h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Was just about to post 'Maplins', until I noticed I've been, er, beaten to it.
But Maplins pale into insignificance when challenged by those ultra-ultra high-end hi-fi shops; the kind you need to book appointments to visit and they don't sell *anything* under £1000 (which they describe as budget, or more usually are a part of something else, eg a cartridge for a turntable or a speaker drive unit).

I have one of these shops near me and it's an orgasmic experience just *looking* at £37,000 speakers, never mind owning a pair

Part of me's going . But most of me is pointing out rationally that the hairs on nobody's cochlea are sensitive enough to justify £37,000 speakers.

The law of diminishing returns is a very prominent law in audiophilia. Generally your first £500 gets the most improvements, then up to £1000 an extra layer of refinement... beyond that... dunno never really listened to anything that expensive, but seeing multi-grand stuff in shops I am struck mainly by the awesome build quality. The type of speakers I referred to above usually need 4 people to lift each one (one per corner). They are finished to an extremely high and even gloss. You can throw a washing machine at them and they won't budge (deliberate; the idea is the speaker cone should be the only thing that vibrates in a speaker). They also tend to use extremely esoteric materials in their construction; rare earth metals, that sort of thing. But mainly it's the marketing you're paying for

For those who want to have a sneek peek at my non-porn porn, here's a link http://www.loud-clear.co.uk/ Just DON'T TOUCH!

Hee hee, had a look at that kit. it's one of those places that I find slightly fascinating. Wondering about the people who have the money and the time to be so obsessive. I have a friend who will take things to this depth, where he gets down to agonising over what wood to have his custom Fender built in. for a fortnight. Researching tone and fussing over which the metal the little springs in the back should be...

I enjoy having a peek from the outside now and then... It is a strange and slightly scary world!

What amused me about that site is that all the home hi-fi/cinema equipment is shown in sleek, clean surroundings, which are all hard surfaces and would have dire acoustics.

I can see why they say "a visit to either of the stores will be eye if not ear opening" - the sound isn't really the point.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs Robyn Once you've got food, shelter, mating and transport sorted, to ever refined degrees, you end up with the obsessive, detailed part of your brain left with nothing much to do. So you turn the skills which our ancestors would've used to find the absolutely best cave and finest quality cut of boar, to obsessing over which bit-rate to record your music at or whether you've chosen the most efficient spark plugs for your engine.

I am one of those folk (when I can afford to be). When I earned a reasonable wage I used to spend days tweaking every nuance of my hi-fi. Now I'm a poor student again I drool over the occasional ebay hifi bargain; getting old tech (eg top-end VCR's) that would've cost over £1000 new for £20 or so, currently floats my boat

The sound of the sea crashing onto the shore, is such an awesome sound and very calming to my very stressed nerves. Another one is whale song, especially the humpback whale.

Night-time forest sounds. And rainy thunderstorms.

"getting old tech (eg top-end VCR's) that would've cost over £1000 new for £20 or so, currently floats my boat smiley"

I *love* doing that. Things I drooled over but couldn't afford new, but got for a song ten or more years later still in pukka nick include:
- an F2 Sputnik 270 windsurf board: right at the very very edge of what I'm capable of sailing at all, and completely impossible to make go round a corner, but a blast on the two (count 'em) days I've actually had it on the water. Will probably never use it again but since I paid £40 for it (original list price if I remember correctly was £899) who's complaining?
- a Cambridge Computers Z88, in full working order but with absolutely no discernible use. I just liked the look of it.
- an Apple Newton palmtop. Surprisingly good at handwriting recognition in the days when that still seemed like a good idea.
- a Jupiter Ace. I was always curious what it would be like to have a computer that ran Forth instead of BASIC, and when one appeared in the window of the local camera shop for £5 (not a typo, five of your English pounds) I was straight in there. The answer, I'm afraid, was "bobbins".
- an Edel Atlas paraglider. Best part of three grand new, got it for four hundred. Served me well, flew very nicely for many hours, right up until I sent it in for its first service and the porosity results made the tester go white and recommend I never, ever fly it again.

Ooh - another non-porn porn thing for me is watches. Obviously love the Tag Heuers, Omegas and various Rolexes, but there are some that just make me go whoah. But my personal favourite, quite cheap at around eight grand... http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gkOWPiV6veg/Sk9AJjUS5iI/AAAAAAAACCc/asemPKiGZEU/s400/BaselRolex116613LB-97203_CM.jpg

Oooh, food-porn! I love cooking (not dinner for two cos that's just a daily chore) and I love researching and checking out every single image for the recipe I have thought of and then finding something completely different to cook.

A friend of mine went on a 'food-fluffing' course with a top stylist - Oh yes, there are such things - and learned how to present your home bakes and fluff them for the camera for her cooking blog photos! I love to look at the professional pics but sometimes - a picture of dinner is just Mmmmmm...

I'm not much of a girlie girl and I certainly don't do shoes. But bags. Handbags, suitcases, duffle bags, backpacks, sports bags, evening bags, shoebags, crazy printed shopping bags, hand-made tote bags, stylish plastic carrier bags from upmarket shops - anything except binliners really.

How do you ever get out of luggage reclaim?

The luggage carousel would be a gang bag then.

PP.

Am considering yikesing my own post.

PP.

I'm very, very thrifty when it comes to packing and luggage (inveterate Ryanair flyer, me). but I'd be happy to buy a new case/rucksack for each trip. I've already bought one to take to Reims. It's standing beside my bed and I look at it lovingly every night.

Amazon for me. I spend far too much of my time there, browsing My Recommendations in CDs, books, DVDs and games...

I'm a bit of an Amazon lurker myself. What I should do is build myself a wishlist in case anyone fancies taking pity on me and my weirdy tastes

Oh, yeah, I have an Amazon wishlist. I live in hope that one day someone will buy me the lovely Complete Calvin & Hobbes three volume bound set.

Deb

Cookery and books - what is there not to like? My son asked me today if I had a copy of Mrs Beeton. Actually I don't, but my mother does - thick as two bibles it is.

So I looked to see if it was still available on Amazon. You can get loads: from a used copy for 1p, up to a (mint condition? first edition?) unused one for 908 pounds.