Before the internet, I did this with my old equipment...

[Alan D]

I've had (before finding this forum), what I thought to be
more than enough equipment...

Forgive me for not remembering the exact model numbers, its
been so long ago....

My first receiver was a Fisher, made for Sears 20wpc model. I
was 16 and got my first job washing cars at a new car dealer.

It lasted for about 2.5 years and then developed a nasty loud noise coming from one of the channels full time.. I took it to Sears, didn't see it for 3 months and it came back fixed. It lasted
for about another 6 months and failed the same way again.

It ended up in the trash.....

My second receiver was a Realistic something from 1979 to 1981 I think. It had 50wpc and all silver face and dual led for
power meters. Kept it working in the bedroom until one channel
started a thuderous sound full time. Crapped out around 1997.

It ended up in the trash....

My first Cassette Deck was a Realistic, around 1980. After 2-3yrs
tapes developed alot of Wow and Flutter. I took the thing apart
and cleaned the belts and pinch rollers.

It ended up in the trash...

My second set of speakers were I believe Realistic Optimus 10's? 8 in woofer/mid and a 10 in passive drone, plus a tweeter
behind somekind of round metal grill.... I loved the sound on
these, bass with weight and nice highs... Around 1989 the surrounds blew out .

It ended up in the trash....

See the pattern here? No, I dont mean I was in love with Radio Shack. A lot of probably fixable gear was trashed because of the
limited knowledge available at the time. It was "What am I going
to do with this broken junk?"

If I had the internet available then, or the trashed equipment
available now, I might have been able to bring these back to life
or offer them to someone who could. Wish I kept the stuff laying around.

I still have my one and only turntable, a realistic lab-300 bought
in 1979. just put a new belt and cartridge on it and it works great. I love the chromed S-tone arm and the counter weights and anti-skating weights. Looks very precision engineered.

Getting long winded now. I have a lot of home theater stuff too.
Its great for movies but not the same feeling for me with it compared to the old stuff.

Now if something breaks, I'll have a chance to bring it to life or
let someone else who just might be looking for and item have it.

Better than ending up in the trash.

Alan D.

oops, I meant to post this in the general audio discussion

 

[Reel 2 Reel]

Dont feel bad...I did the same thing...and knew what was wrong......sometimes it takes more to fix it than what it's worth.....in this day and age....ie ....Black boxes.and plastic..just disposeable junk...(disclaimer!!..for the most part)

the older stuff was built better..just like our cars!!

 

[yrly]

I generally don't trash anything that might have some value. People do it all the time around here, especially at thrift stores. Audio gear, replace it with a newer model even if the old one works. Only items I have seen get trashed for a reason are a lot of vintage CD players that had belt driven trays, the belts dried up and they don't open or close properly. Other stuff too, not just audio gear. I have picked up dozens of expensive laser printers that needed nothing more than their takeup rollers cleaned, one of which I purchased for $12 and have printed about 8k pages on it since I owned it. Computers, once got a brand new one someone tried to build, wouldn't boot because the hard drive cable was reversed. Vacuum cleaners, I have picked up many lightly used more expensive vacuums that were simply clogged with a twist tie, usually ones that are easy to work on too, Kirby, Electrolux, Fantom. Picked up a Fantom Thunder for $10 the other day, an hour's worth of work and it should last several more years at least. In the right hands its worth something. I would suspect more expensive stuff would be less likely to get trashed and probably end up in the basement or closet. If you paid $900 for a receiver back in the late 70s would you throw it away if it stopped working? I would just as soon keep the dead weight. Often times, with a few exceptions, it seems more expensive stuff was cared for better.
Reel 2 Reel- regarding cars I agree older were better, and the more you spent generally the longer it seems to hold up, especially here where salt destroys a car. After buying my mint 83 Grand Marquis LS I happened to be looking at books giving production totals of the Ford made cars. In an average given year about 3 times as many Tempos were produced as Crown Vics (bout the same for the Mercury brand mates), yet try and find a pre 1990 Tempo still on the road here. They are getting pretty sparse. Still lots of the big old rear wheel drive cars floating around though. If you see a vehicle (assuming its unrestored and a car used for regular transportation) from the 80s chances are good its a Ford Crown Vic/Grand Marquis/Town Car, Chevy Caprice, Olds Delta 88, Cadillac, or in other words anything that cost more up front and still had some measure of build quality to it. Sure there are others out there but as time drags on the vast majority of what has held up have been the biggest and most expenisve offerings from Detroit.