I try to keep the point of view of someone without a particularly technical background in what I say, sometimes I'm successful, sometimes not

I do believe that HT enthusiasts are becoming less willing to "draw that 'ol soldering iron from the holster and shoot it" in Outlaw-speak. Getting into the "guts" of some of the equipment can be a rewarding experience. Hi-Fi used to be this way back when it was something new and exciting, but the increased "packaging" of components seems to stifle the urge to do some real customizing. Manufacturers in particular want to keep iron-clad control on what people try to do with their products. While I don't recommend opening up your electronic components unless you really know what you're doing, there are a lot of projects that can still be done.

Speaker projects in particular can save some real money, and provide sound as good as or better than "store bought". It's simple and there are real rewards to making one's own interconnects, for example. I guess I was alluding to this spirit of do-it-yourself-ism with the suggestion of adding a level control to amps that lack them, so that disimilar amps can be matched in output (the level control could be made in an external box). Starting with simple projects, people can, with some thought, achieve more than the sum of the parts of their system, with some well thought out customizing.

So tin-up that soldering iron partner, and have some fun........


[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited February 07, 2003).]