A fine and inexpensive timepiece.

The Seiko PADI Solar Model SNE435P1

A friend is an expert on watches and helped me with the decision to buy an inexpensive yet robust timepiece. I have got tired of inflicting damage on costly Swiss timepieces and the related maintenance agonies which last seemingly forever. Last time my Patek Philippe Nautilus was in for replacement of a broken bracelet clasp the service took – wait for it – 9 months.

The Seiko PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) diver’s watch uses a quartz movement, charging its battery through solar cells embedded in the dial. These are so skillfully hidden as to be invisible to the naked eye, and will recharge from any light source. Once fully charged the watch will run for 10 months, according to the manufacturer.

The watch’s appearance is a rip off of the Rolex Submariner with two differences. It’s quartz, not automatic, so far more accurate. And the rotating bezel is screen printed like earlier Submariners. Later ones are enameled for greater longevity.

This is an excellent watch for the rider of a classic motorcycle which has no clock installed. Like my 1975 BMW R90/6 air cooled twin. That’s because the visibility of the hands is very high, requiring only a quick glance at speed and meaning that you do not have to angle your wrist this way and that for a reading.

After many days of checking – you can freeze the seconds hand when setting the watch against a know accurate time source like Apple – the watch is dead accurate, having neither gained or lost as much as one second. The only time you are going to be adjusting the time is at the end of short months when the crown is rotated to advance the date. By contrast the Rolex is guaranteed to +/- 2 seconds a day, or up to one minute a month, which is disappointing on so costly a timepiece.

The Lumibrite fluorescence of the hands is excellent though it rather fades after 3-4 hours. The outer diameter of the dial is 43.5mm suitable for medium and larger wrists. I has to remove one link for a good fit, as well as setting the clasp on its shortest of four positions.

The bracelet is not, however, Rolex quality, using a mix of stainless stampings and castings. The pin and collar mechanism used to connect links is a horror story necessitating that a small 2mm collar is installed one side as the pin is pushed in from the other after removal of link(s). Chances are your jeweler is clueless and will lose the collar, meaning the bracelet will eventually fall apart. Check out online videos, splash out $5 on a pusher tool and do it yourself. The bracelet rattles off the wrist but is fine once in place. The deployment mechanism uses both a clasp and a push button release as a failsafe. While aftermarket bracelets are available for many Seikos, none has yet been made for this model. They tend to be better quality and use screws, not pins, to connect the links. Typically priced around the $100 mark you can buy ten before approaching the cost of the repair on my Nautilus.

Price is incredibly low for what you get. I paid $300 at Amazon. That’s less than the round trip shipping of your Rolex to Geneva when it breaks down, and it will. The happy Seiko owner simply recycles his PADI and buys a new one. He is also $15,000 richer, money which can be spent on scuba gear and lessons.

Fans of automatic movements can spend $50-100 more for the Automatic Turtle (SRPA21J1) or the Automatic PADI (SRPA21) which will get you less accuracy and a short 41 hour power reserve. Replacement aftermarket bracelets for those models are readily available. All are guaranteed leakproof down to 200 meters (660 feet).

The Solar has a date only display with a cyclops magnifier for better visibility. The Automatic PADI and Turtle have day and date displays, unmagnified. Accuracy of the automatic watches is specified by Seiko (4R36 movement) as +45/-35 seconds a day which is, frankly, awful, but can probably be tuned for better performance. None of these qualifies as a ‘dress’ watch, but as I gave away all my suits and ties years ago, ask me if I care.

Highly recommended.

Update after one month of use:

The Seiko gained just 3 seconds. Given that the date has to be advanced mostly every other month, I’ll simply ‘hack’ it at that time to lose the 3 seconds or so it has gained.

Public education.

I wrote this a while back and, for some reason, did not publish it. I was reminded of the horror of US public school ‘education’ when Pig’s miserable Education Secretary resigned the other day. So here it is.

When Eisenhower was president (1952-60) America boasted the finest public schooling system on the planet. Today, that system is the worst in the Western Hemisphere.

