Prat Warning

Following on from David Hansen's message. . .

Quoted message said:

In the early 1980s I used to comment on how the English were just
about the only people not to know what their own flag looked like.

Oh. I didn't realise it was a national thing. I just thought prats
needed something to remind them how to sign their name.

--
PETER FOX Not the same since the exam marking business failed
[email hidden]
2 Tees Close, Witham, Essex.
Gravity beer in Essex <http://www.eminent.demon.co.uk>

Mark McN [email hidden] opined the
following...

Quoted message said:

A genuine 2k would be more than adequate for amplifying a voice in a
thousand-seater hall. (Years ago I heard a rough rule of thumb of 1W
per seat.) But I've never been able to understand amplifier ratings,
either pro or the inflated claims of Dixons/Halfrauds/whatever stuff.
There'll doubtless be a website somewhere, if I get sufficiently
interested!

The relationship between wattage of amp and volume of produced noise
depends hugely on the amp itself, impedance of the speakers and
efficiency of the speakers. Given that the P.A. that we used to use at
university was a nominal 22kW, that I used to regularly see a 30kW, and
that values in excess of these are often given, 2kW in a car seems quite
plausible.

1W per seat sounds like a very dubious rule of thumb. The choice of P.A.
style and power depends largely on what you are trying to achieve with
it. Large subwoofers will require more energy to drive them (More
speaker to move) so a system with such speakers will usually have a
large amplifier in order to balance the sub with the rest of the range.

Jon

On Mon, 7 Jun 2004 20:00:52 +0100, Jon Senior
<jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Given that the P.A. that we used to use at
university was a nominal 22kW, that I used to regularly see a 30kW, and
that values in excess of these are often given, 2kW in a car seems quite
plausible.

On the other hand, a pair of bog-standard Quad 405 amps (100W) was
sufficient for a 200+ seat film theatre replete with stery dolbeo :-)

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

in message <[email hidden]>, Jon Senior

jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk ('') said:

Simonb [email hidden] opined the
following...

Quoted message said:

Simon Brooke said:

And the blue lights under the car to illuminate the road surface.
_Most_ necessary.

I saw 'XR3i' in big, white, 20cm letters on a _windscreen_ the other
day.

I might get 'Polo L' for mine. You know, just in case anyone was
wondering.

Always fancied getting to one of these cars when it was parked up, or
in the garage (having an even bigger exhaust fitted!), and putting an
enormous transfer on it that reads "Small knob".

My significant others refers to such vehicles as 'willie shrivellers'.
You might try it.

Quoted message said:

And on that note, I did appreciate the (hopefully) tongue-in-cheek
humour of the genuine sports car with registration PEN 1 S (Or some
variant thereof).

There was a publican of a drinking dive in the West Bow in my youth who
drove around in a white Ferrari with the registration number '50BER'.
Mind you, in the same period one of Edinburgh's drug squad drove arounf
in a convertible white Triumph Vitesse with a pink flying pig painted
on each door. As the car was exceedingly well known it scarcely counted
as 'plain clothes'.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

See one nuclear war, you've seen them all.

in message <[email hidden]>, David Hansen

(') said:

On Mon, 7 Jun 2004 15:32:09 +0100 someone who may be "Just zis Guy,
you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm sure the Human Rights Act would cause problems with the
television bit.

No, it only applies to humans.

Sadly not. A number of companies have claimed that their human
rights have been infringed. The most famous example is probably
Lafarge, in connection with the "superquarry" in Harris.

<macenroe>
You _cannot_ be serious!
</macenroe>

Please say you're not!

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; may contain traces of nuts, bolts or washers.

in message <[email hidden]>, Dave Larrington

(') said:

cashier recommended Tesco or Asda. There may be space here for a
Scholarly Monograph on the subject of Perceived Versus Actual Social
Standing In Supermarket Customers (i.e. snobbery)

You mean 'Perceived Order of Social Hierarchy', surely?

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; An enamorata is for life, not just for weekends.

in message <[email hidden]>, Danny Colyer

(') said:

Peter Clinch said:

Around here I don't seem to see many... the local yoof don't seem to
have gone for Saltires instead as yet, but maybe not being in the
fitba next week is a deciding factor there.

I had been wondering if the Scots had a similar pratt warning system.
I assume the Welsh don't, as AFAIK they don't have a football team.

