Ultimate stereo nightmare

1. Roll on your stomach,

2. Get on your knees with your hands on the floor underneath your shoulders,

3. Drag your right foot forward until it’s on the floor,

4. Be next to a table or dresser and put your arm on its top (you can also use your knee to boost yourself up).

5. Should be able to wrangle yourself up.

P.S. I have an adjustable metal cane that comes in handy for this kind of activity.

It’s all technique!

I had the same problem....hired a technician to get on his knees and find the problem. Turns out it was a loose locking ground jacket on one of my RCA input plugs from my amp to the preamp. All is well now

All you need for the future is structured wiring. No matter how jumbled things become, you will not lose track. Get the professionals you hired to do this if you wish.

For every cable, without exception: Place a label (with a label maker, a sturdy piece of heavy paper with handwriting, anything you like) at one end that identifies what is at the other end. Repeat for the other end.

It is a PIA. But you only do it once. It is a brilliant approach, and the idea is not mine. It is an idea from network structured wiring for complex distributed wiring setups.

Personally, if you are changing/upgrading equipment often, I would recommend making label names based on function. So, the label for a standalone re-clocker is re-clocker, not Brand-Product name. When you buy the new and better re clocker, the label can be unchnaged.

I hope it goes without saying that the labels must be durable and easily removable without damage or residue.  Good luck from another older creaky audiophool.

Well, I think my audiophile days are over. I took the whole very complicated system apart and labeled the various wires the best I could.  That’s the problem.  At my age (83) things are not as exact as they should be and I probably screwed up somewhere. I’m afraid Humpty Dumpty is never going to be put back together again. 
 I wanted to make things easier for the technician but I don’t think she’ll be able to cope with this.

Oh well, there’s always my headphones.

I’m in that older age bracket now, and the best move I’ve made was to get caster wheels for my Salamander A5 audio stand to get access easily now to the back. My hockey knees and back are especially grateful that I did.....