I was forcefully reminded of this fact over the past few weeks which saw my son laboring mightily over his Algebra II studies. These studies were dictated by the need to catch up with the mainstream at his high school and reflected the glacial progress at his former public intermediate school in California which saw to it that the pace of teaching was aimed at the dumbest and slowest, not at the best and brightest. This is the result of a system which regards education as a right, not as a privilege.

Notes from my son’s summer Algebra II studies.

With the curriculum approved by the head of Mathematics at his prep school, he started classes at the local school district in Arizona only to express a strong desire to quit after one day. Understandable when you realize that his fellow students comprised juniors who had failed the subject in 11th grade and were being forced to retake Algebra II before their senior year. Not what you would call a supportive peer group. Add to that the fact that the teacher would clearly be some place other than in the classroom, mistaking rote recitation for teaching, and you can see where the boy was coming from. He quickly switched to online tuition – a choice not without its own issues – and elected yours truly as teacher and mentor. This was a risky move given that I last studied algebra in the previous milenium, but the alternative was too awful to contemplate.

The fall in the quality of American schooling is attributable to many factors, but one dominates. The Teachers’ Union has but one interest at heart and that is self preservation. And hang the kids. They accomplish this goal by ensuring that it is virtually impossible to fire a public school teacher for performance. The data attest to this fact. A recent article in “American Teacher’ stated that just 0.2% of tenured teachers were fired in the past five years. In any meritocracy that number should be ten to fifty times higher. In New York City, where a rational observer would expect public school education to be the best in the nation, firings of teachers are virtually unheard of.

And how was that online tuition? Mostly awful. Irrelevant jokey introductions to classes then switched to rambling text. Not once in the over 100 lessons was there a clear opening exposition of the equations being taught, these being lost in the turgid text. Wild jumps and omissions of logic made the quizzes doubly difficult and we found ourselves frequently making side trips to Khan Academy videos on the internet in a desperate effort to figure out what on earth was going on. Worst, none of this math tuition was focused on the real world and real problem solving. All is cast in the abstract and a heavy dose of rote and memorization is the seemingly preferred path to success. None of this is surprising. The Teachers’ Union must be mightily threatened at the prospect of their teachers being obsoleted by superior machine learning, so it’s hardly in their interest to craft a high quality online system.

The ten best public high school systems in the world, according to The Independent are:

• Finland – #1
• Switzerland
• Belgium
• Singapore
• Holland
• Qatar
• Ireland
• Estonia
• New Zealand
• Japan – #10

America? Nowhere in sight. I rather doubt it even made the top 100.

Perhaps the most galling aspect of this is that we now have an Education Secretary – a misnomer if there ever was one – who has never set foot in a public school and whose appointment hearing disclosed a thorough ignorance of public schooling. Then again, this is hardly surprising in a nation which increasingly denigrates education as something reserved for the ‘liberal elites’. Sadly, as a taxpayer I cannot opt out of funding this crime against the people, and insult is added to injury when the realization dawns that the $300,000 I will spend on my son’s prep school education includes not one penny of tax deductible outlay. Instead of rewarding my success the United States is punishing me for it.

Is there a fix to this chamber of horrors? Of course there is. Much as the criminal Airline Pilots Association was bankrupted by an earlier administration and put out of business, so should the Teacher’s union of today be treated. Then a strict merit system with the lowest performing 10% fired for cause annually for the next decade will dramatically increase the quality of teaching. There is no greater weapon in a nation’s arsenal than the quality of its education. We can easily deflect 10% of our ridiculous military budget, now approaching $1 trillion – the very ‘military industrial complex’ Ike ranted against in his final presidential speech – and spend the $100 billion thus realized on attracting the best and brightest to the front of the class, reestablishing once again the pride and joy of that nation under Ike.

As for my son, he scored a straight A on his classes, but what did you expect given the quality of instruction? And no, he will not be migrating to the public schooling system from his prep school in Massachusetts.

Don’t waste money.

Topology – added components:

Adding a Mac Pro to the surround sound system. The orange box contains added hardware.

