Lyndhurst Garden House

Lyndhurst Garden House
Lyndhurst Garden House

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Breakdowns in 2015

A key part of my bedroom hifi, a Behringer DEQ 2496 failed, and rather than replace with spare unit intended for 3 DEQ living room system, I temporarily reprogrammed the existing DCX crossover to do same job, though not quite as well.  I will need to replace with DEQ or equivalent for long term plan for bedroom system.  $300 not paid yet since I still have spare unit that needs to be programmed and put into service before I buy yet another.  Plan is to have 4 such units in continuous service, currently I only have 1 in continuous service.

Another key part of bedroom hifi, a Sonos ZP80 from 2005 seemed to be failing and was replaced with brand new Sonos Connect.  Later I determined that older ZP80's aren't as good doing simultaneous line input to several zones, so perhaps the ZP80 wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as the new units.  But that was my original ZP80, which has had more hangups and other problems than any other unit, so I'm glad to be rid of it, and the new Connect has revolutionized my Turntable & Tape zone, which now works perfectly in all modes via Sonos.  $325

Car (2006 Prius with 135,000 miles) started showing red warning triangle and other lights.  I was able to drive to dealer, and paid $500 to replace inverter coolant pump.  This is the first repair I have ever had to pay for since previous repairs were covered by 100,000 mile warranty.  I decided if car needs to be replaced before smaller EV's with 200 mile range become available, I'll lease an EV with 100 mile range.  But I would pay a few thousand, if necessary, to keep Prius going until 2017. $500

13 year old Central Air Conditioner stopped working, and was repaired with a recharge and sealant compound said to be good for 18 months.   Very hot summer follows very cold winter this year and replacement may be required soon.  Variable speed compressors are now available from Trane, Lennox, and Carrier.  My existing service company would be happy to install new Trane, but I want BTU's bumped up which it would seem that kind of system allows, but installers aren't comfortable with that yet. $500

Another key part of bedroom hifi, a Classe CP-35 preamp I purchased used in 2004 died, blows fuses.  Was replaced with brand new Emotive XSP-1 preamp.  $700.

Power amp in SVS subwoofer failed and was replaced with new improved unit from factory.  $400.

Worried that Monster Power surge suppressor in bedroom wasn't working (after two failures on bedroom system, and it had been blinking all lights EXCEPT surge for years, and is the last of 3 now failed Monster Power units) I replaced it with a Brickwall surge suppressor with long warranty and series mode system which works without sacrificial elements.  $250.

Sony 34XBR960 TV from 2005 died.  This was the finest CRT TV ever made, not only with high definition but special SuperFine pitch.  Perfect blacks of course and more beautiful color than just about any LCD TV.  Price paid was $2500 brand new from top local dealer.  Natively scans 480i to 1080i.  The best possible display for old Standard Definition material.  I got my 10 years usage out of it but will try to get fixed.  What I'd like to replace this with would be a 40" (limited by space available) OLED, and those are not available yet.

Ceramic Dental Crown started getting sensitive, then had full on pain.  Dentist fixed without exactly explaining how.  This is the 3rd failure on that crown, though previous failures had not involved any pain.  $200 (including dentist visit, doctor visit, and antibiotic, but not future plans for replacement with gold crown).

Sony 400 disc DVD carousel from 2006 failed, was replaced, sort of, with a new Magnavox MDR 557 in addition to unboxing an older Magnavox MDR 537.  Replacement isn't completed yet because MDR is noisy and I need SSD and other tweaks to make it work quietly.  $300.

10 year old Duracraft Humidifier not working after intensive cleaning--perhaps too intensive.


I guess I shouldn't complain, since most of these have lasted longer than most people even keep such things.  I think it shows that when you have lots of stuff which can fail, you have to expect that there will be continuing repair and replacement costs nearly every year just to keep the same circus going.  So it's one more advantage for simplicity, except I'm not going there soon.  Meanwhile what may be more surprising is how long many things have actually lasted so far and may continue doing for awhile.

(Over $3000 in repair/replacement costs for this year, and one big item, TV, hasn't been addressed yet.)