Basic Questions About Speakers (802D) & Amps (Classe)

[moonlightdrive21]

He guys:

Please excuse these very basic questions. I have a pair of 802D's, Classe CA200 power amp, and Classe CP50 preamp.

I was wondering if the sound quality of speakers or amps diminish over time or will they always sound as good as the day you bought them as long as they don't break down? For example, will my speakers be just as good in 15 years as they are today? Same question about my amps.

Thanks!!
Dave

[Audiophiliac]

If you take care of them and use them often, you wont have problems. There are camps that believe a cd of "noise" can "revitalize" systems by "re-aligning" the magnetic fields in gear and wire and what not.....who knows......

Speakers can break down over time if not taken care of, but I wouldnt worry too much. Enjoy it now!

Nice setup by the way.

[gerardhn]

Speakers : I was told that the quality of your own membranes (ears) degrade faster than your speaker. I'am sorry to say.
Amps: The power capacitors have a life time of max. 15 years. How this degradation manifests itself .... I dont know. Anyway I dont think we on this forum will have an amplifier that long.

[moonlightdrive21]

Thanks guys !!

[Karma]

HI All,
I once worked on a amplifier made in the early 1960's. Specifically it was a tube integrated amplifier kit made by Allied Radio (remember Knight Kits?). I never considered Knight Kits to be top notch. After all, this was no Marantz collectors piece. I was wrong.

I tried talk the owner out of the repair. I was expecting all sorts of problems. It had a broken rectifier tube and was gererally pretty grungy. He wanted it repaired and generally tuned up. I could not talk him out of it.

I asked why he was so determined to keep a 40 year old junker (I was more polite than that) like this working. He explained that he built it as a kid and had a romantic attachment to it. Besides, he explained, it sounded very good. I took this with a grain of salt. I assumed it had been in storage for a long time. No, he said. It was in use nearly every day. Hmmm, interesting I thought.

One would expect tube equipment of this age to have all variety of problems ranging from worn out power supply filter capacitors (hard to find now) to dirty switches and controls to totally used up tubes. It was going to be expensive, I warned.

I took it in expecting the worst. First, I checked out the worn out tubes. They all checked good except the broken one. Amazing. I obtained the rectifier and fired up the amp expecting smoke. Nope. It simply turned on and music flowed from my speakers. Even all the lamps still worked but I replaced them anyway. I had to claim some victory, right??

There was a little hum. Ah ha I thought. Bad filters, no doubt. But no, the hum was due to a bad solder joint. After resoldering the joint and cleaning all the switches and pots I could find nothing else wrong. I ran a set of power and frequency and distortion tests and found the amp worked splendidly. I was impressed. Even more amazing, the amp sounded great. I listened to it for a whole afternoon. I cleaned it up which was a fairly big job then called the customer. I wanted the complete story. I don't take defeat easily.

I asked when the tubes were last replaced. Must be pretty recent. Confounding me again he said the tubes had never been replaced or even tested!! Over 40 years of service and not a single tube failure. WOW!!! The bill was willingly paid.

The moral of the story is that a good design that uses top notch parts will last for a long time. This case may be exceptional but it does illustrate my point. Don't worry about your amp wearing out. Just take good care of it.

Sparky

[Eliav]

HI All,
I once worked on a amplifier made in the early 1960's. Specifically it was a tube integrated amplifier kit made by Allied Radio (remember Knight Kits?). I never considered Knight Kits to be top notch. After all, this was no Marantz collectors piece. I was wrong.

I tried talk the owner out of the repair. I was expecting all sorts of problems. It had a broken rectifier tube and was gererally pretty grungy. He wanted it repaired and generally tuned up. I could not talk him out of it.

I asked why he was so determined to keep a 40 year old junker (I was more polite than that) like this working. He explained that he built it as a kid and had a romantic attachment to it. Besides, he explained, it sounded very good. I took this with a grain of salt. I assumed it had been in storage for a long time. No, he said. It was in use nearly every day. Hmmm, interesting I thought.

One would expect tube equipment of this age to have all variety of problems ranging from worn out power supply filter capacitors (hard to find now) to dirty switches and controls to totally used up tubes. It was going to be expensive, I warned.

I took it in expecting the worst. First, I checked out the worn out tubes. They all checked good except the broken one. Amazing. I obtained the rectifier and fired up the amp expecting smoke. Nope. It simply turned on and music flowed from my speakers. Even all the lamps still worked but I replaced them anyway. I had to claim some victory, right??

There was a little hum. Ah ha I thought. Bad filters, no doubt. But no, the hum was due to a bad solder joint. After resoldering the joint and cleaning all the switches and pots I could find nothing else wrong. I ran a set of power and frequency and distortion tests and found the amp worked splendidly. I was impressed. Even more amazing, the amp sounded great. I listened to it for a whole afternoon. I cleaned it up which was a fairly big job then called the customer. I wanted the complete story. I don't take defeat easily.

I asked when the tubes were last replaced. Must be pretty recent. Confounding me again he said the tubes had never been replaced or even tested!! Over 40 years of service and not a single tube failure. WOW!!! The bill was willingly paid.

The moral of the story is that a good design that uses top notch parts will last for a long time. This case may be exceptional but it does illustrate my point. Don't worry about your amp wearing out. Just take good care of it.

Sparky

Hi Sparky
Can you please specify what does "taking good care of your amp " means ?
Thanks
Eliav

[Karma]

HI Eliav,
The great enemies of amplifiers are heat, water, cat hair and dust (causes overheating), and physical abuse. Also, don't short out the the speaker leads-ever. Always use the recommended fuses.

Keep it clean and out of heat, including direct sunlight. Don't cover up the vent holes. Don't spill water into it when watering your plants. Don't let your animals chew on the speaker wires. Don't drop it from the second story. Use a power conditioner with over voltage protection. Last and most important, love your equipment and they will respond in kind (really; it's a cosmic law). If you folllow these difficult rules :W you should have the equipment last for a long time. Rocket science, right?

When you are hooking things up, turn the equipment off. Try to be able to see what you are doing using adequate light. This mistake kept me in the repair business.

Sparky

[Eliav]

Thanks
I am so much in love with my gear, i guess it's a good start.. :W
Eliav

[RebelMan]

Thanks
I am so much in love with my gear, i guess it's a good start.. :W
Eliav

So am I! Wait till you hear what I have to say about it. :B

[Eliav]

Cant wait, cant wait , even though I think I know.. :W
Eliav