Quote Originally Posted by Aurons Ghost
Sorry if this sounds noobish, but why shouldn't it be vertical? I've had mine standing vertically (mainly because I have no room for my PS2 to be horizontal) for the three or four years I've had it and it seems fine to me...
It's fairly common for discs to get scratched when the PS2 is setup vertically. It's something Sony has even admitted to, and seemed to be a pretty common problem. If it hasn't caused you any trouble then I'd say you've been pretty lucky. Laying it vertically is perfectly safe, but if you want/have to keep it vertical, then you takes your chances.

And Lost Number, are you sure it's not just your TV or a bum cable, or possibly audio settings on your TV? My PS2 has amazing sound quality on my TV with movies and games. I've seen plenty of TV's that were the problem when it comes to poor sound quality. Generally they're low end single speaker crap boxes.