It is that you could offend a lot of Welshmen saying that, do you see,
boyoh? There is that Ryan Giggs who plays for them, for a one, bach.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; This email may contain confidential or otherwise privileged
;; information, though, quite frankly, if you're not the intended
;; recipient and you've got nothing better to do than read other
;; folks' emails then I'm glad to have brightened up your sad little
;; life a tiny bit.

Just zis Guy, you know? [email hidden] opined the
following...

Quoted message said:

On Mon, 7 Jun 2004 20:00:52 +0100, Jon Senior
<jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Given that the P.A. that we used to use at
university was a nominal 22kW, that I used to regularly see a 30kW, and
that values in excess of these are often given, 2kW in a car seems quite
plausible.

On the other hand, a pair of bog-standard Quad 405 amps (100W) was
sufficient for a 200+ seat film theatre replete with stery dolbeo :-)

Matched to suitably high quality and well-placed speakers I presume. A
similar pair of Quad 405s currently drives a pair of Bose 801s at work
and constitutes my work hi-fi. It is frequently drowned out by the radio
from the adjacent workshop.

Jon (Who works in the sound and lighting industry and plays with this
stuff a lot!)

Reply to

Quoted message said:

1W per seat sounds like a very dubious rule of thumb. The choice of P.A.
style and power depends largely on what you are trying to achieve with
it.

Indeed. That would prolly have referred only to straight theatre -
rock amplification is another matter altogether - but I've never been
a sound engineer. As a colleague of mine said, it all comes in
unfeasibly heavy boxes, and they only use girly single phase. ;-)

(Which reminds me, I remember hearing of the drummer with some major
band or other demanding and getting 64k of monitors, though that's
approaching Spinal Tap territory.)

--
Mark, UK.
We hope to hear him swear, we love to hear him squeak,
We like to see him biting fingers in his horny beak.

Reply to

Quoted message said:

Jon (Who works in the sound and lighting industry and plays with this
stuff a lot!)

I was beginning to think you might!

At work our f.o.h. rig consists of four Bose 802s driven by HH V500s.
It's over fifteen years old now, and has occasionally been described
as "adequate", depending on its purpose and whether there's anything
better available. ;-)

--
Mark, UK.
We hope to hear him swear, we love to hear him squeak,
We like to see him biting fingers in his horny beak.

On Mon, 7 Jun 2004 20:40:41 +0100, Jon Senior
<jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On the other hand, a pair of bog-standard Quad 405 amps (100W) was
sufficient for a 200+ seat film theatre replete with stery dolbeo :-)

Quoted message said:

Matched to suitably high quality and well-placed speakers I presume.

Of course. Tannoy all round, IIRC, with large cabinets for the left,
right and centre channels, and lots of little ones for the surround.

We had the upholstery changed once and it took a day to rebalance the
Dolby...

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

Mark McN [email hidden] opined the
following...

Quoted message said:

Reply to

Quoted message said:

Jon (Who works in the sound and lighting industry and plays with this
stuff a lot!)

I was beginning to think you might!

At work our f.o.h. rig consists of four Bose 802s driven by HH V500s.
It's over fifteen years old now, and has occasionally been described
as "adequate", depending on its purpose and whether there's anything
better available. ;-)

We've just acquired a rather funky new PA. D&B Q-system. Dinky little
lightweight boxes. Matched amplifiers, and stonkingly loud.

But I'm technically a lampy so probably shouldn't get excited by this
stuff!

Jon

Mark McN said:

That's if you can hear the exhaust over the 120 bpm being put out by
2kW of bass bins...

I once wondered whether joining in with a decent sound system playing
Vivaldi or something would be conisered polite. There are some quite
good classics for outdoor performance.

- Richard

--
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ Richard dot Corfield at ntlworld dot com
_/ _/ _/ _/
_/_/ _/ _/ Time is a one way street,
_/ _/ _/_/ _/_/_/ Except in the Twilight Zone.

Terry D said:

Last time I saw a genuine 1kW (might have been 1.5 kW actually) r.m.s.
audio amplifier was way back in the 60's. It was the size of a phone box
and supplied the whole of Mansfield with the Light Programme. Try
putting two of them in the back of a Fiesta!

They seem to have got smaller, and will fit into a standard rack system.
I've done well enough with 2*150W in a reasonable sized auditorium though.

