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Posted by Malcolm  Friday, 3rd of July 2009 at 06:27:05 PM
Has writing English that all English speakers can effortlessy comprehend become a thing of the past, I wonder? (And I have to say up-front that blogs, fora (or forums for those who have never been taught Latin), and the InterWeb in general have to shoulder much of the blame for publicising the works of the Illiterati – aka the functionally illiterate.)
What caused this line of thought was reading some text on a web site I was updating for a client. I telephoned the client’s PR to query one particular sentence from which I was certain there were words missing. “Oh no,” the PR told me, “that is the author writing in what we might call “YoungPersonSpeak”, the language that connects with his ‘target demographic’ and tells them that he is definitely a hip young dude.” But, I countered, it tells anyone who went to a decent school, where grammar is still taught, that he is a hip, young, illiterate dude. What is more, it tells anyone of our age that he is a completely ignorant twit and should never be let loose within reach of any corporate communications: especially those corporate communications that potential clients anywhere in the world can easily access.
This is not the first time I have railed against others’ mis-use of our fine language, and I am sure it will not be the last. I will admit that I can be something of a pedant. However, while I accept that change in a language is inevitable and, often, desirable, there have to be limits. I consider that those limits are passed when the language becomes unpleasant to read or hear, or fails to convey any meaning. Consider, for example, the addition of ‘-wise’ to form completely unnecessary words such as ‘performance-wise’: what is wrong with the slightly more wordy ‘in terms of performance’? Nothing! I simply cannot imagine the sort of person who fails to appreciate the grotesque ugliness of expressions such as ‘accessibility-wise’.
My point in this instance is that writing in any currently fashionable style will make your text look so dated and un-hip once the particular fashion has passed, as all fashions inevitably do. So, unless you are hell-bent on leveraging the potential of loon-pant language, it might be best to stick with plain, simple, proper English, like what they learnt us at school, dude. Innit?
Posted by Malcolm Wednesday, 17th of June 2009 at 08:28:57 PM
This rant was going to begin: how I loathe learner drivers. Then I realised it’s not their fault. The fault lies with those self-important prats who are, purportedly, instructing them to pass their tests. And please note that I did not say ‘teaching them to drive’ because there is a world of difference between passing a driving test and being able to drive.
Let me explain. THe closest village to my rural abode has “traffic calming” measures at either end of its main thoroughfare. These consist of bollards and raised tarmac obstructions that restrict the traffic to a single lane so that cars travelling into the village must switch from their lane to the other and, potentially, meet any oncoming vehicles head on.
Most folk are happy to sit and wait until the lane into which they must move is free of traffic but some impatient types insist on switching lanes in their horribly slow cars or taxis in first gear and at a hideous angle to the obstruction so lengthening the time it takes them to manoeuvre round it and return to their side of the road. They never consider slowing a few yards back from the obstruction so that they can then power round it with a quick flick of the steering wheel and at a speed that won’t cause the oncoming traffic to have to stand on the brakes with both feet.
That happened to me twice today and on each occasion the car that I had to brake to avoid was a learner (not just a car with L plates but the whole gaudy, stickered-up shooting match on some Nissan Microbe or something equally disgusting and slow).
Now what was the dozy old fool of an instructor doing at this point, you ask? If he had any sense I’d imagine he had his eyes tightly shut and was clutching his testicles and repeatedly intoning “Oh my God”,”Oh my God”,”Oh my God” while awaiting the sound of his bonnet being bent back over his windscreen.
However, judging by most drivers in East Hampshire I would imagine he was probably criticizing me for being a young hooligan driving a car with a “loud” exhaust and a noisy dump valve. Even though I had the right of way and was not breaking any speed limits the Coupe would have assured it was “my” fault he was distressed.
It might have done the instructor in the second incident good to realise that when his charge thoughtlessly pensioneered out in front of me that I had my 12-year-old son in the car, poised and ready to fly through the windscreen.
So how does that stand with someone who is supposed to be instilling responsible behaviour into his pupils? Do not drive in a manner that might involve a father and son in a fatal collision… unless you’re really tired of waiting and you trust that the car with which you are duelling has good brakes.
