21 year old AV receiver - waiting for the end?


Since 2002 my Rotel RSX-1055 has been on almost every single day. It has never failed in well over 20,000 hours of running - maybe 30,000. My $1200 investment has worked out well (However, had I put this in Apple stock, it would be about 150k). I know that capacitors can dry out over time, so I looked into some preventive maintenance. Rotel’s answer was it’s not supported, they don’t have parts, and a local shop who does a lot of work on old amps, mostly tube stuff, says they don’t work on AV receivers. I doubt I can find anyone to do this. So my question is, what will the end look like? Is it likely to fade out one day? Will there be a faint sizzle sound, or smell of electronics frying? Or will I wake up one morning to find it has passed quietly in the night? How long could this thing last? I don’t want to give up on it.

karavite

Showing 1 response by toddsyr

My Harman Kardon Citation 22 amps, Citation 25 preamps, and Citation 23 tuners are over 30 years old. Same with my HK CD players.

Over the past year or two some things started to fail. I'm almost done getting everything refurbished. Some things are getting even better parts than what they came with for better than new sound. This is all costing a fraction of what new equipment would set me back.

I did look at new equipment. For my tastes, it would have cost about 20 grand, not including new speakers. Hey, why not? For a system that sounds good to me it's worth that, but........ How long will the new stuff last? I asked more than a few folks. I said "anywhere near as long as my old stuff lasted?" All I got was laughter and replies of 8-10 years if I am really lucky. No brainer, get the old stuff refurbed.

It sounds great to me as it's what I'm accustomed to. I did buy a bunch of new Audioquest Tower interconnects and it sounds a bit better for it. Way better than the original $2 cords that came with the stuff 30+ years ago.

It's your money and your ears. Do what pleases you. There are places that will repair your gear, you just may have to pack it well and ship it.