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Ever Have One Of Those Evenings?

Tonight, I went downstairs, turned on the system, and it sounded like crap. Within an hour I had:

>Discovered that one of my Thiel 2.2's has either a dead woofer (most likely), or a crossover or internal wiring problem. Testing to diagnose will commence tomorrow, tonight I'm too P.O.'ed.

>Additionally discovered that the tweeter on the other side is distorting badly, and will need the dome/voice-coil assembly replaced (again).

>Confirmed that my most costly set of interconnects has a bad jack connection (these are Harmonic Technology Magic Link Ones, which naturally feature a plug design that cannot easily be opened up for inspection or repairs without destroying the heat-shrink sleeve).

>Faced the distinct possibility that my futzing around behind the preamp trying to ascertain the culprit in the latter problem - without first turning down the volume - may well have been the cause of least one of the first two problems.

>Realized that now, not only can't I listen to my system the regular way, but since the OEM (non-standard) headphone amp output jack I got from Musical Fidelity's distributor to replace the faulty original in my X-Cans quickly developed the same exact problem as the old one (no right channel with either set of 'phones), I cannot even listen with my headphones for the time being, except through my CD-R recorder's wimpy monitoring jack.

Looks like I'm on a steady diet of cable movies and NPR for a while. (Way to go, Trent Lott: at least you'll be out-of-sight, out-of-mind by this time next week, you plastic-haired cretin - your plight is the one redeeming feature of my evening!)
zaikesman
tobias
1,534 posts
 
The Bose and JVC owners have approximately the warranty period to look forward to before one of the machine's critical components--possibly the on-off switch--dies and requires a fix that costs more than half the price of a new unit.

On the other hand when a sulky teenager bangs the vacuum cleaner into the bottom of a rosewood Meadowlark Shearwater Hotrod and chips the veneer, it's gonna cost more to fix than a complete replacement of the JVC mini-system... :-(

Sorry to hear about your woes, Zaikesman, I'd be pretty grouchy if it was me. Best wishes !
tubemiser's avatar
tubemiser
98 posts
 
Well, Zaikes of course we all feel for you. My preamp went back to ARC two times this year. I have a pair of 3.6s and thought these things are built to last. What's happening with the voice-coils assy. that you need to replace them again.

Anyway, we all have a "things to do when I have time list?"
stehno
1,453 posts
 
From what I understand, NPR can damage your hearing. It is known to have lots of glare, grain, hash, along with oodles of veiling. The perspective will put you to the far left.

The immediacy and macro-dynamics of the presentation can lead to immediate protest (doesn't matter what the cause) or to even threaten to leave one's own country (only during an election year).

The micro-dynamics are soap bubbles.

The transparency is obvious to anyone who does not listen on a regular basis.

It's overall sonic signature is overly warm (and fuzzy) and may be considered by some to be bloomy and even bloated at times with a tremendous lack of detail.

In it's place, might I suggest a good dose of Lipitor and warm cocoa curling up with a nice book by the fire?

How about Bill Bennett's 'Book of Virtues'?

-IMO

p.s. sorry to hear about your system woes.
holzhauer
200 posts
 
It could be worse. I once read a post from a fella with a nice pair of sound labs (or at least they used to be). He was short on speaker wire so he was in the process of splicing two extension cords together to use as speaker wire. The mother in law noticed one of the unplugged cords and plugged it into the wall socket. It was wired directly to the speaker inputs. Ouch!!!!!
paulg805
29 posts
 
This is one reason I have 3 systems in my house, this way at least one works.
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