My front channel speakers, that is. Old age got 'em. I asked them to do what they did when they were young, and... they died trying. They went together, both woofers and one mid-range, by looking the other mid wouldn't be far behind. A mated pair if ever there was one.
For damn near twenty five years they served me well, one of my proudest possesions. I'm not going to abandon them now. The funny thing is I never meant to buy them, not really. Things like that were for rich people, not folks like me. I got juked into the whole deal. Point of fact, they were part and parcel of the most expensive phonograph records ever bought. The story goes like this.
The wife ordered a copy of The Phantom of the Opera on vinyl from her book club. The recordings arrived, and damn: the second record was a bad pressing. A phone call later a new copy was on the way, the book club was very good about the whole deal, but, damn and drat, the second copy was bad as well. We called the book club up, got the same service rep and explained the situation, told him he needed to kick it up the line they might have a whole warehouse suffering the same defect, which would be a real problem for them. He thanked us for the heads up, and offered a copy on CD.
Well, CD's had been around for a few years at that point, but I was a poor boy in them days (even more than I am now) and I didn't have a player. But what the whale, I was good for a couple of grand at the credit union on my signature, the last loan had been paid off for six months and it had been a long time since we'd given ourselves a treat. So down to the stereo shop we went. You guessed it, by the time we left not only did I have a CD player the wife had winked at the salesman and between them they'd talked me into buying the high dollar speakers that could do justice to the power of the Phantom.
Well, they could if they had enough power to drive them, which I didn't. My unit only pushed 55 watts a channel, not near enough for the Kappas to really get their shoulder into a demanding piece of music. I was about to nix the idea of buying the big speakers (not wanting to destroy them in short order for lack of power... more speakers die for lack of power than to much, believe it or not) when the sales manager, who'd been drifting around stepped up and asked me how I felt about used equipment. Turns out I was in a prime position to solve a problem for him. He'd taken in a very high end pre-amp/power amp combination in trade, and all his salesmen were fueding over who was going to get to take it home after they got done fixing a few things. It must have been turning into an issue for him, because he offered me the units for what he had in them to get them out of the shop and put an end to the squabble: nobodies gonna get 'em, I sold 'em out the front door. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing at the look on the salesman's face. Anyhow, before all was said and done those two phonograph records ended up costing me damn near two grand.
But hey, it was worth it. I do love my music, and sometimes I do like to turn it up. And anyhow, it's just money to restore them good as new, right at $200 a box and some screw driver and soldering iron time. Better than new, really. They've improved the mid-range speakers over the years, gained several db in sensitivity, reduced the distortion numbers and improved the materials. I'd rather go $400 to heal my old friends than $1200 to replace them with strangers of course. They've been to good to me over the years for that to happen.
In Postscript... the revival was a great success... totally love the "black pearl" midreange domes... best money spent on the system in many years :-)
Sounds like a very pro-Earth thing to do! Repair or rebuild rather than buy new. But for how many audio/video components can you do this? More and more they're made to throw away...
ReplyDelete(Might the Chinese authorities be deliberately trying to conquer the world by exploiting Western greed for stuff?)
*chuckle* I can't claim such a high and noble motive as "pro-Earth," just sentimental and a bit towards the thrifty side. Four hundred I can scratch up, twelve would hurt. Loudspeakers are in the realms of "user serviceable" things, it's just parts swapping and the replacement parts are easily available. I'm definitely in favor of as many things as possible being built to be repaired/restored, but then again I'm in the minority being as how technology is not magic to me. There are so many who know so little they might as well call it magic because to them it is. That "throw it away and buy a new one" kind of greed is the mentality of the technology is magic crowd. Not only do they create a lot of waste they get ripped right off by their own ignorance and arrogance.
ReplyDeletePrime example, when twenty years later I went down to the same shop to buy a home theater receiver to replace the pre/power amp pair (the pre-amp had failed beyond restoring, it had gone the distance) the dork kid working sales tried to sell me "digital loudspeakers" to go with the new digital signal processing receiver I proposed to buy! When I told him that since sound is an analog function there is no such thing as a digital loudspeaker he told me I didn't know what I was talking about! I of course told him almost politely to shove it up his ass, that we'd talk about digital bells and whistles and other such bullshit upstream of the critical d/a section after we'd established which of his offerings had the cleanest amplifiers... measured 20-20khz at half the units rated power output, not the politically negotiated 1watt/1khz/1meter rating the government agreed to by way of pacifying the industry when they first demanded a standard unit of measure for such things (when the two ratings are close you're dealing with a good unit... if they're not close its POS regardless of the number of bells and whistles). Ten minutes later he handed me off to someone who actually knew something to go sit in the corner and pout. To him what he was selling was magic, he was distinctly unhappy that several other customers were listening very closely to his senior and I discussing the actual abilities of what was being offered.
And no, I don't blame the Chinese for the greed factor... that started a long time before China became a power player of production. I lay that one to the feet of Cotton Mather and his ilk, the ones who preached that wealth equates to being on good terms with God.
Oh yes, the "name it/claim it" theology, aka the "health and wealth Gospel." Not Biblical nor realistic in my experience, and lots of sincere people have been burned by it--which makes it dangerous in my book.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's no substitute for knowledge and caring. A belief in "magic" may sell things for a while, but the ones who stay in business know their business and treat their customers/clients right. Of course, some large companies let down their good people who do know and care...