I regained my composure having hurled some abuse out of my window in the general direction of the guilty Vauxhall Geriatric or whatever it was and settled down to follow a briskly driven BMW X5 towards home. Now, on the way there are two sets of temporary traffic lights protecting the people who are currently not replacing the gas main. At the first of these the Big Man’s Willy X5 driver duly stopped and waited for a green before charging off at the fastest rate his silver cock substitute could manage. He was seriously flooring it trying, for some vain reason, to shake of off the niggling little Italian Coupe that was holding station a few car-lengths behind his desperate-to-be-phallic 4WD.
Then he came to the second set of lights, barely a mile further down the road. (East Hampshire District Council is so well organised!) These, too, were red so our X5 pilot braked and came to a halt. I did the same. He then, I thought, anticipated the lights changing and did the same flooring the throttle routine. The lights did not change, It seemed, he simply wanted me to stop so that he could do his ‘Gone in sixty seconds,’ tyre smoking routine through the roadworks and terrify all the plastic cones. I waited till the lights changed some twenty seconds later.
By this time Mr BMW has been viciously flashed by an approaching Audi that had been forced to swerve and stop to avoid a head-on smash, and I, having done things legally ended up back within four car lengths of his rear bumper.
So, the hate list for today: Driving instructors, drivers of silver BMW X5s and East Hampshire District Council.
Posted by Malcolm Saturday, 13th of June 2009 at 06:10:08 PM
On Thursday I find myself sitting in my son’s school hall watching a dreary PowerPoint presentation about the importance of “parent’s helping their kid’s” with proper English. (That quote is not literal but it illustrates the point adequately.) Quite how our children are expected to develop literacy when their teachers – and the room was full of staff – do not seem to have grasped the simple use of the apostrophe remains a mystery to me. However, on the Friday night I am back in the same location with my pal, Steve N Harris, this time paying to be there to watch the guitarist’s guitarist, Albert Lee deliver a blinding set with the band, Hogan’s Heroes. Rather incongruously for a school hall, there is even a full bar.
 Are you ready to rock... Haslemere? My son’s school, Woolmer Hill Technology College, Haslemere has taken up the mantle from the soon-to-be-demolished Chiddingfold Ex-Servicemen’s Club as the de facto R&R venue for the musically aware in West Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire. And for that I have to say Bravo!
After a spellbinding gig, Lee admits that he is not feeling especially well – having not long been released from hospital and having just played what sounded to me like a flawless and energetic set. As a failed guitarist I feel moved toward complimenting him on his style, which gives hope to all of us geriatric wannabee pickers. (Lee uses open strings a lot, which – theoretically – cuts down on work for the fretting hand.) In truth, though, it is his virtuoso guitarist pieces that are, perhaps, the least impressive part of the set: as a fan of neither country nor western, it is his straight rock’n'roll stlying that appeals to me the most, and a couple of songs demonstrate that his piano playing is equally as sweet as the best of his guitar picking.
What is most amazing, though, is that this man, who is close to receiving his free bus pass, blows the vast majority of young guitar ‘heroes’ into the weeds… without any pedal boards or effects racks and just a couple of guitars – one electric and one acoustic. In short, he can play the instrument and, just as importantly, knows how best to use it to fire listeners’ emotions. He is also an approachable sort and a bloody hard worker: this week alone he has traveled the length of Britain and played a gig every night.
So, live long and prosper, Albert!
And keep up the good work Woolmer Hill. (I’m sure it’s a useful source of extra revenue and, given the age of the crowd last night, almost certainly a risk-free venture… just so long as you don’t start letting out the hall for rap concerts.
Posted by Malcolm Monday, 8th of June 2009 at 09:26:34 PM
There is a theory that everyone is only half-a-dozen connections way from everyone else on the planet. If that is true then someone reading this is bound to be able to help me.
I urgently need to contact some of the guys with whom I worked in the 1970s, when I lived in Peterborough and was a telecomms technician with the GPO (General Post Office) as it was back then. Most of these gentlemen will be in their mid 50s now though some will be older. When I moved to London after becoming very disenchanted with working for the GPO, I was a very angry young man and I never stayed in touch with any of my former colleagues or, indeed, anybody in Peterborough.
My memory is not wonderful at the best of times, and I’m trying to remember back over thirty years, but some of the names I can recall are guys with whom I worked as a TTA – Bob (Robert) Blunt, Keith Oliver, Ian Mizon, David Ingle, Trevor Hughes, Valentine Pike, and Henry Gelsthorpe – and others who were around when I was training or working as a TO in Peterborough’s main Telephone Exchange – Mick Hazell, Dave Fosker, John Stapler, Ken Lobley, Ken Bardell, Alan Williams, Frank Howard and Harry Spriggs.
