Corby

I wonder if you could make a decent stereo out of a 2600? Put in some really good car speakers, maybe stuff a tiny crossover and subwoofer in there.

It could have been an FCC problem. NTSC sound is at 4.5MHz (whereas the rest of the game was probably below 1MHz), and this might have required a specially shielded area on the board.

I remember talking to Jim Heller at Atari back in '79 when I was inquiring about getting composite video from the 2600. He told me it was a last minute decision in the design to have the sound come from the tv, as the engineers felt it would be more realistic.