mending things

A feature of many of these blogs is my interest in vinyl records and turntables. Over the years I've acquired and restored a number of decks, all of which came with a cartridge, but were they worth keeping ? Well my  friend , and fellow fan, Clive,  has created a wonderful resource with a great deal of invaluable detail about a wider range of cartridges, and reviewed in classic decks like the PL12D, Rega Planar 2 and the Technics SL1200. Well worth visiting for the insight and detail around things such as optimal capacitive loading , for example PHONO CARTRIDGE REVIEWS

Some months back, I did a silly thing and blew one of the drivers in my speakers. I think while fumbling with the wires between my pre and power amps I may have run a tape monitor into the power. Anyway, there was a loud noise and after that one of the Dalesford drivers in my RAM 200 speakers was damaged. It still worked but sounded wrong, and applying gentle inward pressure revealed it was rubbing on the voice coil. Basically the wiring had over heated. I looked around for a replacement but my challenge was that the Dalesford drivers are no longer made, and the RAM 200 used a special large magnet version of the driver. Some KEF drivers were considered a drop in replacement, but again, it would  require buying a second pair of speakers to cannibalise for parts, which also seemed wrong. I wondered if the speaker driver could be repaired, though I realised this was beyond anything I could do. I found a few places on the internet that could do the work, though some seemed to ta...

A good friend recently spotted this turntable, being sold on ebay, buy it now at a reasonable price , and very close to where I live. We had both commented  in the past that the Harmon Kardon T40 was a nice looking deck, with it's deep platter and champagne colour, so it was impossible to resist. Not that well known in the UK, and advertised as not working, with a hinge missing and a burn on the lid. I bid, won and collected it from the seller, who was very helpful , and it was exactly as described. Upon inspection the main problem with the deck not starting was due to the belt having petrified  and broken into small pieces. the motor worked as I lifted the arm across the platter and appeared to correctly eject the arm at the end of side position. The motor turned fine. As well as the drive belt, the 4 rubber feet had also aged badly. As you can see from the picture ,all that remained was the 4 springs and parts of the rubber cup. I think there would...

Normally my posts have been focused on the subject of repairing or recycling, hence the blog being called mending things.  I decided to change a little and write a short blog post on my recent vacation to Morocco, and the city of Marrakesh . I guess mending my mind, it's good to have a break and explore somewhere new. Morocco is wonderful, friendly people, great food, and much to see. We had a great time exploring the city and the Atlas mountains and valleys. We stayed at the Riad Le Clos des Arts  ( www.leclosdesarts.com)  which is a sublime sanctuary in the busy Medina of Marrakesh - an oasis of peace and quiet. Thoroughly recommended , Massimo and Giorgina were wonderful hosts. Inside  Riad Le Clos des Arts We had two 1 day excursions with , to the Atlas Mountains and Valleys, and to the Port Town of Essaouira. Both were with Idir Najimi from  www.saharadesertkingdom.com . Idir is a superb driver & guide has a 4x4 car , and...

I have had a 4 slot Dualit toaster for the last 15 or so years, and it has worked well. I replaced one of the heating elements some time ago, covered in another post. The timer switch had recently become unreliable, sometimes when you turn it, the red "on" light didn't engage and the elements didn't come on. I ordered a new timer from Dualit, which was not cheap , £27 from Dualit via their website, but I like the toaster and don't like throwing items away when a small part fails. The spare duly arrived and this is the fairly easy replacement procedure. NOTE : TOASTERS USE MAINS ELECTRICITY. ONLY ATTEMPT THIS IF YOU ARE COMPETENT WITH ELECTRICAL REPAIRS.  ALWAYS ENSURE THE ITEM IS FULLY DISCONNECTED AT THE WALL FROM THE MAINS SUPPLY BEFORE UNDERTAKING ANY OF THE FOLLOWING To gain access to the timer you need to remove the crumb tray and flip the toaster on its top. I use a plastic tray to sit the toaster in, collecting any screws and bread crumbs tha...

A number of my posts here regard my battle to replace GU10 and MR16 Halolgen bulbs with LED equivalents, via a short period of CFL bulbs. This has been successful, with all the 40 halogens having been replaced with LED some 5 years ago. My energy consumption has gone down and so has the amount of heat generated into the loft and ceiling space from the bulbs. Since then I have kept an eye on LED full size light bulbs for ES (Edison Screw) SES (Small Edison Screw and Bayonet fitting bulbs, all of which are represented in my house. Until recently I had found the LED lightbulbs to have dimmer light and a cold blue tint, much as the first Halogen replacements had. A few weeks back while in my local B&Q DIY store I saw a display of Philips LED Bulbs, some of which featured clear glass and a kind of internal perspex crown-shaped diffractor. I'm pleased to say I have tied both in SES , ES and Bayonet form-factors and they are superior to the Com...

I like to  fix up old turntables, especially odd or unloved examples. I've posted blogs on other decks , and back in November I saw a Thorens TD280 on ebay at a very low cost,  close to where I live. I prefer to collect, as decks need careful packing. In the end I bid and won the deck, a Thorens TD280 MK IV. I am very familiar with the Thorens brand, my father had a classic TD150 MkII followed by a TD 160 - both classics from the Golden era of the 70's. I read that the deck was a late model, and while not a classic Thorens, was widely liked by people who had owned one.  the TD280 is from the mid 80's when CD had started to put a lot of turntable manufacturers out of business, and like the Ariston Q-deck, was a bit of a final gasp from a declining industry. I got the auction for £64 as the external power supply had been lost, but I was sure I could source a new one. A bit of research indicated the external power supply is 16v AC,  and I happened to know this...