“Home Theatre” in its early stages!
February 3, 2011 1 Comment Friday, February 4th, 2011, Netcast 1280
For this Friday's Back to Dick's Gadget Warehouse we go back to 1998. Some 13 years ago home theatre systems weren’t anywhere near as sophisticated as they are today. Of course back then I was using my home theatre system with a “giant” 25” tube TV. Living in a 2.5 room apartment I didn’t need anything that could rattle the walls - and the neighbors! So I picked the low end of the Aiwa line. It was the model AV-X120 Stereo Receiver. It had an AM/FM tuner, and put out 70 watts a channel for the front speakers, 35 watts per channel for the rear speakers and 70 watts for the center channel. And of course since I was attracted to it, it had its share of lights and buttons. There was a built in Electronic Graphic Equalizer (back then a graphic equalizer demanded capital letters!) To use it you pushed a button to select presets for rock, pop, jazz, classic or BGM. What the heck is BGM? I had to ask too. Turns out it’s BackGround Music. It also featured DSP Surround Sound and Dolby Pro Logic. But wait, there’s more! It also had a BBE System, more initials I didn’t understand. Turns out that’s a sound technology licensed from BBE. And finally it had a T- Bass system for what else, more bass! There were 3 Video Inputs – one for Laser Disc --- another for video MD – no idea what MD stood for – and the third input which I used for the audio out from my TV. This same system was available from Aiwa in ever increasing power output ranges but as I said, I bought the bottom of the line. I think I paid a bit under $300 at The Wiz, (now a long defunct discount electronics retailer and no connection to me.) My Aiwa AV-X120 system still works, still lights up, but is light-years behind the curve compared to today’s 7.1 & 7.2 surround sound technology. And my 25" Tube TV has been replaced with a 37" flat screen. (Yes, that's small, but I still have a 2.5 room apartment!)
SEE or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1280
Reader Comments (1)
MD stands for MINI DISK. it never caught on. like jazz drives