Hiding a little audio embarrassment...

Fellow high-definition TiVo enthusiasts! I am excited that today I will FINALLY be joining your ranks, as my Series 3 makes it way via UPS truck to our homestead--as I type these very words!

Yes, yes, I know. What better time than the eve of arrival to celebrate something that I fought so hard to get? And yet, I am muted...for you see:

I have a little secret...it is kind of embarrassing, so...[hesitating]...try not to laugh too hard. [heaving a big sigh]

I am saddled with a Bose sound system

Mind you, it was purchased many years ago before I knew any better. Really, I just haven't gotten around to replacing it, so avert your judgmental gaze! [pleading] Just recently my big-screen Sony tube-television died after over a decade of faithful service, which took three able-bodied men and four horses to extricate from my home, (tubes were never meant to be made so big, I have now concluded). After procuring a nice new (and FLAT! Whoo hoo!) replacement, then this whole HD business started up, and well, I've only recently resolved that issue! So, stop your sniggering and quiet quips. I know you audiophiles lurk among these pages, and are wont to castigate those who bought the ill-begotten Bose marketing! I ask for your pity, not your advice! I know, oh how I know, what you already think of my speaker-system!

*AHEM* Okay, well, now that I've prefaced with that, I need some help. Many months ago I asked for the best remote to use for an IR-controlled TiVo and an RF-controlled Bose. You gave me all sorts of great suggestions, most of them involving touch-screens, which I tried and didn't like. Ultimately, I went back to the Tivo peanut, treating myself to a Glo remote for all the effort I had expended. Much to my delight, I was able to program the glossy peanut to control the Bose (once I got the special IR-blaster). Positioning both the Bose box and TiVo on the same shelf, I could both change channels AND turn up or down the sound (OOOOHHHH)!

There were some drawbacks, of course. The only button I could really program to turn on the sound system, for example, was (ironically) the mute button. Plus, there was just no way I could possibly use the peanut to watch DVDs on the Bose...ah well. Life goes on.

TIMES HAVE CHANGED, though. I want to permanently hide my Bose within a wooden cabinet beneath the TiVo. So, here are my questions:

1) does the Series 3 TiVo come with an IR-blaster output?

2) has anyone ever rigged their Tivo IR-blaster output to control just the sound on a Bose system?

3) does anyone else have a better solution so that I can have the Bose a/v receiver concealed?

Thanks for any and all advice! Much obliged.

George