Avinash Meetoo

Dream HiFi setup: Audiolab and Dynaudio (Take 2)

2 July 2019 By Avinash Meetoo Leave a Comment

One of the “exercises” I love doing is imaging my perfect audio setup.

Two years ago, I thought that my dream combination would be a Nad integrated amplifier and Dynaudio speakers and, since last night, I have changed my mind. I now believe that my dream setup for listening to music would be:

an Audiolab 6000A integrated amplifier (and its review on What Hi-Fi?)
a pair of Dynaudio Emit M10 speakers (and a corresponding review on What Hi-Fi?)
a Google Chromecast Audio (which is now discontinued by Google but which still works wonders)

The amp retails at £600 and the speakers cost £500 a pair. So £1100 or about Rs 50,000 at today’s exchange rate. Quite steep but, bear in mind, that this is not an expense but more of an investment for years and years to come.

Pity I don’t travel to the UK much or else I would have got the components today itself.

Liverpool wins the UEFA Champions League 2019

2 June 2019 By Avinash Meetoo 1 Comment

Last night, Liverpool won the UEFA Champions League 2019 after a difficult match against a valiant Tottenham. I watched the match at home with Christina and an exuberant Anya who has become a passionate Liverpool supporter.

This year, Liverpool has players such as Alisson and Van Dijk and it is clear that this changes everything: the team is stronger, technically, physically and, more importantly, mentally.

After the win against Barcelona during the semi-finals, it had (more or less) become inevitable to many that Liverpool would be crowned during the final but the players had to be mentally very strong to cope with the immense pressure of being the favourites. Fortunately, the team managed to score when needed and Alisson made the required saves at crucial times.

A few years ago, Jurgen Klopp made all Liverpool fans “believe again”. Today, it is clear that Liverpool is a formidable team, surely in the top 10 in the world. And this is just the beginning. The finances are good. The players (apart from Milner) are incredibly young and the academy players (some of them who have been successfully loaned during the year and who will return full of hunger) are very promising. With the injection of money that the Premiere League and the Champions League promise, Liverpool can now aspire to have 11 world class players. This will require the purchase of 2-3 world class players (another central defender, another central midfielder and a striker maybe) but I am confident that Klopp will do that this transfer window itself.

Last year, I said that Liverpool would win the Premiership and the team won the Champions League. For next year, I’ll say that the target will be the Premiership and Liverpool will win it superbly. The Champions League might be a bonus. Who knows?

Jurgen Klopp and his backroom staff surely have many surprises left for Liverpool fans.

Last, I have to write a few words about the Liverpool owners. John and Linda Henry are fantastic owners: they are true to their words in terms of investment and projects, they don’t put undue pressure on the manager and the players and they look honest and really nice.

Liverpool is really in good hands.

The future is phenomenally bright. Cheers. And YNWA.

Farewell Bernadette, Howard, Leonard, Penny, Sheldon, Amy and Raj

29 May 2019 By Avinash Meetoo Leave a Comment

Last night, Kyan, Anya, Christina and I watched the last episode of The Big Bang Theory.

Pictured above is the last scene from this last episode 279 after 12 years where the group of friends, Bernadette, Howard, Leonard, Penny, Sheldon, Amy and Raj (from left to right), have dinner in Leonard and Penny’s apartment like they always tend to do, even though Leonard and Amy had won the Nobel Prize in Physics only two months before.

Some of the 279 episodes were not too interesting. Sometimes, as geeks ourselves, we felt that instead of being a series for geeks, it was a series about geeks. I loved the last season though. Lots of fun. Lots of questions answered. And a lot of emotion in the last episode.

But I also have to admit that, because we have been watching The Big Bang Theory for 12 years (i.e. since Anya was 4 and Kyan 2), Sheldon and the others pretty much had become our friends.

So, farewell dear friends. It has really been a nice journey.