Putting It All Together.(Brief Article)

Television used to be simple -- plug it in, hook-up the rabbit ears and turn it on. With a few simple adjustments there would be picture and sound. Home music was almost as easy, but with a few more pieces of equipment. Connect all the pieces and you could "crank-it-up" if the neighbors weren't home. The owner's manual was sometimes a single piece of paper.

What a difference in today's equipment. Today's components have complex and impressive built-in versatility. Many are programmable so you have access to the features you use while the ones you don't are kept out of the way. But unless you relish the thought of interpreting pages of programming instructions, you may …