Romantic Ways to Propose

On a beach in Barcelona during sunset I proposed to Clair. It was a once in a lifetime event so I had it planned weeks in advance. If you search on the internet for ways to propose marriage there are a handfull of ideas, but in reality many of them in my opinion are not very romantic.

One of the more interesting ideas is to have the captain of an airplane you are on recite your marriage proposal to your partner over the intercom. This may sound like an romantic idea but do you really want to be cooped up with so many people around you during this special and private time… trust me you don’t!

Other ideas that came to me on the internet include making a video as you propose or while doing extreme sports... all rather un-romantic. A massive billboard like signs saying “will you marry me” seems to be a popular suggestion. I think people are trying to be too clever.

The beach proposal in my opinion is the best most romantic way to propose however other scenery may have the desired effect such as mountains. Have one drink at the bar so as to feel relaxed and a restaurant near to have a meal afterwards. If you’re lucky enough to be able to carry a brief case (pretend it’s for work) you could put a small bottle of champagne and a couple of flute glasses inside it for after or during the proposal. A camera can be useful if you don’t intend to return to the location often. Thats all there is to it ... good luck.

Teac CR-H255 Review

The Teac CR-H255 (aka Reference 255, CRH-255 and CRH255) is a replacement for CR-H250 (no USB for MP3/WMA playback and recording). The unit looks very stylish, well built and sounded very neutral and clear in my bedroom with a large bed and carpets. I paired it up with some Tannoy Mx1 speakers that are suitable in size for the bedroom (larger your room the larger the speakers needed). There are tone controls to increase the bass and treble. I was tempted to put the bass up slightly to compensate for lack of extreme lows of the Tannoy MX1’s however even at the lowest setting up there was now too much bass so I stuck to neutral settings that sounded much more natural. I was too used to the sound of my much larger main unit (NAD amp, Cyrus CD and larger Tannoy M2's) that sounds more lively, especially extended tuneful bass guitars and quick drums. But this neutral Teac is clean and very good and you can still pick out the notes from stubborn bass guitars be it more "laid back". You can use an optional sub or bass forward speakers! Unlike my main unit the Teac 255 only wanted to make rock music sound good at the 35 setting or above but I think a sub or large speakers may fix this becuase no bookshelf speaker will not go deep enough to give bass weight and there is no loudness switch either.

The DAB functionality and DAB sound quality (MP2) is good. You can notice the lower bit rate’s of 64kbps from the excellent station called Chill* compared to higher bit rates (128kbps) of other stations. After 192kbps MP3 VBR using the latest LAME I don’t notice the deference of any higher bit rates on any system including the Teac. It must also be said that if you often listen to Chill (64kbps) casually and do not try to deconstruct it in an audiophile mindset by comparing it, Chill can then sound good. At 128kbps MP3, DAB is not an improvement over FM and in my opinion should be a launch pad for more niche channels. I would have liked more channels on DAB that would play alternative music that is not Rock but Acid Jazz, Nu Jazz, Dub, Ambient, Trip Hop (down tempo House), Abstract... but unlikely to ever get it!

I wake up to TalkSport or XFM every morning and the timer is easy to get to grips with when you follow the manual. Sadly when it does switch on the noise of the solenoid (switch) often wakes me up before the music has a chance to gently wake me up.

I use an external hard drive and connect it to the USB (brilliant idea Teac) but was disappointed to find that in order to work you must have under 2000 files (not just music files). At £50 extra I was disappointed as I have over 3500 tracks. The hard drive is slow to navigate if you have many albums but it helps to hold down the button on the remote to fast forward folders. It also has random mode. You can also plug in memory sticks or MP3 Players into the USB.

Some people claimed the 1 bit DAC CD player sounded poor but I must disagree. My CD's sound as good as the best WMA/MP3's.

At over £230 without speakers the Teac CR-H255 it is an expensive luxury unit. It is however a the most stylish (and unique unit if you use a hard drive) for the bedroom or small lounge (Teac can still go very loud). It will not match the sound quality of the Arcam Solo costing over 4 times as much! however is (arguably?) the best micro system for the bedroom from all the other micro systems from Denon, Yamaha and What HiFi's favorite Onkyo. I think with better speakers than my Tannoy MX1 you should get better sound at lower volumes however I am still delighted with the set up and the Teac CR-H255 brings a smile to my face every morning. Score: 9/10

Edit 1: A new Onkyo CR-515DAB Receiver with optional USB version is available as a direct competitor to the Teac CR-H255 and is well worth a look boasting a very good CD player DAC. Onkyo for those who do not know are an quality Japanese manufacturer of high end home cinema.

Edit 2:* Chill radio now broadcasts at 128kb stereo.

Edit 3: No loudness, defeat or mute may put off some buyers. The remote control and programming of stations is not always intuitive and manual some times essential.