Peter Robertson had the idea for an extension block of this type, when he worked for Yamaha selling hi-fi products. With the advent in the late 1980s of sophisticated audiovisual products incorporating Dolby ‘surround sound’, domestic consumers were adding CD players and widescreen TVs to their hi-fi system. As Peter himself says, ‘I was tired of switching off various things’. He felt there was a need for an extension block into which all these devices could be plugged, and with which, with the inclusion of some sort of switching mechanism, it would be possible to switch off the peripherals along with the hi-fi. Quite literally ‘one click’ would do the whole thing.