The added hardware – a second Sound Extractor and a 2-into-1 Toslink adapter.

The use of an HDMI Sound Extractor in the single source scenario, where the HDMI feed from an Apple TV 4K streaming box is split into video and sound, was illustrated in the previous article.

Multiple HDMI feeds:

My system has two HDMI feeds into the TV set – the Apple TV 4K and a Mac Pro whose graphics card is connected using HDMI, conveying video and 5.1 sound.

The Mac Pro:

Switching between these two HDMI sources is done on screen, using the TV’s remote. The selected channel routes video and sound while the other is muted. My TV allows up to four HDMI sources, and yours is probably similar. I only use two. The Mac Pro is connected to some 14Tb of hard drives which store ripped movies, most of these with 5.1 sound tracks. A few early movies only store two channel sound. . Movies are accessed with one mouse click using the excellent DVDpedia app. As a file server the Mac Pro remains as good as it gets, and a browser gives you full internet access to boot. My Mac Pro also stores all my music, accessible at the touch of a mouse. I do not own a single DVD or music CD – all have been ripped to the Mac Pro which has 100% redundant back-up, using hard disk drive pairs.

Everything you need to know about the 2009/2010/2012 Mac Pros can be found here

A second Sound Extractor:

Each HDMI source requires that sound and video are split so that the rear channels in the sound component can be routed to the rear surround speakers. Thus we have to splash out on a second Sound Extractor to accomplish this goal. As the Mac Pro is limited to 1080p (not 4K) the cheaper 1080p Sound Extractor which has 1080p video passthrough suffices, all for the ruinous sum of $12, which includes a Toslink optical cable. (The image above shows the costlier $20 4K passthrough version of the sound extractor which supports 60Hz HDMI video. Either version will work with the Mac Pro).

Combining the two optical sound feeds:

As the earlier piece explains, the optical output from this Sound Extractor is fed into the Audio Rush box using an optical cable. The outputs from that box include the rear surround sound channels. There is no need to buy a second Audio Rush box. We can route the optical 5.1 sound feeds from both Audio Extractors into the single optical input on the Audio Rush using a Toslink 1-into-2 adapter. The Audio Rush box is provided with a single optical source at all times from the adapter, which costs just $20. Switching between inputs is done with the provided remote control. Alternative versions of this combining box are available with three or more optical inputs if you have more than two sources. While I do not like the idea of another remote control or the need to switch surround sound inputs as the source is changed, using a simple 2-into-1 unswitched adapter resulted in interference, and the setup was unusable. So a switched box it is.

You will also need a Toslink optical cable to connect the second Sound Extractor to the 2-into-1 if the Sound Extractor of your choice does not include one. It bears repeating – remember to remove the protective plastic end pips before plugging the optical cable in. It will not fit otherwise.

And that’s all there is to it. Each HDMI source requires its own Sound Extractor and all optical sound outputs can be combined for a single feed into the Audio Rush box. Added cost per source? Under $40.

A bit of gadgetry does it.

Topology – before and after:

Topologies Before and After. The orange boxes contain added hardware.

The problem:

Many will find themselves in this situation. You have a high quality sound system as part of your home theater installation but it is limited to 2.1 channel sound, meaning 2 front speakers, left and right (the ‘2’) and a subwoofer for the low notes (the ‘.1’). You have spent an arm and a leg on the speakers and related amplifier because you also listen to high quality music so the amplifier and speaker set up must be really good, and that means costly. That’s illustrated in the ‘Before’ section of the above image.

Now you increasingly see that Netflix and other streaming services are advertising not just 4K video sources but that these are accompanied, as often as not, by 5.1 sound. The ‘5’ denotes the two front speakers, a center channel speaker and two rear speakers for the ambience effects of surround sound behind the listener’s head. You would like to add true surround sound to the rear speakers and maybe an added center channel speaker, but you sure as heck do not want to sell your high quality amplifier for a chintzy surround sound amplifier.

I set forth below how to do that for very modest outlay. The result is in the ‘After’ illustration, above.

