I'm not sure about the warm-up problems, (I think it's probably terminal) but I do have an idea about the audio issue, I think there's often an extra channel of audio carried with some stations, sometimes radio, sometimes an alternate language, here in Canada with the public stations, it's french. On your remote, there should be an audio button that'll cycle between mono, stereo and auto - sometimes called something else with initials I can't remember right now, but if you play with that, your audio may come back. You may want to consider cable/satellite or at least an aerial, if you're going to upgrade your tv.

That item I referred to in the previous post--the TVSR--works okay. It seems to blunt the volume rise when going from program to commercials; at least, they're not as annoying. One annoyance: the item is powered by one of those wall-wart transformer power supplies. The plug from that power supply was a loose fit in the unit, making me have to use a bit of electrical tape to keep the contact good. So I'd give it 4 stars for performance, 2 stars for build quality. Still for under $50 I can't complain too much.

I've been reading audiobooks almost exclusively since 1982 through the US National Library Service's Talking Books program, and all of their narrators are top-notch. Very occasionally there is someone with an accent I find harder to follow but the problems created by unusual accents are never so severe that I stop reading a book. My impression of commercial audio books is that they tend to be jazzed up with (a) background music and (b) narrators who assume different "voices" for the various characters. I prefer just the book, read in a straightforward way. But I do wish sometimes that the readers would make it clear where a quotation begins and ends, maybe by saying "Quote" and "End quote."

Hi Kristin All great comments above. Episode speakers are only available through the pro-AV channel and are very good speakers - we use them for many of our multi-room audio (indoor/outdoor) solutions, such as in your application. However, if the model number you mentioned is correct "200 series" ($36.00 MSRP) - those particular speakers are more often used in a commercial audio setting (70V audio) such as retail locations, offices, etc. And although they can be used in residential applications with the proper amp, I personally would not have selected that model for your application. For entry level speakers, the Episode "300 or 500" series (8 Ohm) would have been a better fit - sound wise as well as aesthetically. The 1700 series speakers are Episode's "Signature Series" - excellent mid-level in-wall LCR speaker ($385 MSRP) for home theater. And just so you don't think I'm an Episode speaker selling snob-LOL, we also use Klipsch as well - both are very good speakers. I'm thinking that your electrician A/V guy had a come-to-Jesus moment and realized that the Episode 200 series was the wrong fit...and that my friend was a good thing. In this case, the Klipsch 160CDT was clearly the better choice. We basically listen to multi-room audio somewhere between 5-10 watts, so don't over think it. As for the HT speakers, the Pro 160RPW are Klipsch's entry level all-around, in-wall speaker. If you are willing to put a little more money into the HT sound and want to stay with Klipsch, I would recommend the R5502 for the front and the 5650S for the surrounds (providing that the rears are in the wall). These speakers are priced close to the Episode 1700 series. As Pro-integrators, clients don't usually ask us for specific brand names, but they do rely on us to select the proper speaker for their budget. Listening to architectural speakers in the store doesn't always guarantee that they will sound great in you home - in fact , they never do. Providing that you start off with a good quality speaker, a Pro A/V integrator can equalize the amp to match the speaker to your environment. Lastly, if we ever promised a client a specific brand of speaker, we would never show up with a different model without having discussed the pros & cons of why we did that. Hope this helps Frank P