Fundamentally, I’d like to talk to anyone who might have worked with me between 1970 -1979 or who was familiar with the TEC at Westwood or the Exchange on what is now called Bourges Boulevard, or anyone who trained with me at Yarnfield (Stone).
Please email me at malcolm@malcolmsteward.co.uk and I will be happy to email back or telephone you. Thank you. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Posted by Malcolm Friday, 5th of June 2009 at 12:24:56 AM
As I intimated before the Munich show, Tannoy’s room was likely to attract plenty of interest, especially on the press day, thanks to its inclusion of a stand featuring the company’s local distillery, Glengoyne.
I am rather fond of a glass of single Malt so it didn’t take me too long to find my way to the room and meet Tannoy’s Tim Lount for a chat about his company’s loudspeakers. Eventually the conversation turned to whisky and I was offered the chance to try two of the Malts. It would have been impolite to refuse…
 Tannoy's Tim Lount and me discussing loudspeakers. Honestly. Glengoyne describes its ten-year-old single Malt thus: “Unlike most other single malt whiskies Glengoyne has been preserving the essence of its flavour for decades by using air-dried barley rather than barley dried using harsh peat smoke. The result is a more subtle, complex whisky in which all of the delicate flavours are freely allowed to express themselves.” I have not only to agree with that rather flowery prose but to admit that I enjoyed it even more than the 17-year-old sample I tried subsequently. The latter retails at £49 a bottle, while the bottle I preferred will set you back just £26.99, which I consider remarkably good value… especially considering that my wife, who is not a whiskey fan, declared it a highly palatable and enjoyable tipple.
Posted by Malcolm Friday, 29th of May 2009 at 12:07:47 AM
I’ve never used or auditioned a PMC speaker at home. And I have only ever had one brief chat with the company’s chief, Pete Thomas.
 PMC fact8 Nonetheless, I have the greatest respect for the company and its loudspeakers. Why? Because it has the unusual distinction of consistently making a good sound at hi-fi shows, which is a rare occurrence in my experience. I have even bought a Western DVD (Open Range if you’re interested) after hearing it demoed by PMC, at an incredible volume level in a hotel room in Las Vegas, and — and this admission will entail me swallowing huge amounts of pride — I once found myself enjoying Pink Floyd through a PMC system in another hotel room in Bristol.
Munich 2009 and history repeats itself, with me actually enjoying a Daniel Lanois produced Bob Dylan track in a large cardboard box (AKA a temporary demonstration facility) in the M.O.C. in Munich. PMC was playing the track through its soon to be released, €4,600 – ex VAT - fact® 8 loudspeakers.
According to PMC: “The fact® range addresses the issues brought about by the differing sonic signatures of electronics, cables, existing components and most importantly room acoustics. Within the brushed, anodised rear panel of each loudspeaker, is a set of audiophile switches that allow precise and individual tailoring of its low- and high-frequency response, thereby ensuring a superlative sonic balance in almost any room and with any source component. From the calibrated flat setting there are subtle and effective adjustments, for high frequency +/- 2dB and low frequency -3dB and -6dB. Painstaking attention has been given to the control circuit layout and components to provide this no compromise solution.
“Through the standardisation of tweeter and bass units, every fact® model is not only visually consistent, but also shares the same acoustic signature. The fact®8 features twin, hand-built, five-and-a-half-inch bass units that have been formulated with a new feather-light stiff-matte doping process and an excursion braking system that subtly controls the maximum extension allowing consistent, reliable, high level performance. Combining these proprietary drivers within a newly formulated ATL™ provides a phenomenal bass extension at all levels and a beguiling, untainted mid. The high frequencies are capably handled by a high-tech wide surround, ferrofluid cooled, SONOMEX™ soft-domed tweeter. SONOMEX™ is an especially light and phenomenally uniform pre-coated material which has vast advantages over individually treated domes with no variations in coating thickness and in turn no variations in response. This way consistency, efficiency and matching are maximised and guaranteed. This radically shaped device with its huge surround combines the wide dispersion of a three-quarter-inch dome with the low end response and higher sensitivity of a one-inch dome and with the addition of its perforated grille further increases dispersion and a vast ‘sweet spot’ making ideal positioning effortless. ”
So, there you are: it’s a slim, waist-high floor stander with tone controls at the bottom… and it sounded rather fine. Hell, it would have to sound bloody marvellous for me to tolerate Dylan, especially when he was wallowing around in the typical Lanois swimming pool-style mix.
