Max Taxable
Xenforo Addon Developer
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2020
- Messages
- 73
- Real Name
- James
Hello, HTF! I'm pretty much a lifelong dabbler in home theater audio. Even before such a thing existed. Long post so please invest.
It started around age 11, in the area of 1970, when I hooked up my mom's little 6-inch B/W TV set to the home stereo system via use of the little TV's headphone jack splicing a cable from that to a pair of RCA plugs and hooking them up to the AUX input of the good ole Radio Shack receiver. The result was nothing short of amazing once I figured out to keep the TV volume almost all the way down (there was a 'sweet spot' I found) and not to leave this rig hooked up or in any way in use when either of the parental units were home.
But oops, one saturday morning while myself and my siblings were enjoying watching an episode of Lidsville in living color on the big TV with the sound turned all the way down, but with my little home theater rig powered up and in full blossom, my mother showed up. I thought I was gonna be dead. But instead she just stared mesmerized, at the Zenith color television and hearing all of this hi-fidelity sound coming from it! (To avoid distraction the little b/w model has its brightness turned all the way down so it generated no picture.)
Her objection when it came had nothing to do with my rig, the first words out of her mouth were "Turn that s*** off! I don't want you kids watching that show!" at which time my sister ran over and changed the channels on the big set. The picture changed, but the sound did not. Out of the home stereo still, came HooDoo's taunts and chants against the residents of Lidsville. Charles Nelson Reilly really letting them have it!
I walked over and turned the receiver off, and it dawned on my mother, who started laughing. She later said her first thought when the sound didn't stop was that maybe the evil Sid and Marty Krofft used some tech to take over the TV finally. She went over to the stereo and saw the little TV there, its screen turned toward the wall, and turned the receiver back on. She turned the volume down on the receiver. She pulled the little TV out and saw the cable plugged into it. "Billy you better unhook this stuff right now before Wayne gets home!" She'd mistakenly blamed my older half-brother Billy, for this mess.
Anyhow long story short, once she got hip to what went on and who was responsible, it wasn't long before she was requesting the "hook up" when she wanted to watch Gunsmoke, or any John Wayne movie that happened to show on TV, and she even introduced the new setup to Wayne the stepdad, who although upset I'd been messing with his stereo, loved the idea and home theater audio was now a staple in our home. Mom got me a 50-in-one electronics project kit from Radio Shack next time we were in there, and the rest is history.
I'm James and I'm convinced that I'm screwed up because adults indulged my electronics dabbling, let me read MAD magazine and also CRACK'D, let me listen to George Carlin and watch Sid & Marty Krofft shows and The Rockford Files. Y'all have a great site here and I have been enjoying reading around for the past week or so. I live out in the middle of nowhere near Wildorado and enjoy the spectacular Llano Estacado sky and the wide open spaces here.
My equipment: Older stuff - Yamaha receiver RX-V361 with a nice set of JBL home theater speakers. It's nothing fancy but it is well suited to the room and my viewing tastes. It brings the thunder when needed but also great music repro and excellent voice clarity. Main viewscreen is a 2007 model Pioneer Plasma TV, 42-inch. Looking at upgrading that in the near future as I see prices cave in for bigger better displays.
Greetings!
It started around age 11, in the area of 1970, when I hooked up my mom's little 6-inch B/W TV set to the home stereo system via use of the little TV's headphone jack splicing a cable from that to a pair of RCA plugs and hooking them up to the AUX input of the good ole Radio Shack receiver. The result was nothing short of amazing once I figured out to keep the TV volume almost all the way down (there was a 'sweet spot' I found) and not to leave this rig hooked up or in any way in use when either of the parental units were home.
But oops, one saturday morning while myself and my siblings were enjoying watching an episode of Lidsville in living color on the big TV with the sound turned all the way down, but with my little home theater rig powered up and in full blossom, my mother showed up. I thought I was gonna be dead. But instead she just stared mesmerized, at the Zenith color television and hearing all of this hi-fidelity sound coming from it! (To avoid distraction the little b/w model has its brightness turned all the way down so it generated no picture.)
Her objection when it came had nothing to do with my rig, the first words out of her mouth were "Turn that s*** off! I don't want you kids watching that show!" at which time my sister ran over and changed the channels on the big set. The picture changed, but the sound did not. Out of the home stereo still, came HooDoo's taunts and chants against the residents of Lidsville. Charles Nelson Reilly really letting them have it!
I walked over and turned the receiver off, and it dawned on my mother, who started laughing. She later said her first thought when the sound didn't stop was that maybe the evil Sid and Marty Krofft used some tech to take over the TV finally. She went over to the stereo and saw the little TV there, its screen turned toward the wall, and turned the receiver back on. She turned the volume down on the receiver. She pulled the little TV out and saw the cable plugged into it. "Billy you better unhook this stuff right now before Wayne gets home!" She'd mistakenly blamed my older half-brother Billy, for this mess.
Anyhow long story short, once she got hip to what went on and who was responsible, it wasn't long before she was requesting the "hook up" when she wanted to watch Gunsmoke, or any John Wayne movie that happened to show on TV, and she even introduced the new setup to Wayne the stepdad, who although upset I'd been messing with his stereo, loved the idea and home theater audio was now a staple in our home. Mom got me a 50-in-one electronics project kit from Radio Shack next time we were in there, and the rest is history.
I'm James and I'm convinced that I'm screwed up because adults indulged my electronics dabbling, let me read MAD magazine and also CRACK'D, let me listen to George Carlin and watch Sid & Marty Krofft shows and The Rockford Files. Y'all have a great site here and I have been enjoying reading around for the past week or so. I live out in the middle of nowhere near Wildorado and enjoy the spectacular Llano Estacado sky and the wide open spaces here.
My equipment: Older stuff - Yamaha receiver RX-V361 with a nice set of JBL home theater speakers. It's nothing fancy but it is well suited to the room and my viewing tastes. It brings the thunder when needed but also great music repro and excellent voice clarity. Main viewscreen is a 2007 model Pioneer Plasma TV, 42-inch. Looking at upgrading that in the near future as I see prices cave in for bigger better displays.
Greetings!
