Audiophile Disasters

Posted by StephenJK on February 20, 2007 at 11:28:01

We've all heard stories about "someone" tearing the cantilever from their cartridge body, but what other disasters have you guys experienced? I had one years ago with a B77 reel-to-reel.

The machine had every option, with the two-piece dust cover, elapsed time counter, aluminum editing hubs and the cabled remote control. The remote control was almost a necessity, as it was the only way to get a locking pause button. The pause button on the machine had to be held, and if you pressed stop the drive motors would drop out and leave an audible gap if mid-track.

The only problem was that the pause on the remote would drop out the drive as well. I was taking the machine and remote in for service, still well under warranty, and was carrying it down the back flight of stairs from my apartment to the parking lot.

At the top of the stairs, just starting down, the handle on the top of the machine breaks in half and the reel-to-reel gleefully bounces down the concrete steps and lands on the bottom with a big crash. It was one of those surreal moments, like just before that car you're watching in the rearview mirror hits you.

The machine was still in one piece, but a lot of the plastic bits were in pretty rough shape. I left everything at the dealer, with a promise they would call me soon about a warranty claim. Imagine how thrilled and delighted I was to be informed that "you shouldn't carry it by the handle!"

I had done a lot of business with the dealer, and they worked out a deal with Revox to replace the busted plastic parts. Amazingly enough, the machine still worked perfectly and the only damage was cosmetic.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Topic - Audiophile Disasters - StephenJK 11:28:01 02/20/07 (21)

not exactly audiophile gear but... - G.Nye 09:30:37 02/22/07 (1)

Re: not exactly audiophile gear but... - Bill the K 19:37:43 02/22/07 (0)

buying a pair of cary 500MB's - Shane From Aus 02:36:22 02/22/07 (0)

Re: Audiophile Disasters - Pluck 00:51:22 02/22/07 (1)

Re: Audiophile Disasters - Pluck 10:14:47 02/22/07 (0)

Re: Audiophile Disasters - Justlisten2 20:08:31 02/21/07 (0)

Just happened this morning - Feanor 06:45:49 02/21/07 (0)

Re: Audiophile Almost Disasters - Byrd69 06:19:04 02/21/07 (0)

Oh the HORROR! - anumber1 06:17:38 02/21/07 (0)

Re: Audiophile Disasters - Quint 06:12:17 02/21/07 (0)

Not so spectacular, but... - sser2 20:06:42 02/20/07 (0)

Almost every time I bought an old tube amp and decided to just have a quick listen before I rebuilt it. Usually ... - PureAudio 19:03:29 02/20/07 (0)

Re: Audiophile Disasters - Don Bunce 17:34:33 02/20/07 (0)

oh yeah . . . - troporobo 16:24:53 02/20/07 (0)

Re: Audiophile Disasters - calloway 16:02:30 02/20/07 (0)

Re: Audiophile Disasters - reb 15:11:39 02/20/07 (2)

Re: Audiophile Disasters - rgurney 09:45:16 02/21/07 (0)

Huh? - ArdRi 15:37:45 02/20/07 (0)

Brutally durable those old Revox decks! nt - risabet 13:40:41 02/20/07 (0)

Don't :-) - Frank Waller 13:01:50 02/20/07 (0)

Audiophile Disaster?! - Stephæn 12:01:05 02/20/07 (0)

You can not post to an archived thread.