Hey Crew,
It's been about 2-3 months since I've set up my hobby shop over here. its been fun and exciting thus far and I formally thank the community for getting this party started!
See back in my younger years (I'm only 31), my Father who was a happy electrician had all the old tools for doing soldering, repair, and design. I even remember the old tesla-coil he built that survived through the 70s and was seen when I was a kid. I was scared; that from 6 feet away a florescent lightbulb would light up in my hand without being connected. He is still an avid Ham Radio operator as well. We also had HO and American Flyer trains growing up, many of which was a hobbiest's delight. Of course I also had Radio Controlled Cars, and a Comodore 64 when I was only 5 years old.
Being a Computer engineer now, most of what I do is process, projects, and implementation. I'm not into the break-fix stuff with computers like I used to, but even that was becoming no-brainer. I was never much into software, hardware was where I wanted to be. Believe me, some of the techs the vendors send to our DataCenter are no-brainers indeed and the break-fix stuff for Computers is not about IRQ and Memory settings anymore.
That doesnt mean I'm smart with anything yet though. Fixing amps is like one step closer to nirvana for me with the help from this community. It all started with one of my personally amps on the fritz. A few pops, some smoke, and they were fixed! Now, I've been targetting audio distribution warehouses and Auto-Boutiques for their lots; many of which are starting to become paying customers. Would you believe, I found a Vehicle Upolstry fabricator who has an 8x12 foot room shelves stacked with nothing but broken car audio equipment? I mean, he pulled one out for me and one fell behind the shelves it was so packed in there!
This week has been my biggest but also my most successfull. Of the 17 amps I had recieved since last wednesday, 12 of them have been repaired or parts on order. Not only that but previous left-behinds pulled some big sales on Flea-Bay; but most of the stuff I'm doing this week I'm going to get compensated for in person.
Some of the coolest amps I've worked with:
-Rodek by Zed Audio
-Soundstream MC140X
-Zeus X and Zeus VIII
-Genesis
-Alpine 3545s
Does it get any better than this!
That being said, how did you get started?
It's been about 2-3 months since I've set up my hobby shop over here. its been fun and exciting thus far and I formally thank the community for getting this party started!
See back in my younger years (I'm only 31), my Father who was a happy electrician had all the old tools for doing soldering, repair, and design. I even remember the old tesla-coil he built that survived through the 70s and was seen when I was a kid. I was scared; that from 6 feet away a florescent lightbulb would light up in my hand without being connected. He is still an avid Ham Radio operator as well. We also had HO and American Flyer trains growing up, many of which was a hobbiest's delight. Of course I also had Radio Controlled Cars, and a Comodore 64 when I was only 5 years old.
Being a Computer engineer now, most of what I do is process, projects, and implementation. I'm not into the break-fix stuff with computers like I used to, but even that was becoming no-brainer. I was never much into software, hardware was where I wanted to be. Believe me, some of the techs the vendors send to our DataCenter are no-brainers indeed and the break-fix stuff for Computers is not about IRQ and Memory settings anymore.
That doesnt mean I'm smart with anything yet though. Fixing amps is like one step closer to nirvana for me with the help from this community. It all started with one of my personally amps on the fritz. A few pops, some smoke, and they were fixed! Now, I've been targetting audio distribution warehouses and Auto-Boutiques for their lots; many of which are starting to become paying customers. Would you believe, I found a Vehicle Upolstry fabricator who has an 8x12 foot room shelves stacked with nothing but broken car audio equipment? I mean, he pulled one out for me and one fell behind the shelves it was so packed in there!
This week has been my biggest but also my most successfull. Of the 17 amps I had recieved since last wednesday, 12 of them have been repaired or parts on order. Not only that but previous left-behinds pulled some big sales on Flea-Bay; but most of the stuff I'm doing this week I'm going to get compensated for in person.
Some of the coolest amps I've worked with:
-Rodek by Zed Audio
-Soundstream MC140X
-Zeus X and Zeus VIII
-Genesis
-Alpine 3545s
Does it get any better than this!
That being said, how did you get started?
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Lemme see, on the repair lineup in my shop right now (in no particular order)
Earthquake UHC (forgot which one, it's a 2CH) - one channel works, other channel distorted, I can trace clean signal coming from the preamp board so it's the amp section thats the problem
Soundstream D200II - looked like someone went soldering in it with a nail heated over a candle.
Genesis Dual Mono - haven't touched it yet. owner said an intermittent fault,
Zapco - forgot the model, 4x 5wrms, a collector gave it to me, it has leaking caps in it
Nad home stereo integrated amp - the owner accidentally poured pcb etchant near the PS, worked fine for a couple years then suddenly quit working
Digital Designs M1 (the old black one) - blown ps and output fets. having trouble sourcing replacements that don't heat up.
DLS reference 5ch - victim of a massive flood over here two years ago. it has been cleaned but haven't touched it yet.
Sound Magus C90 - I bought it real cheap for parts. store owner said it goes to protect, when I went home and powered it up, it ran ok but haven't tested with a signal yet.
JBL 75.4II - same as above. 😉
Adcom GFA4402 - weird problem with protection light. waiting for the owner (collector who gave me the zapco) to send me a schematic
Alto UCS Pro DSP processor - a problem with the analog outputs. signal meters works just that there's no audio output.
coming soon:
old school 4ch mcIntosh amp with meters - I hate that thing. it has an intermittent fault I can't find!!
edit: I missed this one:
I loved to tinker with stuff from ever since I was a kid. Dad supported me everytime and helped me accumulate all the tools and junk. Several years later, the junk has taken over a room and I turned it into my workshop. Junk keeps piling ever since. Friends know I built my own amps, so they ask for favors if I could repair theirs (and unfortunately) I say yes and it goes on and on and on.....until I have a pile of amps at home to fix.
Earthquake UHC (forgot which one, it's a 2CH) - one channel works, other channel distorted, I can trace clean signal coming from the preamp board so it's the amp section thats the problem
Soundstream D200II - looked like someone went soldering in it with a nail heated over a candle.
Genesis Dual Mono - haven't touched it yet. owner said an intermittent fault,
Zapco - forgot the model, 4x 5wrms, a collector gave it to me, it has leaking caps in it
Nad home stereo integrated amp - the owner accidentally poured pcb etchant near the PS, worked fine for a couple years then suddenly quit working
Digital Designs M1 (the old black one) - blown ps and output fets. having trouble sourcing replacements that don't heat up.
DLS reference 5ch - victim of a massive flood over here two years ago. it has been cleaned but haven't touched it yet.
Sound Magus C90 - I bought it real cheap for parts. store owner said it goes to protect, when I went home and powered it up, it ran ok but haven't tested with a signal yet.
JBL 75.4II - same as above. 😉
Adcom GFA4402 - weird problem with protection light. waiting for the owner (collector who gave me the zapco) to send me a schematic
Alto UCS Pro DSP processor - a problem with the analog outputs. signal meters works just that there's no audio output.
coming soon:
old school 4ch mcIntosh amp with meters - I hate that thing. it has an intermittent fault I can't find!!
edit: I missed this one:
I loved to tinker with stuff from ever since I was a kid. Dad supported me everytime and helped me accumulate all the tools and junk. Several years later, the junk has taken over a room and I turned it into my workshop. Junk keeps piling ever since. Friends know I built my own amps, so they ask for favors if I could repair theirs (and unfortunately) I say yes and it goes on and on and on.....until I have a pile of amps at home to fix.
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