The next job is definitely to get a pair at home to try. If they consistently sound good in show envirenments – and even the best of those are shaky – I want to hear them in an environment that I know intimately… and, with all due respect to PMC’s staff’s tastes, using music I truly enjoy!
Posted by Malcolm Monday, 25th of May 2009 at 06:48:36 PM
Neat Acoustics has announced the launch of the ELITE SX, the worthy successor to the ELITE SE.
 The ELITE began its life in 1998, as a floorstanding version of the PETITE compact stand mount design. It has subsequently evolved to become a first-class design in its own right.
The ELITE SX continues the Neat tradition of delivering serious audio performance from discreet and attractive enclosures, by means of unorthodox thinking and the ingenious implementation of some unusual ideas.
Extremely low bass distortion has long been a feature in the ELITE. In this new ELITE SX, this virtue is evident across the entire frequency range. Unlike other bass reflex designs, the ELITE SX incorporates an innovative staggered port tuning design. A 32mm diameter port on the rear of the cabinet is tuned to 40Hz, with a narrow operating band. An additional 50mm diameter port, mounted in the base of the cabinet, is tuned higher, over a wider operating band. This carefully judged system delivers a very convincing full-bodied bass performance, far more impressive than might be expected for an enclosure of these dimensions. The cabinet is raised above a solid, heavy plinth by means of 20mm spacers. This allows the port to breathe correctly and fixes the distance from the lower port to the plinth at the optimum height.
The main drive unit is the latest version of that used in Neat’s upmarket Ultimatum range. In keeping with Neat’s thinking, this unit has a 6.5-inch doped paper cone, a ferrite magnet assembly and a fixed aluminium phase plug to enable smoother integration with the tweeter. The tweeter is now a soft-fabric dome type with internal damping and a non-resonant chamber. Neat believes that the choice of tweeter is critical, because the tweeter lends the whole speaker its essential character and integrity. In this context, the tweeter’s strengths of superb dynamic contrast and accurate tonal colour are well matched to the similar virtues of the main drive unit.
As with all Neat loudspeakers, the crossover, though simple in execution, is the result of painstaking development. Neat prefers to judge all aspects of tuning and voicing by ear, rather than referring to measurements. This is an iterative process, which takes time. The crossover in the Elite SX is a simple 3–element type; first order (Bass/midrange) and second order (HF) slopes are used. Low-loss air-core inductors are employed, as well as high-grade polypropylene capacitors. All crossover components are specified within very tight tolerances in order to ensure excellent pair matching.
Posted by Malcolm Monday, 25th of May 2009 at 06:32:36 PM
Munich’s High End Show saw Cambridge Audio returning to the two-channel sector with fire in its belly and exciting new designs on display – the Azur 550 and 650 ranges that were completely new both aesthetically and beneath the skin.
 Cambridge Audio launch in Munich This landmark launch comprised two integrated amplifiers – the 60W 550A and the 75W 650A – along with two innovative CD players – the 550C and 650C. Designed from the ground-up at Cambridge’s London-based research and development facility, each of these new models sticks with Cambridge Audio’s famous combination of outstanding performance, innovative design, meticulous construction and renowned value for money.
According to Cambridge Audio, arguably the most important development to these class-leading CD players is the introduction of a new in-house designed servo solution. Whereas most CD players at this price use an inferior CD/DVD-ROM derived IDE drive with integral servo designed for data streaming, these units again feature Cambridge Audio’s in-house audio-only CD Transport. This is then coupled to the new, highly sophisticated S3 Servo Solution – Cambridge Audio’s third generation proprietary audiophile servo solution. S3 employs an all-new servo chipset and the latest double-sided, surface-mount technology for ultra short signal paths with freedom from wire links. All servo loops have been carefully tuned with audio quality as the goal; the circuits and software have been meticulously designed to this end and dynamically adjust the focusing, tracking and output level of the laser in real-time, allowing for maximum retrieval of the digital information with extremely low jitter. This is all made possible by the implementation of an enormously powerful ARM7 processor – running fully custom code – which forms the brains of the system. This is complemented by a highly accurate master clock oscillator and carefully designed impedance-matched clock buffering scheme.
