. I worked near Cambridge for about ten years during the 80's and used to see him out and about with his wife (the one he divorced in order to live with his nurse). Of course he was well known then, but not the mobbed famous he became in recent years, particularly after the movie. So people use to just walk by and think "Oh - there's Hawking". He'd lost control of his neck even then, so when he went over a curb his head would flop forward; so he'd stop and his wife would put it vertical again. He visited the Space Research Centre at Leicester University when I was doing a contract there about ten years ago. Unfortunately the lift was too small for his chair (!) - so he never managed to get up to see our work. Given his level of disability, it is a real wonder he lived to 76. But absolutely one of the greats. Again, RIP.

Editing because it turns out Stewart lost his hair at age 19, but used to wear toupees in many acting roles (pre Star Trek) - which he might well have done in TTSS.

For a rocker he still looks in good shape! Almost as good as me

Belated happy birthday - hope it was a great one!

^This. And that short animation about how badly we cope with snow in the UK is so very true!

I have absolutely no idea what any of that is - but I want it so badly!

Happy birthday!

RIP Russ Solomon. Whenever I traveled through London as a student and shortly after, Tower Records was a standard visit. Spent quite a lot of money there! Mind you, 92 is a pretty good innings.

RIP Trevor Baylis, the inventor of the wind up radio for use in third world countries (specifically in response to the AIDS epidemic in African countries) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Baylis

You can always rely on Steve

Been binge watching Breaking Bad. No idea why I missed it originally, so I bought the boxed set. Currently working my way through season 5. Bloody awesome, I can completely understand why Bryan Cranston won awards for his portrayal of Walter White.

Oh wow. One of my heroes, set on a cinder track at Iffley near Oxford, with pacemakers who were legendary runners themselves - Chris Chattaway and Chris Brasher. Brasher was the guy who founded the London Marathon, and after track running turned himself into a fell runner, both competitively and as a pacemaker. Bannister outlived both - Chattaway died in 2014 and Brasher in 2003. The Iffley Road track is still there, about 11 miles from here. It is now a composition track of course - the last cinder track that I ran on was 25 years ago, and that made me understand what a feat a sub 4m mile was on that surface. And this is how he did it, in 1954 RIP Roger Bannister

Oh wow. One of my heroes, set on a cinder track at Iffley near Oxford, with pacemakers who were legendary runners themselves - Chris Chattaway and Chris Brasher. Brasher was the guy who founded the London Marathon, and after track running turned himself into a fell runner, both competitively and as a pacemaker. Bannister outlived both - Chattaway died in 2014 and Brasher in 2003. The Iffley Road track is still there, about 11 miles from here. It is now a composition track of course - the last cinder track that I ran on was 25 years ago, and that made me understand what a feat a sub 4m mile was on that surface. RIP Roger Bannister

Thanks all! Since we did not make it to the Peak District walking as a result of the Arctic invasion of our weather, Carole took me to the Hand and Flowers, a 2 Michelin star restaurant. It is so unpretentious - Tom Kerridge, the founder and head chef wanted essentially a pub atmosphere that sold superb food. First one is Lovage soup, croutons and smoked eel, second is celeriac soup. Then the Hand and Flowers signature - fish and chips (triple cooked chips/fries, pea puree and tartare sauce), and finally the thing that looks like Saturn is white chocolate shells filled with rhubarb, candied ginger and raspberry sorbet. I think there was some pieces of chocolate cake in there too. We had a good day!

In the (not so distant) future someone's offspring will say "My poor old 137 year old dad still has absolutely no idea how to connect the socket on his skull to access enhanced reality" Seriously, both mine are no longer here - but I absolutely guarantee that dad (gone 25 years) would have been absolutely clueless with computers and the internet - even though he was an engineer. And my mum, who passed 10 years ago, never ever worked out how to drive the video player we bought her (pre-DVD, clearly). But we'll all be clueless old farts in time

Happy birthday!

"Climate change - fake news, bad"

This is insane. Not only is it -10C and snowing, there is a storm coming in out of the Atlantic which, when the moist air hits the icy blast from Siberia will first give blizzard conditions, then at is warms, freezing rain - so a mini ice storm. Splendid. March 1st - what on earth is going on?