FGJ Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 (As an aside the growing public consciousness over environmental choices makes it odd that we also have so many electronics designed to be thrown away and replaced rather than repaired). /quote]That's a good observation. While I'm no tree-hugger, I also don't believe in being wasteful by creating things meant to be so easily disposed. "Disposable" used to be indicative of modern products, but it turned out to be bad all around where a lot of things are concerned. It seems it would make a lot more sense if products were actually well-built with the intention of being indefinitely repairable (since we can't reasonably expect anything to be unbreakable or everlasting). I mean, who takes their television in to be repaired any longer? People just toss them and get a new one (I'm probably the only guy on the block still watching movies on a CRT television instead of a flat-screen). So, while pcb amps may be repairable in principle, they're not easily serviced by the average user. At least the average player can swap tubes or bias a tube amp, and anyone handy with a soldering-iron can work on amps equipped with eyelet/turret boards. I realize good quality usually comes at a price, but I would rather save my money and buy something that will last, than continually buy crap that will soon break and require constant replacing. In the end, buying the same junk over and over often costs more than simply buying a quality-built product only once. Unfortunately, many people either don't have the patience to save for something that will last or necessity forces them to buy junk.
Willie G. Moseley Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 Tangent: I have CRTs that pick up digital airwave broadcasts but way out in the country, the signal was "all" or "none" (typical for digital) so we were compelled to get a satellite dish and the CRTs are now set on analog channel 3.My question is: When the CRTs each go phfft and we have to get flat screens, can we set those new ones to analog 3, or is a satellite dude gonna have to come out and recalibrate somethin'?
alantig Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 Tangent: I have CRTs that pick up digital airwave broadcasts but way out in the country, the signal was "all" or "none" (typical for digital) so we were compelled to get a satellite dish and the CRTs are now set on analog channel 3.My question is: When the CRTs each go phfft and we have to get flat screens, can we set those new ones to analog 3, or is a satellite dude gonna have to come out and recalibrate somethin'?You should be able to go channel 3 or use one of the other outputs - components, composites or HDMI if the dish receiver has them.I replaced my dish receiver last year - the new one doesn't even have a coax out.
Sparky Posted February 20, 2015 Posted February 20, 2015 (As an aside the growing public consciousness over environmental choices makes it odd that we also have so many electronics designed to be thrown away and replaced rather than repaired). /quote]I realize good quality usually comes at a price, but I would rather save my money and buy something that will last, than continually buy crap that will soon break and require constant replacing. In the end, buying the same junk over and over often costs more than simply buying a quality-built product only once. Unfortunately, many people either don't have the patience to save for something that will last or necessity forces them to buy junk. I see this mainly with appliances. We used cloth diapers on our kids, and when we got our first child we bought a used washer and dryer set that were in good shape. We ran a shitload of wash through those things. Diaper loads often required 2 complete cycles, along with all the other wash being done as well. They lasted a really long time and required only a few repairs. I'm not sure why we sold them now. Fast forward to a few years ago when we remodeled the kitchen and bought new appliances. The fairly new fancy washer is in the backyard waiting for a new pump to arrive. I've already replaced the stator assembly and the stabilizer jacks. Sometimes the electronic dials just freak out. The dishwashers we bought have a problem with the plastic delaminating from the control button assembly. The big ass fridge has a door that has broken repeatedly. It flops around now and we have to sort of align it when the door is closed. We can't open the freezer on it all the way because the plastic broke where actual metal parts were attached. The plastic isn't strong enough to take the load. The double oven has convection fans in each unit. When the self-cleaning cycle is used on the ovens it bakes the shit out of the thrust bearings in the convection fans and they get sloppy and slam into the fan covers. We've already had both fans replaced. When we quit paying for the "warranty service" I bought two replacement fans. I'm waiting for them to get bad enough and I'll replace them again. I won't even get into the number of vacuums we have murdered. I'd pay good money for people to just make a solid product that does a decent job of whatever it's supposed to do, and is built simply and solidly.
FGJ Posted February 20, 2015 Posted February 20, 2015 Ha, ha! When I first purchased my home, I went through several crappy Dirt Devils and other vacuums every two or three months from Target/ WalMart before finally buying a Kirby that has lasted around 15 years thus far. I paid a grand for the Kirby, but it's built like a tank and can be repaired instead of requiring disposal. There's something to be said for stuff still made out of metal instead of cheap plastic. Yup, solid products are really worth the price.
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