2chGearBuff

🎄 Merry Christmas to all! May you day be filled with joy and merriment! 🎄

Ratamahatta - I have all three of those recordings on vinyl. Awesome albums. All of them have varied dynamics, and all sound fantastic! Great recordings. Will put any system to the test.

Gotcha. Didn't make the connection and the link threw me off! Thanks, that makes sense now!

Yamacarver??? Not sure I know that Pat Adams said and not getting into political things! Did you get hacked?

Welcome aboard! Great group of people to share your interests with! Enjoy your journey!

Very exciting. Looking real good.

I also appreciate those that are better than me, and I always am willing to listen and to learn! That is why this place is one of the few that I frequent most. Never ending volumes of knowledge and experience here! And everyone is super patient and willing to help everyone else!

4krow - I agree. Never ending projects are hell! For anyone, I believe this is the case! I am not in this to make money either. Maybe as a way to supplement myself when I finally do retire (if I don't die first!). This is more about being able to get a piece of gear I have wanted for years, but never could have afforded new, and since it most likely will be near its life cycle, be able to repair it and enjoy for a period. Then sell it! Maybe, if my obsessive audio gear collecting disorder doesn't get the best of me! Also, if I can help a buddy out here and there, great, as long as they realize it will get done on my time and can accept that! I mean, yeah, maybe if I get better and have strangers approach me, then I could consider it, but for now, it is mostly about the love of the gear! I'm no where near the level as many of the members on the forum, it will take me many years to get there. But at least I know now, in my mind that I have some capabilities in the electronics world!

I know we all have seen posts on various forums as to what started you down the path for collecting the various pieces of gear we have. So, what I want to know is what made you start working on the gear you acquired. My journey down the repair work path is not what I feel is the conventional path so to speak, but one that I find very satisfying. I started my interest in audio gear in middle school. While most of my friends were into girls, sports, music (not that I didn't find any of those things interesting), I took an interest in stereo gear! Always cutting out ads for different pieces of gear to hang on my wall along with the various bands and hot women that I liked, and then started grabbing different pieces here and there. I thought I wanted to be an electrical engineer so I could go to work for a company and design the stuff I liked. Needless to say, never thought about a career path that would take me down the repair path. Needless to say, college ended with a BS in Math, so my interest shifted from wanting to work on stuff to working so I could get a paycheck to afford the stuff I wanted! 20 some years, 2 kids, and a divorce later, I find myself needing something that I can pursue that will give me the happiness in life I am looking for again. Now mind you, I still have kids, 2 dogs, a house, a girlfriend, hobbies such as hunting, etc that all give me happiness, but was looking for something different. So a buddy of mine has this Realistic STA-95 with a blown output channel. So 4 years ago, I say, hey, that is something I want to do! So many of the first years were spent, learing about electronics, reading schematics (which I admit, I still have a long way to go), learing about the different devices used, how they work.... You get the picture! I took it on near the final stage of my divorce, so, needless to say, I had a shoe string budget (if you want to call it that), moving into a new house in a totally different area, and adjusting to life on my own again, I say sure, I can fix this. It has been a long journey, on that I am just beginning, but I am happy to say that I finally finished his receiver (he was never in a rush for it, so it was not a big deal to have it for so long). The level of satisfaction I have is extraordinary! I know I have been able to rebuild and modify a C-19, but this is one that always seemed to elude my ability to fix! Would get it running, the try to test something, and poof, I blew it up again. I admit a lot of it was me not thinking before testing something, or putting my multimeter leads where they didn't belong, etc. But that was all part of the learning experience. Which I am ever grateful that I have been able to learn about the gear that I love so much! Anyhow, I have it up and running on my bench as I am typing this thread! So please, share your journey! Everyone's is different, but in the end, we all end up at the same place, repairing gear we love so it doesn't end up in the scrap yard!] Note, I polished up the Walnut veneer with a nice wax and repainted the metal screen! Tested it out at 49WPC! (Rated for 45WPC per the manual!) I have to say, sounds fantastic, especially to me! And I think I did a good job poishing her up. I did replaced the lamps with LED's, but decided to keep them white like the original! I plan on giving it to my buddy when he comes to my son's HS graduation party this coming weekend! Have a great day! I know I am! Looking forward to reading everyone's tales! Neil

Welcome aboard. Always find the rebuild threads to be some of the most interesting. Gives me a sanity check sometimes when I am working on something and I get stuck. I get to see that I am not the only one that has this happen! And that includes a lot of great members that have way more knowledge than I do! I love to see them apply their knowledge, share with others, and accept advise from anyone that feels like they can help! Great group you have latched onto! Enjoy.

Weclcome back!

Welcome! I have always wanted to get my hands on one of the TFM-35's, but have had to jump above to the TFM-55 then to a TFM-45. The 55 needs to be rebuilt and the 45 I am in the beginning stages of recapping! My plan is to get my hands on one of each size of the TFM series and also the M series amps. I also have started to dabble in the Sunfire realm with two 300x2 amps. For preamps, I have a C-16 and a C-19. Would like to get my hands on a C-11 and a C-1 (to do a Bill D mod - once you've been navigating the site more - you'll understand!) and possibly a Sunfire Tube Pre. I haven't thought about grabbing any of th TFM-x series though. Kind of like the looks of the original TFM line vs the TFM-x line. I digress. Again, welcome aboard.

Welcome aboard! So it has begun! The journey of your lifetime! At least as far as audio gear is concerned. Once I acquired this sickness, it has never been a burden. Always some piece of gear or music out there that cures all ills!

Update, I've improved on the work bench and the test gear sitiuation. Attached is the latest set of pictures of both my bench and carts. Makes work flow a bit easier. Links because files are too large: Bench w/Test Gear - https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPp8wJOwqDlRa9OkvnXoxrw1ahegia587ofR5Rf Cart - https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZKJAFKRWhGP7ptW87 Having the test gear on the bench riser is a huge plus! Not my ideal setup, but getting there. Anyhow, thought I would post an update.