The situation with the speakers (Decware HDTs) is that they are still progressing, very near to the gluing together stage. I had a few setbacks which is why I got delayed a week or two; had to order some acoustic foam and am having to find some new tube for the ports (because, it turns out, since I bought the speaker plans Decware have revised the tuning and now I need more tube!). So things will be posted on here soon.

Tubes, valves, glowing thermionic devices. My input valve (Jan Philips 6922) suddenly went microphonic last week which only left me with one nice valve (Amperex PQ 6922) which I never use because it’s on its way out, and another horrible valve (Sovtek). Posted on some forums and got some really helpful suggestions for both new valves and cheaper NOS (new old stock). So I’ll be comparing those soon, may well write something about how they all sound.

What else?

I bought a secret new device which is just amazing, but rather than reveal what it is I will do a write up.

Got a whole raft of fantastic new vinyl. Norman Records is turning out to be a really superb shop to order from, their service is just excellent. They also have a great forum where you can find lists of music customers recommend.

Hello, everyone. It’s come to my attention that I have not relinked all the files (fonts etc) on this site, so I promise I will do that very soon – perhaps this weekend.

I’m really fed up with eBay, I think I may only use it very infrequently now. In my opinion the issues I had with eBay have got worse, not better. (Remember, these are only my opinions).

The quantity of counterfeit goods on eBay is just shocking, and I don’t think they do nearly enough to deal with it. (more…)

I have a few things I want to write about, but haven’t felt great recently. So you have to look forward to:

• A review of the Origin Live Ultra turntable
• A review of the Origin Live Silver tonearm and Goldring Eroica LX MC cartridge
• A rant about Quark XPress and how awful it is
• A music roundup of great stuff I’ve heard recently
• Possibly, a review of a Sorbothane subchassis damping kit for the turntable

Anyone want me to do anything else? I am also making some new speakers, Decware HDTs, but it’s a bit of a joke; I’ve had the speaker kits for ages but have been unable to get the MDF here.

Yes, I can’t think of any other word for it. Yesterday the BBC reported the unveiling of the London 2012 Olympic games logo and ran a poll in the right hand column.

They asked people to rate the new logo, with four options; Gold, Silver, Bronze and Wooden spoon.

By the late evening, only 3% of people had rated the logo as “Gold” and 84% had rated it as “Wooden spoon”. However, just before I went to bed, I checked the poll and noticed that every Wooden spoon vote had been removed, and by that time about 10,000 people had voted.

This morning, none of that 84% of the original vote had been put back so the figures read 18% on Gold, 20% on Silver, 40% on Bronze and 21% on Wooden spoon.

Now the figures are beginning to creep back to what they were yesterday, such is the strength of public opinion, but why did the BBC see fit to censor the vote?