Summary of the solution:

The goal is to deliver surround sound to two rear speakers. To accomplish this, in lieu of buying a surround sound amplifier, four pieces of hardware are required.

• An extractor to break out the sound components from an HDMI source
• A splitter to take the extracted sound feed and break it down to left and right rear channels
• An amplifier to amplify the left and right rear channel feeds
• Rear speakers

I address each in turn below.

The magic of HDMI:

Modern components invariable use HDMI cables for connectivity. An HDMI signal from your Apple TV/Apple TV 4K/Roku/Roku 4K streaming box (there are many other choices) uses an HDMI output which connects to your big screen TV. That HDMI cable carries 4K (or lower) video as well as 5 channel sound. We will want to split the sound and video components so that the selected additional sound channels (left rear/right rear and, optionally, center front) are separately available for amplification and routing. The ‘Before’ 2.1 topology does not use these three sound channels which are – invisibly to you – discarded.

Extracting 5 channel sound from the HDMI feed:

The HDMI Audio Extractor box.

First we need to extract the 5.1 sound feed from the HDMI sound + video feed coming out of your streaming box. This is done using an HDMI Audio Extractor box which comes in versions which passthrough both 4K video and the lower definition 1080p video. The 1080p version runs just $12 at Amazon while the 4K version retails for $20, so you might as well buy the 4K version in the event that an upgrade is contemplated down the road. Be sure to use HDMI 2.0 or 2.1 spec cables for HDMI as only these will preserve 4K video quality. The premium over the older HDMI 1.4 cables is trivial.

Now, instead of connecting your streaming box (Apple TV etc.) directly to your TV, you connect it to the HDMI Audio Extractor, and then connect an HDMI cable from this extractor to your TV. The extractor is smart. It delivers both video and two front channel sound to your TV but also has an optical (SPDIF) output which carries all five sound channels.

Splitting the 5 channel optical source into discrete channels:

The Analog Decoder/Converter Audio Rush box.

Outputs and Inputs. We will be using SL and SR outputs and the SPDIF (optical) input.

With a 5 channel high quality optical sound source now available at the outputs of the HDMI Audio Extractor box, we need to feed that, using an optical cable, to an HD Audio Rush box. This takes the optical feed and splits it into five discrete channels. The ones we want are the rear left and right and, optionally, the center front. Going by the fancy name of ‘SPDIF Coaxial DTS AC3 5.1 CH Audio DTS/AC-3 to 5.1 Analog Decoder Converter’ these can be found on eBay for all of $24. Amazon is asking $38 for the same hardware.

The optical cable from the HDMI Audio Extractor box (be sure to remove the small, protective plastic pips, or it will not fit) is connected to the optical SPDIF socket on the Audio Rush box and both boxes are switched to 5.1 sound or else 2 channel sound will be delivered to the front speakers only.

Amplifying the surround sound feed:

The amplifier for the rear surround speakers.

With sound feeds for the left rear and right rear channels at the outputs of the Audio Rush box, these have to be amplified, as they are low voltage ‘line level’.

My home came with ceiling speakers in three rooms and a jumble of unmarked wires emanating from the wall behind the TV. One of those rooms is the TV room where, as luck would have it, the ceiling speakers are behind the TV viewer. Perfect for surround sound. After blipping wire pairs with a 1.5 volt battery I determined which two pairs of wires were attached to the speakers in the TV room and terminated these with 2 pairs of banana plugs costing $9.

You may need to add free standing or ceiling mounted rear speakers, and you can either use regular unpowered ones, which will require an amplifier or powered ones which will require a mains connection and no amplifier. I prefer the amplified approach as it gets you rear speaker volume control at the TV set.

How powerful a rear amplifier you install depends on the efficiency of your rear speakers and the desired volume.

While my pre-installed ceiling speakers appear to be decent quality, you do not need costly, exotic amplification or high end speakers as the rear speakers’ job is to convey sound stage and ambience, not high fidelity.

After determining that mine were 8 ohm (less efficient than 4 ohm) and testing with my regular front amplifier I determined that a 2 x 160watt rear amplifier was called for.

