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Old tech you can't part from

0098386

0098386

Suspended
Original poster
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
Well! Today is a day of joy. Back in 1999 my dad gave me his old stereo amplifier. He raved on about how it was top of the line in the 70's so he never parted with it. So I plugged it all in, but it had major problems. The left speaker would go out very frequently, requiring you to turn the balance fully to that speaker, maxing out the volume and smashing down on the poor machine before swiftly turning the volume back down again. It's very loud after all! This thing was built to last, I must have hit the damn thing about 5 times a day!

Anywho. I fixed it today. Finally. Turned out the amp wasn't being earthed correctly. Also fixed up a constant static noise that I just put down to "running noise". so woo!

I could never get rid of it because it looks so retro and sounds absolutely stunning (when working). My folks Sony hi-fi stack thing, my mates JBL Creature 2 speakers. it's all poppycock to this (with Wharfedale Speakers). I mean it'd probably go for £10 on eBay. But still.

Anyways! I'm keeping my amp, what are you keeping?
 
I've got a feeling I won't be parting with my PowerBook either, first mac and all. my iMac will probably be sold to buy something new. I just love the little 12" PB :eek: absolutely perfect for writing with.
 
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raggedjimmi said:
Anywho. I fixed it today. Finally. Turned out the amp wasn't being earthed correctly. Also fixed up a constant static noise that I just put down to "running noise". so woo!
Click to expand...

Love how you brits call grounding 'earthing'.

I agree that older electronics were built a lot more solid than todays. Possibly because they were less complicated devices? Or not assembled from crap parts? I dunno, by the time I came around, we were using small scale integration chips in everything and the dawn of digitally controlled devices had already broken. Purely analogue circuits were rare.
 
My turntable :). Of course, I'm hoping to replace it with a new, much nicer one within the next year. That's the only piece of tech that I can think of that I use regularly that's old. I have other old stuff, but I like them because they're old (like my old computers, etc).
 
Hm. I've got a co-worker who keeps a dot matrix printer around still... personally, I've done the math and my Brother laser printer is cheaper per page and makes nicer, faster prints to boot.

As for me? Hmmm... I'm an upgrade-onaut, so I'm having trouble thinking of a piece of old tech that I still have around. Only thing I can think of is some pre-WWI era rifles (well, they were designed pre-WWI, mine happened to be made between WWI and WWII). Built by the Russians to be 100% fool proof on the field, simple design that any illiterate farmer could be taught to disassemble, clean and maintain with pretty much no tools.

But, other than that, I tend to replace gadgetry as soon as my wife lets me.
 
i probably won't part with my powerbook..and just for the record...in soviet russia, tech parts from you...:)
 
Mine is quite simple. A pen and a pad of paper. Yes, it may be convienant just to type something out then print it but sometimes it's faster to just write it out. Old? Yup. But just because something is old doesn't mean you throw it out.
 
My TV. Can't justify getting rid of a 27" that weighs 100lbs and still works great to get a funky cool 42" plasma or LCD. We've had it for 12 years...
 
I keep around a tube-type Hi-Fi console, as well as two vintage stereo systems, complete with turntables and reel-to-reel tape decks (and no cd player). I fairly frequently use my first-generation PalmPilot, though it occasionally gets set aside in favor of a pen and paper, and most of my math is done either on paper or with the assistance of a slide-rule. All my pictures I take on film, with a 60's era Kodak 35mm. And when I burn DVDs, they're all single-layer and get played on a non-progressive scan DVD player fed through a non-HD tv. :D

To the OP, what sort of stereo amp do you have?
 
Probably the X1600 in my MacBook Pro.

Joking aside, most definitely my Rega Planar 3 record deck. Gave it the motor upgrade (it desperately needed that), and now it sounds stunning. I've heard LP12s which don't sound as good!
 
My stereo system is vintage 1980, an 60 watt amp, separate AM/FM tuner, and 1980 2-way speakers. Still works but lots of cracking noises when turning the volume knob. I just can't bring myself to upgrade yet, it still works.
 
Well, I still buy old tech.:)

I'll never ever throw away or sell my first computer. Little custom built Windows 95. 1 GB hard drive. 16 megs of RAM. Just died last year.
sad-smiley-005.gif
 
Dane D. said:
My stereo system is vintage 1980, an 60 watt amp, separate AM/FM tuner, and 1980 2-way speakers. Still works but lots of cracking noises when turning the volume knob. I just can't bring myself to upgrade yet, it still works.
Click to expand...

The volume pot probably just needs to be cleaned out. Try some tuner cleaner from Radio Shack.
 
mrgreen4242 said:
Hm. I've got a co-worker who keeps a dot matrix printer around still... personally, I've done the math and my Brother laser printer is cheaper per page and makes nicer, faster prints to boot.
Click to expand...

But a dot matrix printer sounds much better!

Check out Man...Or Astro Man?'s "A Simple Text File"
 
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