Meanwhile, the well-proven transport has been improved yet further to encourage even quieter operation, and a new bracing mechanism (derived from the 740 Series) guarantees incredible rigidity. Finally, an impressive new high contrast reverse black DFSTN (Double Film Super Twisted Nematic) display offers simpler user control and improved feedback of these two highly developed CD players’ impressive features, which now include CD-text support.
Cambridge Audio says it has gone back to its roots with this range of products, which take a true ‘audio-first’ approach to musical reproduction. Each implements a unique combination of fastidiously developed technologies, which are used not in the pursuit of scientific one-upmanship, but because they truly make a difference to the sound quality, which customers can appreciate. Above all, says the company, as much passion has been injected into the development of this critical range as Cambridge Audio owners have for the music they treasure.
Posted by Malcolm Saturday, 23rd of May 2009 at 11:46:56 PM
 Thorens CEO, Heinz Rohrer speaks to the press in Munich Thorens launched its TD309 Tri-balance turntable at the Munich show. What made this an exciting venture for the company was that the team who developed the TD309 had no ‘official’ experience of designing a turntable before. They came to the project, therefore, without any ‘baggage’ or preconceived ideas about how to approach the task. The results were very impressive: a deck that is both aesthetically very pleasing, easy to set up, and which sounds very good into the bargain, thanks to the radical approach taken by the design team, which included ubiqitous loudspeaker maven, Karl-Heinz Fink.
 Thorens TD309
Although modestly priced the TD309 does not come with the predictable Rega RB250 – or variant thereof – tone-arm. Instead it is fitted with the Thorens TP92, which features a carefully damped cold-worked and rolled aluminium armtube. The high-precision bearings come from a famed bearing manufacturer in Japan. The arm includes a magnetic anti-skate mechanism and its de-coupled counterweight is made from brass. Indicating the lengths to which Thorens has gone with this design, the tone-arm wiring even includes an extra ground connection to avoid current flow around the bearings.
The best news, however, is that after the press launch Andrew Everard, my wife and I decamped to Thoren’s listening room and heard this not exactly expensive turntable (around £1000 is the expected price when it goes on sale) completely and utterly destroy an equally modern computer audio system consisting of a Mac running Sonic Studio’s highly regarded Amarra audiophile quality computer music player through a FireWire connection to a £3,000 Weiss DAC. The latter combination, it has to be said, sounded worse than pitiful in comparison with the Thorens. This poses a real problem for me considering that the first article I need to write now is about getting the most from computer audio for beginners.
You can expect further interest along with some re-writing of history when certain folks discover that the TD309 is powered by a DC motor, which, as every audiophile knows, was once widely regarded as a complete no-no in high-end circles. That’s not a problem for me, though, as I’ve been using a DC motor on my Linn/PT modded LP12/Funk Vector LP12 for more than 15 years.
If you’d like more information on the TD309, visit team member, Steve Harris’ blog or Thorens web site.
Posted by Malcolm Saturday, 23rd of May 2009 at 09:49:32 PM
The Fat Lady was another fascinating loudspeaker unveiled in Munich, this time buy the Israeli loudspeaker concern, Morel.
 Morel Fat Lady Now, I have to say that I was not expecting too much in the way of performance from this outwardly unconventional design because much of it was a touch too left field for my rather conservative preconceptions: for example, the carbon fibre enclosure that is intended to ’sing along’ with the output from the drive units. How could that perform satisfactorily? Is not the holy grail of loudspeaker design the totally inert cabinet?
Regardless, I have to say that I was proven wrong. My all-too-brief audition revealed a loudspeaker that was musically rewarding and highly revealing – both in a musical sense and in the hi-fi aspects. It certainly uncovered a whole lot of stuff that I had not heard when I first listened to The Clap by Yes guitarist Steve Howe, a favourite player in my youth when I could actually tolerate Prog Rock.
The speakers were being driven by a Naim 500 system whose cost dwarfed the £24,000 that was being asked for the Fat Ladies. Nonetheless, despite that hefty price tag, it’s not difficult to imagine lots of people falling for their curvaceous appearance and seductive sounds. I’d very much enjoy getting a pair at home to have a serious listen to them.
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