Hey fellas, long time no see! Tom sent me one of those God-awful union emails and I thought, "Hey, the boys at Axiom would know what to do!"

Here's the deal: I bought a shiny new motorcycle, so I'm keeping the dull old TV.

I finally cleaned all the cobwebs out of it last weekend, removed Charlotte, dusted the light guns and mirror carefully - everything is cool. The picture has never been bad. The built-in speakers that came with the TV, however, really suck. For anything important (like O'Reilly, monster truck racing, or bass fishing), I crank up the surround on the Denon/Axiom/MA system, but sometimes I wish the TV speakers were adequate just on their own.

Anyways, I was thinking they could be easily replaced - and the dust screen material, as well. I was thinking 6x9s from a car stereo application, but the TV speakers are 8 ohms. There's plenty of room for installation, but the TV amp has got to be pretty weak. What would you do with basically no budget?

This is just in the kicking-around stage, so any input would be welcome. Thanks!

Hey Will nice to hear from ya. Do ya have some old computer speakers lying around? If ya do you should be able to use them.

I'd just be using the full system all the time, wait I do The all in one remotes make it so easy to do so.

Good to see ya back Bigwill!!!

Mark! My brother! Welcome back!

I'd buy a good remote and route everything through the Denon all the time. That's what I do. Just build some macros for your lovely wife and your boy, and off you go.

Absent that, I guess car stereo speakers seem like a good idea.

I hope you're enjoying your new bike! Stay safe, okay?

Hey wid. I've been rocking the SRV and JD Lane discs lately. Funny how stuff recirculates through the personal Top 40.

Computer speakers: I just donated some to Goodwill. But they seem kind of puny for this application - big TV, big room.

I suppose an in-wall speaker might work, but I'm guessing I could also figure out how to wire a cheap driver/tweeter combo to one set of leads?

Tom-Tom the Atom Bomb!

WTF are macros? You know I'm a simpleton.

New bike is in the shop getting a charging problem sorted out after 247 miles. At least it's under warranty, everybody keeps telling me.... PITA

It is beautiful though. A cute girl told me what a nice bike it was - as I was pushing it down the road.

Well they'd be better than most stock tv speakers. Then I would do as others said and get a good remote and use the main system.

Nice to see ya back.

What kind of bike did ya get?

Hey man, welcome back! I'm with Tom on this one--run it through the receiver all the time. You could use a Harmony remote if the macro ones are too much of a pain.

Mark, welcome back! I've got a couple hundred more classical CD suggestions for you since we last talked. I'm not very enthusiastic about going to the bother of changing the TV speakers, but if you want to put in the car speakers the TV audio amp should be good enough to drive them at moderate levels.

Welcome back, Mark!

Hey Mark! Good to see you're kickin'!

I second the "computer speakers" thing if you don't want the full system on.

I'll throw in a second on the Harmony remote. I did not want to work through macros - so I went with the Harmony. It is the best part of my system because it makes my wife and daughters happy - not to mention that it makes turning on and off the entire system as easy as the press of a button.

Welcome back, Mark!

I agree with the others that you should really just use what you already have and pipe the sound through the receiver. Unless Rush is on, in which case mute it and then smash the screen.

OK, y'all have convinced me to scrap the speaker idea. I think I'm still going to replace the grill material, though.

John, my son is currently obsessed with planets and space, stars, the solar system, etc.... We listened to the Holst disc you had recommended the other day and he was pretty excited about the concept. Not surprisingly, Jupiter was his favorite. LOL

That's impressive, I am pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get either of my boys(5 and 8) to sit/listen long enough to hear the music, let alone pay attention to it.

"What kind of bike did ya get?"

I can't believe I overlooked this opportunity to make y'all envy (either the weather, the bike, the sheer awesomeness of my machismo, there's gotta be something, huh? LOL).

Here's a pic from a trip to the dentist, from the one week the bike has not been in the shop:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v155/bigwill/DSCN3065.jpg

Good to hear that, Mark. I certainly became interested in astronomy when I was very young and when entering college had thoughts of becoming an astronomer. If you don't have a suitable telescope for him, several of us on the board are into this and could offer suggestions.

Kids wanting to be Astronomers, Astronauts and Paleontologists seems to be consistent from generation to generation.

Right now, my son wants to operate a bucket truck when he grows up. It probably has something to do with what he did on our short vacation a couple weekends ago...

Yes, that's Stevie. And I'm trying to keep him from going too high. His adventure ended in tears when we can to take over with the master controls and bring him down.

At least you know what to get him next Christmas!

My 5 year old announced he now wants to be a robber and a streetcar driver. As soon as he can sign his name, I'll get that in writing and there will be no need to save for college; so I'll be upping the HT ante.

hmmmm, Streetcars don't make for very fast getaway vehicles. He might need a new combo there.

Funny thing was, he told this to the State Trooper visiting his school. I'm sure is now on some "future juvenile delinquents" list the cops keep.

It probably all started with the smoking....

You think? I figured it was the Tylenol Cold medicine I.V. drip I give him at night to "sleep tight".

Thanks, John. We have a crappy thing that grandma picked up cheap before Xmas. We tried using it a couple times, but it was pretty cold outside. Kind of dark, too.

We'll give it another try soon, though.

Mark, I think that's something you kind of need to cope with there...

There are a number of telescope get-togethers down in SoCal. I remember going to a couple when I was a teenager, but I couldn't tell you where or who. I just remember seeing a galaxy through a 25 inch reflector. That was amazing.