Ever Have One Of Those Evenings?


Tonight, I went downstairs, turned on the system, and it sounded like crap. Within an hour I had:

>Discovered that one of my Thiel 2.2's has either a dead woofer (most likely), or a crossover or internal wiring problem. Testing to diagnose will commence tomorrow, tonight I'm too P.O.'ed.

>Additionally discovered that the tweeter on the other side is distorting badly, and will need the dome/voice-coil assembly replaced (again).

>Confirmed that my most costly set of interconnects has a bad jack connection (these are Harmonic Technology Magic Link Ones, which naturally feature a plug design that cannot easily be opened up for inspection or repairs without destroying the heat-shrink sleeve).

>Faced the distinct possibility that my futzing around behind the preamp trying to ascertain the culprit in the latter problem - without first turning down the volume - may well have been the cause of least one of the first two problems.

>Realized that now, not only can't I listen to my system the regular way, but since the OEM (non-standard) headphone amp output jack I got from Musical Fidelity's distributor to replace the faulty original in my X-Cans quickly developed the same exact problem as the old one (no right channel with either set of 'phones), I cannot even listen with my headphones for the time being, except through my CD-R recorder's wimpy monitoring jack.

Looks like I'm on a steady diet of cable movies and NPR for a while. (Way to go, Trent Lott: at least you'll be out-of-sight, out-of-mind by this time next week, you plastic-haired cretin - your plight is the one redeeming feature of my evening!)
zaikesman
One spot of good news - I think I found a good entire spare tweeter that I didn't even remember I had socked away. I'll have to break out the solder gun and run it up the flagpole to see if it salutes. Oh, and I'm actually plugging in my electric guitars around the house now, instead of just plinking away unamplified. :-)

Hey, want to hear about something even funnier than audiogremlins? The night my system went down, my girlfriend whom I live with went to stay at her parents' house, so she could be there to help them when the ice-storm was supposed to hit the next morning. She naturally took my van instead of her Miata. When she was coming back the next day, she got a flat tire on the road. When I went outside to get her car to come help her, it had a flat tire just sitting there in the driveway. I don't even want to ask fate how many more shoes could be waiting to drop right about now.
Zaikesman, you could plug those guitar amps into cryo'd outlets!

Ever plugged into a Mesa Boogie guitar amp? What a sound for electric guitar! Nothing I have ever used like it! But I know you would need too much convincing......forget I brought it up. Good luck with the tweeter, and don't get the damn thing too hot(use some heat sinks) or shoes will start falling from the sky!
thedautch & Zaikesman -

I couldn't help but chime in here on the political comments re: Dems and Reps. yesterday I attended a teleconference broadcast from Washington on the "Patriot" act (yes the quotes are intentional) and the right to privacy and access to information. Until recently I subscribed to the belief that there wasn't a dimes worth of difference between the two. But, after hearing what Adolph Ashcroft and Chicken Little Bush have in store for Americans and for the Constitution: Be afraid. Be very afraid....