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Total cost of ownership - how to reduce it

Audiogon members love their music - but I am not alone, I think, in finding that the requirements in terms of cost and time for keeping the system running at optimal, can become too steep. Can we help each other out?

Today I have spent two hours trying to find a failed tube in my system. Two months ago I had a bad episode with a repair service that did not repair and did not return my stuff. Some weeks ago, I blew a speaker driver, I am still waiting for the replacement. Thinking, I need a tube tester, since my system has a lot of tubes - I got the tester, but it blew tubes, not "dead on arrival" but "over-excited" - and has to be repaired. I am perhaps especially unlucky. But I ask myself, how much is enough? When such experiences accumulate, I can understand people plugging into Mp3, it is simple and it works.

I have thought about my situation and diagnosed two main types of problems - maybe, relevant for other Audiogon members also.

The first is where you buy a thing used and then get it upgraded by the manufacturer. You pay quite a lot for this, and you would expect the whole thing is checked - but it is not. In two cases now, I have experienced that even if the upgrade works fine, the box as a whole is not checked, and develops problems a year or two after the upgrade.

The second case is where you pay for an upgrade that is more like a new build (e g of a speaker) or rebuild (of a cartridge). Now, there is no lagging wear and tear problem, but it turns out that the upgrade parameters were not fully developed, things have to be changed or checked afterwards (speaker drivers dont work optimal, needle not quite in place, etc).

I would be the first to recognize that some of these costs (time, mainly, but money also) should be accepted. I have paid local repair costs without complaining, and have used many hours of my own time. As an advanced user, I accept some extra costs.

It is just that, sometimes it gets too much.

I would like other Audiogon users' thoughts on this dilemma, and especially, what can we do to reduce the total ownership costs.

Your thoughts and experiences welcome.
Ag insider logo xs@2xo_holter

Showing 1 response by btselect

btselect
26 posts
 
In general output tubes have the shortest lifespan, so changing to an amp with less tubes would cut your cost and maintenance time. Using fans should reduce temperature and greatly extend component life. The heart and soul of any component is its power supply and usually they have electrolytic caps and they are the first parts that should be changed. Here, check the brand and model and check digikey or mouser or other major supply houses regarding its specs. Electrolytics caps with better specs come out about every 5 years, some of my components are 15 years old and I have just changed these caps for the second time and each change has resulted in a huge improvement, so much so that it outperforms their
current models that have lessor quality caps. The components are very stable and tube life has been greatly extended, a friends output tubes are about 15 yrs old and still going strong. Finally the current components from this manufacturer run in the lower five figure to the mid five figure price tag, so they are not cheap.
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