Monday, October 02, 2006

Tool Time

There’s just something about wiring or re-wiring your entire entertainment system yourself. Something manly. Something that just makes me remember that scene in Castaway when Tom Hanks makes fire for the first time on the island.

Yes, it can be a huge pain in the ass (and knees and back too), but there’s no better sense of a “Take that you sonofabitch!”-type accomplishment than being able to sit on your couch and be slightly deafened by Chris Berman coming through your stereo from 5 feet across the room.


I picked up a simple Phillips A/V input selector after getting Jake’s thumbs up of approval on Saturday; and spent an hour or two Sunday morning dismantling, unplugging, dusting and rewiring everything so that all the video and audio now run through the switcher. And most importantly; the TV, DVD, and PS2’s audio (need to check on the VCR) all run through the stereo for no better reason than I want it loud. And boy is it. It’s no home theater surround sound or anything; but my apartment isn’t that big to begin with, so an Aiwa stereo with the bass boost on is more than enough for me and whoever else comes over to go deaf.

Alright, so it’s not like I split the frickin’ atom or built my own pub room in the basement; but I feel good in knowing that I’ve got no one to blame but myself when I lose even more hearing or have my neighbors call the cops for a noise ordinance violation. Again.

D

3 comments:

adubya said...

Awww, isn't that cute...
Where's the surround sound?
I've got a little story for ya on the same context.
I spent all of Friday afternoon hooking up the big screen in the basement. A/V receiver, Directv dvr, dvd, ps2, vcr. I have 4 in-wall speakers and a center channel. I got everything hooked up pretty quickly (I've done this a few dozen times) and put in a dvd to make sure the DD 5.1 was working. All good, but... the left front speaker had nothing. I checked the connections, changed the speaker wire - twice - and nothing... After about 30 minutes of this I was messing with the receiver and moved the speaker selector switch from A to B and oh, there it is... I check the connections and I hooked the left front to the B speaker terminals instead of the A. What a dumbass...
All good now though. First poker party in the pub is only weeks away now!

D said...

I both admire and loathe you at the same time.

adubya said...

hahaha... that's called jealousy my friend.
Maybe when you grow up you can have the same stuff as me. I've got a few years of suffering with a 27" tv and a vcr under my belt.