"The Wonder of Modern Technology."

[Sean Regan]

This is my Sony android TV in my "den" ........alright, our front room. Note, no visible wires.

Under it, are two Humax recorder/players, (one's for stuff I want to keep and you can have different files for different categories).
The newer one, you can't.

A Virgin Tivo box.

A CD/DVD player

and an old VHS tuner/player, (I've still got a lot of classic film noir on tape).

Although the pictures are superb, the sound, despite the multitude of settings, is pretty poor, as the speakers are so small.

I can now channel the sound from the TV or anything under it through my vintage hi-fi, if I choose. But I'll only be using it for music or music videos.



This is the "snake pit" behind the TV, (excuse the dust), Every outlet in an eight socket adapter is in use. I actually tidied it up this morning.

The TV is supposed to be "wi-fi" but the router in the lounge is too far away, so one socket is used for a facility to send the wi-fi signal through the mains from a similar gismo in the lounge next to the router. As well as sockets for the five appliances plus the TV, one is needed for an adapter that converts the Scart connection on the vintage VHS machine to USB.

I've just spent £8 on this, which arrived this morning, it converts the optical audio signal from the TV, to one that my vintage hi-fi can recognise. I've tucked it behind the stand of the TV.

Cheaper than buying a sound bar.

This is my 1970s hi-fi tuner/amp. I've big Goodmans speakers on wall brackets, either side of the wall unit.

The signal goes by wire to this Stereo audio selector I've had for more than two decades. There's three buttons, one's for the cassette tape player, one for my jukebox wall boxes and now one for the TV or anything under it. The radio and record deck have direct connections.

I've quick release connectors in the cabinet to swop over the two sets of cables to each wall box.


There's three iPods, as although I've only two wall boxes, I have three title card magazines. This increases my selections to 480. You can only have the same number of selections as would have had, the jukebox for which the wall box was designed, but you can make any selection, a whole CD. These boxes have 160 selections available and you don't have to have any rubbish, "B sides."

The music is on an iTunes playlist, which you give as the name, the code given you by the Datasync adapter supplier. This tells it what make and model jukebox wall box you are using. Clever innit?

These magazines can be swopped over in seconds. I print off the title cards from a pdf made available by a jukebox enthusiasts' website. You just type out what you want in any colour or style.

Each magazine has three pages.

I can now play music on sticks in the TV, through the hi-fi, but there's "no nostalgia element."


Actually, it's a "wonder," I can get anything.

But everything works!

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Your 'snake pit' reminded me of this.

 

[DirtMechanic]

The modern phrasing refers to "technology stack"!

 

[Oliver Buckle]

The modern phrasing refers to "technology stack"!

Bet that gets abbreviated to "techno stack".

 

[Sean Regan]

I've had second thoughts about my new digital/AV audio converter, the quality of the sound from the TV through my hi-fi, wasn't up to the standard of that from the radio, the turntable, cassette player or the iPods that play mp3s selected on my jukebox wall boxes.
But worth the £7 to try it.
So I decided to get a sound bar. I don't really, like them as aesthetically, sat on my TV table they might look a bit naff as it would stick out over the sides. So I settled on this, it's a Sony A3000, which is exactly the same width as the Sony TV above it.

I like the digital display that is half hidden by the speaker mesh, so there's nothing to see, when the TV is off.



The TV has all sorts of sound settings, but as the speakers are so small, they aren't that effective.

The sound bar has a "Voice" setting which is excellent, great for the dialogue in American drama programmes.
Previously, I often needed the subtitles.

It also has a "night" setting that reduces the bass.


I've ordered some brackets that attach to the back of the TV stand. It has little arms that support the bar and I can have it close up to the bottom of the TV, so it won't look too bad. The labels and the touch controls won't be seen and the latter aren't necessary as there's a remote control.

 

[Sean Regan]

My soundbar arrived today.
I needed to make some extensions for the support bars as they were too short for the depth of it, but I knew that before I bought it.
There were no other suitable choices.
I also needed more sticky Velcro, but that too I had already bought. All the screws and nuts were sprayed black and were difficult to thread on, but I had some others.

Anyway, it's done, with the help of a torch to help me see what I was doing behind the TV.