Syllabub.net

I started buying my current setup about 8 years ago and I’m thinking it might be time for an update. I’m pretty happy with the sound, but it’s not amazing, so I’m curious to try something new and see what it can do.

Current Setup

• Cambridge Audio Azur 540D DVD Player
• Sky HD
• Marantz AV Amp SR4200
• AppleTV
• Mission M73 Cinema (M73 floormount fronts, M7C1 centre, and M7DS bipolar rears
• REL Quake Sub
• QED HDMI-P video cable x2
• Profigold Component cable (for DVD player)
• QED Silver Anniversary XT speaker cables

Here’s what I’m thinking of replacing them with

• B&W685 Front Speakers (£379)
• Atacama Nexus 6 Stands (£70)
• B&W HTM62 Centre (£249)
• B&W ASW608 Sub (£299)
• Monitor Audio BRFX Rears (£199)
• Denon AVR-2308/2808 Amplifier (RRP £599/£899 - is available for £399/£599)
• Panasonic DMP-BD30 BluRay Player (£349)

Here’s my thinking - I have read several reviews of the 685’s and really admire the brand, and think these speakers just look fantastic. So they were going to form the basis for the setup… the centre and sub are both the smaller options from the 600 range as my living room isn’t huge. I need to have flat rear speakers as they sit above my sofa and B&W either have normal bookshelf speakers which are too proud or satellites which seem a little too small (I haven’t properly auditioned them but will do for comparison). Sevenoaks suggested the Monitor Audio’s and they sounded terrific. And whatever tonal balance is, didn’t seem to present an issue.

I have auditioned all the speakers with the Denon 2308 which sounded absolutely fantastic - I mean, really mind-blowingly good. The bombing scene from Pearl Harbour was astonishing. And listening to a couple of my favourite CD’s revealed enormous levels of detail and an incredibly well integrated sound - hard to describe but it was very pleasing which I guess is what you’re ultimately looking for.

But it’s not as simple as that… the Denon doesn’t support the new uncompressed HD Audio formats (Dolby True-HD and DTS-HD) - and I’m pretty sure I want these. I will listen to both next week and see whether it’s worth £200 for this. If it is then I simply go up a notch on the Denon range to the 2808 which is pretty much identical but with the HD Audio support.

I have also listened to the Onkyo TXSR605 which has won many awards - but it was disappointing - movies sounded fine, but nowhere near as involving or exciting as the Denon, and 2-channel music was quite frankly dull - I wouldn’t say it was any better than my current setup - so that’s ruled out.

Pictures

This is brilliant - and much easier than it sounds. Serves 6.

• 6 ramekins for serving
• 400g rhubarb
• 100g caster sugar
• 25g butter
• 6 ginger nut biscuits
• 150g custard (pref vanilla)
• 1 egg yolk
• 4 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon plain flour
• salt

Preheat oven to 180C.

Cook rhubarb and sugar with a little water for 10-15 mins until soft. Cool in fridge.

Smash up biscuits using a pestle and mortar (or any other method). Line ramekins with butter and then biscuit mix and a small handful (save some for later). Add a small blob of rhubarb to each ramekin.

Mix the rest of the rhubarb with the custard, egg yolk and flour. Whisk the egg whites and salt in a large clean bowl until you have soft peaks. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and whisk again on high speed until stiff. Fold the egg whites into the rhubarb/custard gently - start with a couple of spoonfuls and then add the rest.

Fill up the ramekins with the mixture and bake it in the oven for 15-20 minutes (don’t open the oven door!!!) until risen and golden brown. Add remaining biscuit mix on top of souffles and poke a hole in each and add a drop of custard.

Simple, quick, delicious - a perfect starter or snack

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh ginger (thumb size)
• 2 Cloves of garlic
• Fresh red chilli
• 4-6 Raw tiger prawns per person
• 1-2 lemons
• handful of fresh parsley
• Loaf of Ciabatta - 1 slice per person

Finely chop ginger, garlic and chilli (discard seeds). In a large frying pan heat the oil and add spices and prawns for a couple of minutes (until prawns are pink). Take off the heat and squeeze over a little lemon juice (you will add more at the table), the parsley and some extra virgin olive oil. Toast the ciabatta slices. Assemble prawn mixture on toast and lemon quarters on the side.

This is a delicious and simple dish - 15 mins and you’re done!

For 2 people you need the following:

• 200g linguine (or spaghetti)
• Olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic, finely sliced
• Dried chilli flakes
• 200g of mixed seafood (fresh is best, but most supermarkets sell frozen Fruits de Mer, or Seafood Cocktail)
• Zest and juice of a lemon (make sure it is washed)
• Handful 0f flat leaf parsley

Boil some water and start cooking your linguine (if you twist it before you put it in the pan it’s easier to get it under water). Heat oil in large frying pan/wok and add garlic and a pinch of chilli - until the garlic is softened but not browned. Add seafood (careful - will sizzle!) and cook over medium heat for 8 minutes (until everything is cooked and piping hot). Add zest and juice from the lemon. Take pan off the heat. By this time pasta should be done - drain and add to seafood. Add the chopped parsley and mix everything well together. Done!

There are a couple of ways to back up your contacts - so when you lose your phone you don’t lose your friends…

1. Sync with Outlook on your PC - this has the advantage of meaning you only have to add contacts once to either device (PC/mobile) and you have a complete list with you at all times
2. Backup to PC - most phones come with some form of PC software and a way to connect your phone - USB, bluetooth, infra red
3. Free Online Backup with ZYB - new service which copies your contact information and stores it securely online. Is super easy to set up and use (and even has some pseudo-social networking built in). NOTE you will need a data connection for this.

