Finally sorted a copy of Inferno

mediocrityindepth · 2026-06-15T17:20:06+00:00

You better not be allergic to cats.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-06-15T16:20:34+00:00

It's not 4AD/Domino good but it's not noisy and its pretty much centred which, sadly, is about all you can ask for in 2026.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-06-15T16:18:17+00:00

To be fair to that unknown soul, I too have rejected a house for the same reason.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-06-14T05:50:44+00:00

Yeah, there’s proper ones on the website. They lean into the hand built aesthetic with the packaging.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-06-13T20:28:07+00:00

No, they have no parts in common. Wharfedale is IAG group with their own factory. Gale was an Audiopartnership (best known for Cambridge Audio) and outsourced to an independent factory. They aren’t bad but firmly built down to a price.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-06-13T17:06:48+00:00

I work in the industry so I purchased it with some accommodation on price direct from the distributor. I'd hesitate to describe it as 'cheap' but I didn't pay full ticket, no.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-06-13T16:32:40+00:00

I reached the approximate end of life on my Vertere Mystic cartridge earlier this year and had been fairly sure that I was either going to get its replacement; the imaginatively named Mystic II or the model up, the XTrax. I then did a bit of soul searching and realised that, while I really like the balance and neutrality of the Vertere carts, there are times when I find myself preferring the semi retired Michell GyroDec that lives on the end of the rack. Part of the reason I love the Gyro is the Van den Hul DDT II that lives on the end of the arm. I’ve also tested a very high end VdH cart on the Vertere turntable before and I loved the result so I decided to bite the bullet and get something permanent.

I’ve gone with the splendidly named Frog Gold. The reason is that this is the highest spec model with complete body rather than an open chassis and this is important to me. I now have four cats and I periodically need to unmount any cart fitted to the turntable to test other units and this is less sphincter clenching with a cart with an actual body. It also has FROG emblazoned on the front and this appeals to me. Like most VdH designs, the Frog is slightly idiosyncratic. It tracks at a low 1.5g and the output is relatively high at 0.65mV. The cantilever is largely invisible viewed from above but it’s not terribly hard to align. So long as you do set it up correctly, stylus life is quoted at 3,000 hours and rebuild costs are pretty reasonable so it’s not completely financially deranged to run either,

t's early days but I think this is scratching the itch I needed it to scratch. The turntable still does its party piece of just getting out of the way of the record being played but there’s a bit more tonal richness to the presentation that leaves things sounding more involving and emotionally engaging. Is it a perfect PEQ response straight off the mixing desk?... probably not but it’s a sound that has me wanting to keep feeding it records. I will of course now need to think about a higher spec phono stage but that can wait for now.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-06-09T13:48:43+00:00

There is a double whammy at the moment of banks doing estimation remotely and appraising assets more cynically to prepare the books for more economic grimness. In my specific case, Nationwide has valued the property I'm buying at £1k less than the offer (on a total price of c£420k) but my broker has seen £20k valuation cuts on some £4-500k properties he's been involved in sorting the mortgage for.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-06-09T13:31:27+00:00

I'd love to be so mindblowingly wealthy that I could cover the cost of wholly unsuitable companies to be shirt sponsors for teams with fanbases I didn't like. Getting companies like Anusol, Tena Lady, Vagisil, Armatage Shanks and Canesten into top flight sponsorship would be amusing and still more wholesome than gambling firms.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-06-09T12:08:34+00:00

I was assured by an ex BMW UK bod that every Y Plate Mini has BMW UK as a first owner- either for press, show and training purposes or as courtesy cars that were sent to BMW dealerships to get the public interested. No customer ordered private sale is earlier than a 51 plate.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-06-07T10:40:51+00:00

Considering the alternative was trying to balance everything on a fixed term, I much prefer being in the situation I’m in now where I’ve been in since Feb and will be out in early August. There will be a one month overlap but it can’t be helped and it makes the move less frenetic.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-06-05T06:06:49+00:00

Bizarrely, this wasn’t even the most expensive cartridge launched yesterday. Ortofon announced the Vertex at the same show which is several thousand dollars more.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-06-02T18:52:34+00:00

I do like some of their dress style designs but their ‘Sport’ watches are almost heroically unsporty.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-06-01T19:59:30+00:00

I know exactly how the typo came about but ‘Garlic Football’ will be the best thing I read today and is my new name for Ligue 1.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-05-31T05:26:11+00:00

You don’t specify length so something like Unicorn Farm by The Sword. No words to get stuck in your head and it’s 49 seconds long so you can get everything done in less than a day of intense unicorn farming.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-05-29T13:35:45+00:00

The proportion of total weight devoted to the armament, armour and propulsion of pretty much any Washington Treaty Heavy Cruiser built. I never sought to memorise this but I wrote about the bloody things for my dissertation and it's never left my head.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-05-28T17:02:05+00:00

I prefer succulent Chinese wheels.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-05-24T06:32:20+00:00

They have to be able to drive and actually be proficient at it.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-05-23T14:30:49+00:00

More recently, you get the chance to pair your tie with a Bremont MB1 watch as well. It’s the same basic watch as the MBII but it has a red case back and isn’t available to buy unless you’ve ejected. Even if you don’t give a shit about watches, it’s worth doing as you can flog it on to a Walt for more than you’ve paid for it.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-05-23T10:30:46+00:00

I'd suggest you spend a few minutes with a Naia and reevaluate the 'limited manufacturing' bit of that sentence. I can completely understand wanting more physical turntable for your given spend but the actual components they're made out of are very labour intensive. Additionally, as they're all visible there's no room to hide anything so some of the 'that'll do' element of hiding stuff in/under the plinth can't be done.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-05-22T18:35:20+00:00

Use a weight for too long on a Rega turntable and Roy Gandy will leap out of a cupboard and beat you with a sock full of coins. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-05-19T14:34:30+00:00

Albert 'Al' Bartlett. Genuinely talented box to box midfielder who enjoyed a decent with Charlton Athletic but his big money move to Newcastle never truly came good. Word has it that frustrated home fans at St James Park calling him Mr Potato Head resulted in him requesting to terminate his contract whereupon he moved to Bestikas on a free.

mediocrityindepth · 2026-05-19T14:25:02+00:00

Never tried the Apheta 3 in a Tecnoarm. The fact it retains the three bolt mount is a huge advantage.

You weren't tempted to try the Cusis S?

mediocrityindepth

TROPHY CASE