Need some A/V advice
When we got the Chinook, I noticed it had an RCA home theater unit. It will play DVDs, tune FM stations, and has something like 50 watts per channel to four speakers. (RCA? Are they still around? I haven't associated them with quality in a long time so I was surprised to find it in the Chinook. But maybe they original unit died and this was the owner's replacement.) I didn't know how well the RCA worked but I figured if I needed to, I could replace it.
And sure enough it doesn't work very well...in fact it played one dvd a little then sort of HONNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKED, and stopped. Couldn't get the disc out. Had to unplug it, try again. Same thing. Tried a different DVD: similar results.
So I started looking for a unit to swap in. As I looked in the stores (Best Buy, Fry's) I was hoping to find something not too expensive but a decent brand. There was a Sony for about $130 at Best Buy but they don't carry it in store. I moseyed over to have a look at what they might have, anyway.
Come to find out: the manufacturers no longer use bare wire connections for the speakers? They actually have proprietary connections? The salesman at Fry's said that really, he wasn't even supposed to have the two units on the shelves---they're being phased out because everybody these days wants wireless speakers.
Great, so what now? I found one that has bare wire connections so I could do that for $249, which is more than I wanted to spend. If I tried putting the "proprietary wiring" in, replacing the existing stuff---that must be under the carpet, stapled here and there, etc. and it would just be a big mistake, wouldn't it?
Anybody else have to replace the home theater unit?
And sure enough it doesn't work very well...in fact it played one dvd a little then sort of HONNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKED, and stopped. Couldn't get the disc out. Had to unplug it, try again. Same thing. Tried a different DVD: similar results.
So I started looking for a unit to swap in. As I looked in the stores (Best Buy, Fry's) I was hoping to find something not too expensive but a decent brand. There was a Sony for about $130 at Best Buy but they don't carry it in store. I moseyed over to have a look at what they might have, anyway.
Come to find out: the manufacturers no longer use bare wire connections for the speakers? They actually have proprietary connections? The salesman at Fry's said that really, he wasn't even supposed to have the two units on the shelves---they're being phased out because everybody these days wants wireless speakers.
Great, so what now? I found one that has bare wire connections so I could do that for $249, which is more than I wanted to spend. If I tried putting the "proprietary wiring" in, replacing the existing stuff---that must be under the carpet, stapled here and there, etc. and it would just be a big mistake, wouldn't it?
Anybody else have to replace the home theater unit?
