Total cost of ownership - how to reduce it


Audiogon members love their music - but I am not alone, I think, in finding that the requirements in terms of cost and time for keeping the system running at optimal, can become too steep. Can we help each other out?

Today I have spent two hours trying to find a failed tube in my system. Two months ago I had a bad episode with a repair service that did not repair and did not return my stuff. Some weeks ago, I blew a speaker driver, I am still waiting for the replacement. Thinking, I need a tube tester, since my system has a lot of tubes - I got the tester, but it blew tubes, not "dead on arrival" but "over-excited" - and has to be repaired. I am perhaps especially unlucky. But I ask myself, how much is enough? When such experiences accumulate, I can understand people plugging into Mp3, it is simple and it works.

I have thought about my situation and diagnosed two main types of problems - maybe, relevant for other Audiogon members also.

The first is where you buy a thing used and then get it upgraded by the manufacturer. You pay quite a lot for this, and you would expect the whole thing is checked - but it is not. In two cases now, I have experienced that even if the upgrade works fine, the box as a whole is not checked, and develops problems a year or two after the upgrade.

The second case is where you pay for an upgrade that is more like a new build (e g of a speaker) or rebuild (of a cartridge). Now, there is no lagging wear and tear problem, but it turns out that the upgrade parameters were not fully developed, things have to be changed or checked afterwards (speaker drivers dont work optimal, needle not quite in place, etc).

I would be the first to recognize that some of these costs (time, mainly, but money also) should be accepted. I have paid local repair costs without complaining, and have used many hours of my own time. As an advanced user, I accept some extra costs.

It is just that, sometimes it gets too much.

I would like other Audiogon users' thoughts on this dilemma, and especially, what can we do to reduce the total ownership costs.

Your thoughts and experiences welcome.
Ag insider logo xs@2xo_holter
Here is a quick tip - how to get your cartriddge to last longer. After a lot of experimenting, here is my "regime" for playing vinyl records.-
1) Use the Mofi record brush to wipe away dust. Before playing a record, let the record spin some rounds, using the brush. This brush goes further into to the grooves than others I have tried..2) Clean the Mofi brush with a toothbrush or similar. It should be 100 percent clean. 3) Use a small carbon brush to clean the stylus. This is sensitive, don’t overdo it. Keep the volume up so you can hear what you do. 4) For every ten LPs or so, I clean my stylus with a wet cleaner (Lyra LPT).

"Careful" is a key word, here.
Without the cleaning, the pickup tends to pick up much dust and dirt. With poor sonic results and reduced lifetime expectation.

The last thing you want, with an expensive cartridge, is that it fails due to record wear, knocks and shocks, and whatever. So, a strict regime for removing dust and dirt is useful.
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Yeah, I hate it when those vinyl grooves start dissolving and crumbling from use.
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Many of us don't keep gear forever...therefore, looking to the automotive world, Kelly Blue Book, Edmunds and others...it doesn't take long to see that the highest cost of ownership is depreciation.....which is a subject often discussed in various audio forums as people express their frustration over resale prices.

We can't predict with absolute certainty how much a given piece of gear will resell for in five years...but we know that certain brands hold their value better than others.  Therefore, if TCO is high on your importance list, then stick to buying brands that are known to hold their value.