Comment by lttlrck | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lttlrck | Hacker News Reader

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The volume pot went in my 1992 Kenwood amp (18th birthday present). It crackled quite horrendously as they tend to do as they age.

I took that amp back and forth to uni each semester carefully boxing it up each time, took it to Germany, back to the UK, and it's still with me in the US, albeit currently in its box.

Huge sentimental value.

A couple of years ago I found the (impressive) service manual for it that had the part number for the potentiometer. Unfortunately the part is no longer available, it has a special loudness tap on it. I replaced it with a pot without the tap, I never used loudness anyway. Works great. It's a brilliant amplifier.

The service manual explains how to re-calibrate the amplifier current biases. So I checked it and it was still in spec.

https://www.audioservicemanuals.com/k/kenwood/kenwood-ka/161...

I also have a same era CD player that still works, I replaced it's laser maybe 10 years ago. Both purchased from Sevenoaks Hifi in Kent, by sending off a check in the mail.

I have an old NAD integrated amp from the same era - it keeps trucking along as it ever has. It's been rather sad to see their reputation for reasonably-priced, reliable kit take a nosedive in the last decade or so.

I was quite jealous of NAD equipment around that time. Never owned any though.

I've been able to quiet noisy volume potentiometers--where the problem is dirt inside the control--by squirting contact cleaner into the pot and rotating the knob. I have the advantage of having a (now almost empty) aerosol can of no-longer-legal CFC contact cleaner (I bought it many years ago and save it for the good stuff), but I'm guessing what whatever the good stuff is these days for cleaning circuit boards is likely to work just as well.

As someone who lives way down south, and incidentally spent a brief but memorable bit of time helping monitor the ozone...

Maybe try some of the new stuff, and if it works OK, take the old stuff to haz waste next time there's a good opportunity? I understand that the can of CFCs is a "drop in the ocean", but the mindset change is more significant.

Fair enough. In my defense, I've had the same can for almost 40 years, use it judiciously, and guesstimate that it's kept at least a couple of thousand US$ worth of electronics in service that would otherwise have needed expensive repairs or, worse, been disposed of and replaced by new stuff, with all of the environmental consequences those entail. But I will explore alternatives, and I see that there's a new version of the product (Chemtronics Electro-Wash) that doesn't have CFCs. Thanks for the nudge!

All good! I think we can all appreciate the proverbial giants who've lifted us to where we are, and simultaneously acknowledge that they left some nasty shits here and there.

Good reminder to clean the pots in my amp too - I've got an old Leak Stereo 70 that occasionally makes some odd noises or drops one of the channels, usually it gets sorted with a firm smack.

If you find something new that works as well then please let us know!

that could certainly have helped though it was a bit beyond crackling, a channel would drop out completely.

Maybe if I had tried that several years earlier the lubrication may well have extended the pots life.

Silicone contact cleaner works also very well for old pots.

you have sentimental attachment to a...uh...amplifier?

I can see this happening. My lounge doesn't look the same since my favourite (big) speakers got evicted in favour of a minimalist / soundbar thing that I hate.

I just got very used to seeing (and hearing) those big black boxes and they have been in every house we lived in for over 30 years.

If you're used to seeing (and hearing) something then having affection for those objects is quite common I would have thought.

sentimental value refers to the memories associated with an object, not the object itself.

I have had it for 30 years, I have listened to hundreds of CD with it (that I also still own). Thousands of hours. I know what it sounds like. It was £210 - I paid for a good chunk of it myself from my first job at Tesco in the smallest city (w/ cathedral) in England, pushing trollies. And! I fixed its crusty old volume pot for a couple of bucks instead of throwing it in the trash.

That's how sentimentality works... for me anyway.

Music equipment is among the most sentimental of all human possessions. In fact virtually all the musicians I’ve ever met believe in “MOJO”.

Is MOJO an acronym in this case? I consider myself an amateur musician but I'm not familiar with this term.

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