It sounds like Bruin may have got it pegged. Presumably two of the speakers around the TV (the two next to it or the two on the wall) relied on a small amp in the old TV -- maybe one set was driven by the TV and the other by the now-absent CD/radio unit. That would explain the installer's comment about not being able to hook the speakers up to the new TV. It's possible that those speakers will no longer be needed, as I'm guessing the new set has some decent speakers built in to it. The husband's speakers are almost certainly something similar to the Recoton's Bruin found a link to. Hopefully there's a little transmitter station sitting on the floor somewhere with a pair of RCA plugs on it, just waiting to be plugged into the audio outputs of the new set.

If the Recoton's not the answer and/or there's no way to connect whatever-they-are to the new set, a wireless speaker approach could still work. (Some possibilities: a few RCA wireless speaker models .) Also possible would be wireless headphones and a headphone amp connected to the TV's analog audio outputs (a little Creek headphone amp and a pair of Sennheiser wireless headphones would cost a little over $300) or even a pair of computer speakers hooked up to the TV's analog audio outputs if you can conceal the wires from the TV to the husband's chair (relatively inexpensive, and the equipment would be easy to get at any electronics store).

While we're on the subject of visual aids for remote troubleshooting, there's this collection of pics that might help if you think you're getting any misleading info over the phone.

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