"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...
In article , Keith G
wrote:

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...


Yes, I'd agree. I was just pointing out that some people have an
aversion to anything 'digital',


They *do*....???

(How strange!! ;-)

Well, you said it... :-)


FWIW, I've had a fair amount of (mild) grief myself from carbon volume
and tone pots - not to mention hard-wired input selector switches!!

So have I, mainly due to a willingness to use quite 'old' equipment at
times. However I'd hope that any decent audio equipment made in recent
decades would be using the newer materials which don't degrade or cause
problems as in days of yore... :-)


When these buggers play up it is a serious inconvenience (especially to
non-DIYers) and the effects on sound quality can be quite severe -
silence on one channel or the volume blasting through flat out on both,
for instance!! (Been there, done all of that!!)

I can recall days when the advice you might get would be to use '3-in-1
oil' to 'mend' a duff carbon pot. :-)


That'll be 'WD40' now!! :-)


However for some time now, unless
you are using very old (or cheap) items nothing like this should arise.


Put me down for the 'cheap' option!!



Perhaps I'm naive, but I think the days of truly dodgy electronics are
well past us.

It would be nice to think so. I also hope for peace and the end of
poverty,
too... :-)



Well, ****e PC TV cards aside (actually, it's the software) I hafta say I
find most things work pretty well most of the time. I can remember the (B&W)
days when you sat just waiting for the 'tube' to go on your telly!! :-)


It's still possible to buy crap of course, but mostly I
think we are getting more bang for our bucks than ever before and I
don't think manufacturers playing in an international arena are going
to risk their grip on the markets with anything too pooey....??

Having a world market actually helps those who wish to flog duff or
counterfeit or out-of-spec goods. They can keep changing brand name or
market, or simply fake/falsify things... If you read IEEE Spectrum you
would be aware that this is now a very serious problem, and one that is
quite hard to deal with.


Yes fake *everything* is a big problem these days! I trust in 'respectable'
suppliers and the 12 months warranty that comes from them. usually. I don't
buy extra warranty - who TH wants 'electronics' to last 3 years these days?
Most of it it has been superceded by the time you get it home!!



Yes, there are lots of good quality. cheap, items on sale. But in with it
will be items using second-hand or faked components, and/or made with no
real regard for actual performance beyond the point of sale. Having a well
known brand name on the box may well help. But even that may not in some
cases since they may have bought in faked components without knowing so.


Sure.