Please use one of these so you never have to lose your vital contact information again (and send out an “I’m stupid” email)

Some useful tips here. I particularly liked the zoom feature for inline editing.
My favourites apps:

• Gmail
• Google Calendar
• Facebook
• Mundu
• BBC Podcasts - virtual radio player

List of iPhone apps from Apple and also here.

This is bloody delicious and takes literally 10 minutes

Ingredients (for 1)

• packet of pancetta
• 1 leek (chop into slices - about £1 coin thickness)
• 1/2 packet of (organic chestnut) mushrooms
• small pot of creme fraiche

Method

• Add pasta to boiling salted water (add a little oil to prevent sticking)
• cook pancetta in olive oil (I use a flat bottomed wok)
• add chopped leek and mushrooms
• season with salt & pepper (if you don’t use Maldon Sea Salt, maybe you should)
• cook for another 5 minutes or so (until leek is cooked)
• add drained pasta to everything else, mix
• remove from heat
• add a couple of dollops of creme fraiche, mix

I have looked online and couldn’t find a good simple guide to moving iTunes from one compter to another - so here’s my version. Unfortunately you can’t use your iPod to do this (actually you can but it’s pretty fiddly and this method is far easier and less time consuming).

I’m going to assume that you let (and want) iTunes to manage your music files - I can’t see why you wouldn’t - or why you would particularly care - there are those that do, and this sort of information probably isn’t for them.

Summary - we need to copy all of the music files (MP3s, etc) and also make sure we copy the library information (ratings, listening info, etc). You can either copy these directly (over the network if you have one) or copy them to an intermediate device - external hard drive, USB key, etc.

First, we need to copy the files from the old computer

By default iTunes stores the music files in C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music (Windows XP) or C:\Users\<Username>\Music (Vista) - you need to copy the entire folder structure either to the new computer (easiest to copy to the desktop) or via the Hard Drive.

You now have two options - if you already have music (that you want to keep) on the new computer then we will add to the existing library. If the new computer doesn’t have any music on it then we will use the existing library (from the old computer.)

I have iTunes on the new computer and want to keep the music stored on it.

1. Assuming your music files are now on the desktop of the new computer we just need to copy the music files to iTunes.
2. First check that iTunes is managing the music files:
3. Launch iTunes - Menu - Edit - Preferences - Advanced
4. Make sure the following options are checked -

• ‘Keep iTunes Music folder organized’
• ‘Copy files to itunes Music folder when adding to library’

5. Keep iTunes open and move and resize the window to the right-hand side of your screen.
6. Make sure you have selected Music (top left hand corner).
7. In the left hand side open the Music folder on the desktop, and navigate to the ‘iTunes Music’ folder where you should see folders for each of the artists in your collection.
8. Select all folders and drag them onto the iTunes window.
9. You should now see the music being copied in the iTunes status window.

I don’t have any music on the new computer and just want to copy what I had on the old one.

1. Install iTunes on the new computer if you haven’t already
2. Close iTunes if it is running
3. Copy the ‘iTunes’ folder from the desktop to ‘C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\My Music\iTunes’
4. Start iTunes

So, you have all your music on your PC, probably have an iPod, and now want to be able to listen to your music anywhere in your house - on your HiFi in the living room, in the kitchen, in the bathroom and in the bedroom, maybe even out in the garden.

As is usually the case you have a few options and it depends slightly on budget and also whether you might also want to watch movies/TV shows around the house. The following assumes you have a PC with your music on it and wireless networking in the house.

The first one we’re going to look at is the Sonos - the daddy - this is the most sophisticated and powerful of the systems here, and also by far the most expensive. You attach the ’server’ to your router and then you can place up to 24 ‘clients’ around your house creating zones. You also get a beautiful remote control which allows you to pick the music you’d like to listen to and where you’d like to listen to it. Each client needs to be attached to either an amp/TV or a set of speakers. Entry level pricing is £699 for one server and two clients - one with a built-in amp (just connect speakers) and one which needs to be attached to an amplifier or TV. For more information go to http://www.sonos.com

AppleTV - assuming you own an iPod and have iTunes running on either a Mac or PC then why not have iTunes running on your telly - this is essentially what AppleTV gives you - it has a really slick interface and is easiest described as an iPod in your living room. You can either stream music from your PC or sync it onto your AppleTV (40-160Gb) and play stuff locally - the advantage of this is that you don’t need to leave your PC on all the time. Apple’s selling point is that as well as music you can also download podcasts, movies, TV shows, watch YouTube and watch movie trailers, which is pretty cool - please be aware that we are still waiting for movies in the UK (November 2007). Costs £199 for 40Gb http://www.apple.com/appletv/tour

Squeezebox - this is a wireless streaming client which can be used to play music and internet radio - it’s a great looking device, has a clear display and has received many favourable reviews. Its outputs can be attached to a HiFi or TV speakers. It costs £185 - for more information go to http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html

Here’s some random stuff I stumbled across today…

• Get email updates from your MP so you can see what they’re up to
• Cool new program about photography on BBC4 starts Thursday
• Cool online TV guide - nice way to find out about new shows - DigiGuide

Home Cinema stuff

This subject just keeps on coming up - two of my friends are looking into it with a budget of around a grand, then another mate decides he’d like to convert his (enormous) loft into a ‘proper, proper’ home cinema with a budget of over £10,000!!

• Picking the right speakers
• Hi-Def - is your fancy new screen actually HD ready?
• Sky 2.0 -with networking - so you can record in one room and watch anywhere… fingers crossed

Am going to the What Hi-Fi / Stuff show at the weekend so should get a chance to take a look at all this is new’n’shiny in the world of sound and vision…