Long-shot Hi-Fi question

[Profpointy]

Lump, sledge or ball pein?

Ball pein obviously ! Sheesh, a ball pein hammer isn't called an engineer's hammer for nothing. Bunch of cowboys some of you

 

[Chromatic]

Ball pein obviously ! Sheesh, a ball pein hammer isn't called an engineer's hammer for nothing. Bunch of cowboys some of you

Aah, the light touch then!

 

[slowmotion]

My Rega Planar had been in mothballs for quite some time and all it needed was a few drops of oil in the main bearing and a new drive belt. It's easy to do yourself and you can find the bits on ebay, as well as the setting up instructions for cartridges etc.

 

[Profpointy]

My Rega Planar had been in mothballs for quite some time and all it needed was a few drops of oil in the main bearing and a new drive belt. It's easy to do yourself and you can find the bits on ebay, as well as the setting up instructions for cartridges etc.

There's a bit more to fettling a Linn and presumably a Pink Triangle as they've springs and suspension and stuff. The rega is rather simpler - good unit though it undoubtedly is - but it is more a case of does it go round, and are the rubber bits perished in the latter's case.

 

[Profpointy]

Aah, the light touch then!

Thinking about it I actually have fixed my Linn with a ball pein hammer !

The lid hinges had got a bit slack so the lid wouldn't stay up. New hinges weren't excessively pricey but thought I'd give the hinge pins a whack as there was nothing to lose. Job done, no cost
I should perhaps add that I took the hinges off and put them in a vice to whack them, rather than belting them in situ on the Linn

All this talk, I must rescue it from the ignomany of its cardboard box and fire it up again. It does need fettling as it didn't sound that great when I put it away. It was absolutely a "wow" musicial experience when it was on-song though. That said, only have about a dozen records left now, so more or less all digital (not MP3 though, proper lossless). Still, be nice to fire it up again, whether I keep or sell.

 

[Chromatic]

Thinking about it I actually have fixed my Linn with a ball pein hammer !

The lid hinges had got a bit slack so the lid wouldn't stay up. New hinges weren't excessively pricey but thought I'd give the hinge pins a whack as there was nothing to lose. Job done, no cost
I should perhaps add that I took the hinges off and put them in a vice to whack them, rather than belting them in situ on the Linn

Carefully and calculatedly apply an adjusting force to them, surely?

 

[Profpointy]

Carefully and calculatedly apply an adjusting force to them, surely?

I whacked them with skill and finesse, even if I do say so myself. Very pleased I was too.

 

[delb0y]

I'll dig out my Colourblind James Experience vinyl ready for when the turntable is working at it's optimum. Been a while since I heard those records. Luckily the box is on top of my pushbike so it hasn't been disturbed in an age.

 

[raleighnut]

There's a bit more to fettling a Linn and presumably a Pink Triangle as they've springs and suspension and stuff. The rega is rather simpler - good unit though it undoubtedly is - but it is more a case of does it go round, and are the rubber bits perished in the latter's case.

The suspension is easy enough to adjust IF you have a stand/table/shelf that allows you to get at the access holes for the adjusters on each spring (although on my Thorens you only access 2 of them, the third is a datum point and only needs adjusting if you add a fair bit of weight to the platter, as I did with a much fatter/heavier mat) With my support I can remove the Ariston Q isolation board I use on the top and rest the turntable on 2 strips of narrow 18mm MDF whilst I level it.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

There are manuals on the internet these days, so the hi-fi shop secrecy is rather blown open. I found a manual for my Linn quite easily - proper service manual too, not the customer booklet. Linn themselves just said "take it to a dealer" - whilst this is kind of OK as a business model, I'd rather an open and honest approach where you can self diagnose and DIY or pay according to inclination / ability.

 

[swee'pea99]

View attachment 131028

I really wish I could endorse that, but recently we replaced our 10 year old Siemens dishwasher with a near-new Miele from eBay, because a callout round here costs about £60-£70, before they do anything, and then when they do do anything it costs more, plus the parts, and you end up with a 10 year old Siemens that's waiting for something else to go wrong, when for about the same money you can get a near-new Miele off eBay, which probably won't go wrong for 10 years. Bottom line: things have become very cheap; skills have become very expensive. So with great regret, I end up junking things that really ought to be kept on the road.

 

[raleighnut]

I really wish I could endorse that, but recently we replaced our 10 year old Siemens dishwasher with a near-new Miele from eBay, because a callout round here costs about £60-£70, before they do anything, and then when they do do anything it costs more, plus the parts, and you end up with a 10 year old Siemens that's waiting for something else to go wrong, when for about the same money you can get a near-new Miele off eBay, which probably won't go wrong for 10 years. Bottom line: things have become very cheap; skills have become very expensive. So with great regret, I end up junking things that really ought to be kept on the road.

Just have a look at the price of a high quality turntable these days, you need to spend well over a grand.

 

[Profpointy]

View attachment 131028

Whilst I really really like that and agree, Swee'p's follow up is sadly true as well - albeit the likes of fleabay does allow a lot more re-use rather than recycle or repair , which is even better I guess.

On a related subject, though now well off the thread topic, I always thought re-cycling glass was simply nuts - surely we should be re-using bottles rather than re-cycling glass, which presumably costs nearly as much energy as making new glass once you've done all the transportation and messing about. Be easy to do - when I'm in charge I am going to specify that all food products should be in one of a dozen standard patterns of bottles / jars. Likewise for non-foodstuffs or poisons in their own series of bottles. Re-use would then take care of itself. I'd have thought the EU would be perfect for enacting this sort of standardisation, even if the Frenchies would have to have all their wine bottles the same !

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I really wish I could endorse that, but recently we replaced our 10 year old Siemens dishwasher with a near-new Miele from eBay, because a callout round here costs about £60-£70, before they do anything, and then when they do do anything it costs more, plus the parts, and you end up with a 10 year old Siemens that's waiting for something else to go wrong, when for about the same money you can get a near-new Miele off eBay, which probably won't go wrong for 10 years. Bottom line: things have become very cheap; skills have become very expensive. So with great regret, I end up junking things that really ought to be kept on the road.

10 years is a decent innings for regularly used white goods thobut.

Whilst I really really like that and agree, Swee'p's follow up is sadly true as well - albeit the likes of fleabay does allow a lot more re-use rather than recycle or repair , which is even better I guess.

Point is, the dishwasher @swee'pea99 had, and the one they now have are repairable. There is probably a YouTube video out there somewhere showing how to fix them, and I'd wager the parts are available. But more and more consumer stuff is either blackbox with no serviceable parts, or needs special tools to break it down.

I'm typing this on an MS Surface Pro 4 with a (badly) cracked screen. Not a repairable component in sight. And if it fails under warranty - this one hasn't, I dropped it on a concrete staircase - they just send you a replacement. Which isn't good enough but is what the market apparently desires.