Is this cheating? Bypass audio through a stereo

[madlabs]

Hi All,

I recently got a really nice hutch to put all the entertainment equipment in. So the Predicta and the stereo are now housed in the same piece of furniture. Which gave me the idea of running the audio from the DVD/HDMI sources through the stereo amp instead of through the BT modulator. It sounds great, no buzz! And I can adjust everything for the best picture instead of the compromise between sound and picture. I can also up the RF modulation a little which causes to much buzz on captions but gives a better picture. So a big win on audio and picture quality.

Still, not the same experience as it coming through the set's speaker. Feels a little like cheating. Makes me consider a little amp tucked into the set and connected to the speaker. I could even use the volume pot of the set for volume control. I'd have to run an extra audio cable to the set, no big deal. Of course any mods would be non-invasive and reversible.

So, do others run the audio through other systems than the set? It sure eliminates and buzz but it does feel like cheating.

[Electronic M]

I rarely use the factory audio on my sets...Some are excellent but many sets especially the cheaper table models don't have very good audio.
Most programs I watch are new enough to have stereo sound so I typically have reason to want outboard sound. It feels less like cheating if you use a tube amp... for the last few years I've been running an OTL tube amp of my own design.

Many combination TV/stereos of the 60s used the TV as a demodulator only and fed line level audio to the stereo portion of the system... I've always wanted to get one and add an MTS stereo decoder into the chain.

[madlabs]

I am acquiring parts for a tube amp so at some point it will be hollow state. It does sound and look good but I just don't like not using the set's speaker. However, until I can improve the native audio I am going to use the stereo. Or perhaps make a small tube amp just for the sets speaker.

One thing I noticed is that when not being fed any sound and the set volume cranked I still hear contrast buzz. So part of the issue is clearly bleeding through.