I'm not sure a car electrical system would provide 1.5kW, or even 3kW if
the amplifier's 50% efficient, for any period of time. In that respect,
it could be a bit like the "200W car speakers", wired with 500mW bell
wire into a 4W PMPO amplifier. "My speakers are 200W".

I suppose what you need to compete is a long wheel base van or Landrover,
a small generator (gas turbine perhaps) or lots a battery, and a decent
stage amplifier and speakers. Industrial ear defenders may also help.

- Richard

--
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ Richard dot Corfield at ntlworld dot com
_/ _/ _/ _/
_/_/ _/ _/ Time is a one way street,
_/ _/ _/_/ _/_/_/ Except in the Twilight Zone.

Jon Senior said:

Matched to suitably high quality and well-placed speakers I presume. A
similar pair of Quad 405s currently drives a pair of Bose 801s at work
and constitutes my work hi-fi. It is frequently drowned out by the radio
from the adjacent workshop.

The theatre I mentioned in a previous post was nice for that. It had
a steep rake auditorium, proper tiling on the walls, and a big wooden
sounding board at the top of the proscenium arch.

The village hall I do village panto work in at the moment, on the other
hand, has smooth plastered walls and a high semicircular cross section
roof. The stage is a box bolted onto the end. The pantos are fun though.

- Richard

--
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ Richard dot Corfield at ntlworld dot com
_/ _/ _/ _/
_/_/ _/ _/ Time is a one way street,
_/ _/ _/_/ _/_/_/ Except in the Twilight Zone.

Reply to Richard Corfield

Quoted message said:

I once wondered whether joining in with a decent sound system playing
Vivaldi or something would be conisered polite. There are some quite
good classics for outdoor performance.

Confession: in my plukey youth I myself put Big Speakers on the back
shelf and drove around playing loud music; but it was mostly
classical. Bach organ music would do the job of annoying other yoofs
who were trying to listen to heavy metal in the next car, but now that
I've reached some measure of maturity, I'd never condone such
disgraceful practices, natch.

One of the more surreal experiences of my life occurred a couple of
years ago, being driven around North Carolina by my common-law-
brother-in-law. A true Southern Gentleman, he would genuinely flinch
if anybody took the name of The Lord in vain, but saw nothing wrong in
taking the doors off his jeep, firing up the six-speaker Bose system,
and treating the rest of the world to
http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/LIMP-BIZKIT/Hot-Dog.html
at an awesome volume.

--
Mark, UK.
We hope to hear him swear, we love to hear him squeak,
We like to see him biting fingers in his horny beak.

"Dave Larrington" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

1 - astonishment subsequently decreased after witnessing a different Mrs.
Prat asking the cashier in my local Sainsbury's whether they sold
Prat-Flags. Mercifully, they did not.

A lot of people here seem to have real problems with the English flag. Why is that?

"Vince" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Dave Larrington" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

1 - astonishment subsequently decreased after witnessing a different Mrs.
Prat asking the cashier in my local Sainsbury's whether they sold
Prat-Flags. Mercifully, they did not.

A lot of people here seem to have real problems with the English flag.
Why is that?

There is no problem with the flag per se.

The problem is with cars flying the flag.

White van Bad. White van flying flag Worse.
--
Mark South: World Citizen, Net Denizen

Reply to Richard Corfield

Quoted message said:

The theatre I mentioned in a previous post was nice for that. It had
a steep rake auditorium, proper tiling on the walls, and a big wooden
sounding board at the top of the proscenium arch.

Sounds like the Edwardian opera house I work in. Matcham knew
what he was doing with acoustics and sight lines, even if he didn't
know a thing about providing a decent mixer position. ;-)

Quoted message said:

The pantos are fun though.

Pantos are always fun. <Audience> Oh, no, they're not! </Audience>

--
Mark, UK.
We hope to hear him swear, we love to hear him squeak,
We like to see him biting fingers in his horny beak.

Simon Brooke <[email hidden]> wrote in news:lrrep1-0u2.ln1
@gododdin.internal.jasmine.org.uk:

Quoted message said:

There was a publican of a drinking dive in the West Bow in my youth who
drove around in a white Ferrari with the registration number '50BER'

I remember that one (which wasn't *that* long ago, I hope you're fairly
young Simon). Apparently he (or a subsequent owner) sold the registration
as he was sick of getting pulled over by the police to be breathalysed.

Graeme