Now, this is a very misleading specification as it refers to the maximum momentary power that the amplifier can deliver. RMS power is what should be quoted, but salesspeak sees to it that no such data are provided. I would guess the RMS (continuous maximum) power is more like 2 x 35 watts, which is fine for my installation. This ran me $75. (For the frugal, this amplifier can be found on eBay for as little as $46, but shipping from China).

The amplifier is connected to the Audio Rush box using cables terminated with RCA plugs, and the speakers are plugged into the amplifier, using banana plugs. The amplifier is a simple 2 channel device with its own volume control. It can be nestled close to the TV to make adjustment of the rear surround speakers’ volume easy. I find that setting the volume knob in the center of its range is optimal, which is pretty much how you want it with any amplifier.

Power supplies:

We have added three devices into the audio chain and each needs power. The HDMI 1080p Audio Extractor box and the Audio Rush box only need 5 volt power and each comes with a USB cable to provide this voltage. (The 4K version of the HDMI Audio Extractor comes with its own 5v power supply with a very short cable, but you can replace that with a USB power cable if preferred, at modest added cost). You can either plug those USB cables into a PC (I use a Mac Pro – with an added 4 outlet USB card – for internet access on the big screen) or use a power strip with built-in USB output sockets.

The power amplifier comes with its own 24 volt power supply brick which is plugged into a mains wall socket. The power needs of the amplifier dictate that you must use the provided power brick. USB power will not cut it.

Connecting cables:

You will need the following:

• HDMI 2.0 or 2.1 cable to Audio extractor from video streamer (AppleTV, etc. )
• Toslink optical fiber cable from Audio Extractor box to Audio Rush box – mine was included
• 12 gauge or so twin pair wire from the Audio Rush box to the power amplifier
• Amplifier to speakers – inexpensive speaker cable

Connectors:

• Twin pair wire from Audio Rush box to amplifier – RCA/twin wire connectors
• Speaker wires to amplifier – banana plugs

Total outlay:

My total outlay was around $130 to which you will have to add the cost of rear speakers and an optional center front speaker. My rear speakers came with the home, mounted in the ceiling.

Test setup:

The components in place.

No it’s not pretty and, yes, I will clean things up, but you can see the three added components in the above image.

The Audio Extractor is circled in green and the Audio Rush box in red. These are ‘install and forget’ and can be placed out of sight. These two boxes are powered using (provided) USB cables plugged into the Mac Pro. The power amplifier is circled in mauve and can be placed in an easily accessible location to permit volume adjustment. It can be left on at all times as the power draw is low.

Adding additional feeds:

At this time I have one feed with surround sound added, the one from the Apple TV 4K streaming box. The TV has one other HDMI feed connected, that being from the Mac Pro which is a file server for stored movies and an internet browser. I will also be converting this to add surround sound which will necessitate the addition of a second Audio Extractor between the HDMI cable from the Mac Pro and the TV set. The optical cables from both Audio Extractors will go into a 2-into-1 optical connector/splitter ($10) and the single output optical cable will go to the Audio Rush box. Switching is done at the TV where HDMI outlets can be selected on the screen so no switches are required. You really do not want to have to mess with this once it’s all installed. The goal is to retain operational simplicity so that anyone can use the system.

More details on using more than one HDMI source appear in this follow-up article.

Overall user experience:

With a high quality 5.1 signal source you will not want to revert to 2.1 for movies. Try a good movie like Saving Private Ryan with its overwhelming images and sounds from the D Day landings. I asked my son for his preference and he chose Dunkirk which garnered not one but two Oscars for its magnificent sound track. We watched/listened last night and it was the closest you could get to the IMAX experience at home.

Hardware used:

• LG 65” OLED TV
• Martin Logan ESL front speakers
• Martin Logan powered subwoofer
• Parasound HALO integrated amplifier
• Additional hardware described above
• Ceiling speakers of unknown provenance

Universal remote>

For an easy to program universal remote to go with all of the above, click here.