Most Common HiFi Stereo Newbie Mistakes! Don't be a NEWB!

In this video Kevin goes over the most common mistakes made by new people getting into the world of HiFi stereo equiptment.
Made one of these mistakes or maybe one we didn't mention? Share your story in the comments!
Check out our store: NEW SKYLABS HATS AVAILABLE TODAY!
skylabsaudio.com/shop
Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @skylabsaudio
Follow us on Instagram
/ skylabsiowa
Find us on Facebook
/ skylabsiowa
#vintagehifi #vintageaudio #vinylrecords

[@jeffreywoodard8247]

FWIW . . . don't strip your speaker wires over your receiver or amplifier as you don't want any stray speaker wire strands falling into your audio equipment. Be careful dusting your equipment with wood cases as it's too easy to snag a bit of loose veneer and make it much worse. If you haven't used a piece of equipment in a while, exercise the buttons a few times and move the receiver tuner across the full dial a few times in order to make sure the contacts are clean. Never attempt to service your own equipment unless you know what you are doing as there can be very high voltage involved. If you have LEDs in your gear, you can rotate them in their holders to get brighter or dimmer light showing depending on your taste. Always make sure your equipment has adequate ventilation. Cheers!

[@skylabsaudio]

I'm guilty of trimming speaker wires over vents! Forgot though- that's a good one!

[@christophergaus3996]

I watch for that too!

[@MichaelIrving-uq8jk]

Was qa pre

[@if6was929]

I made custom covers for my KEF LS50 Meta speakers, those exposed drivers draw people (kids and adults alike!) like moths to a flame!

[@t-mar9275]

We used to have a kitten that would get on top of the turntable dust cover and paw at it, trying to get to the spinning record,. No amount of scolding or punishment would deter the behaviour. So, after taking the necessary precautions to protect the tonearm, I placed the kitten directly on the platter and started it at 45 rpm. It freaked out, took off like a shot and from that day on, never came near the turntable again.

[@patrickcoughlin-qj9uk]

Kittens and vintage electronics Don't mix .

[@crmixman]

My number one tip - If you buy a vintage amp or receiver without hearing it first, always check the speaker connectors with a multimeter set to read DC volts the first time you power it up. Don't connect speakers until you know there's less than 100mv of DC on the speaker outputs. If the unit has shorted output transistors and no protect circuit (more common than most people think) it can cook the voice coils of your woofers. Now if it's a tube amp or receiver, it's just the opposite - you need to have speakers (or a dummy load) connected. The output transformer blocks DC from reaching the speakers, so it's almost always safe. Playing tube gear with no load on the output transformers can be a very expensive mistake!

[@theebayhififanatic6002]

Good advice! I find young children are drawn like magnets to dome tweeters and love pushing them in - I always put the grilles back on when the grandchildren are coming over

[@LakeNipissing]

Get the vacuum cleaner out and have the kids correct their mistake... ... Not :)

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

You can use the wire fan guards like you see on your PC fans to over your tweeters to keep pokey little fingers out.

[@domfjbrown75]

And adults too... Brand new speakers, and my mate comes around and promptly dents one of the metal domes! Nice bill for him... A few years later after a party he and another mate decided to prat around in the don't room, and knocked a heavy Epos ES14 off the stand and gouged the outer cabinet. Grrr. Filler, sanding and stain solved that one. He's not been to my house in ages lol.

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

@@domfjbrown75 Yeah, I used to have a couple of friends like that... they just had to handle and touch *everything* and usually with negative outcomes. Note the use of the past tense...

[@patmx5]

You can tell a man there are a billion stars in the universe and he’ll believe you. Tell him that bench has wet paint on it and he’ll have to touch it to be sure. I’ve never understood the seemingly magnetic attraction between fingers and speaker dust covers, but to some people it’s simply irresistible. Doubly so if the dust cover in question is shiny metal.

[@acrossthedial]

I always turn the volume control down before turning off and check before turning on. When my kids were young they would turn knobs and somehow my Luxman L-430 ended up at full volume. When I turned it on one night it blew out the woofers on my Advents.

[@robsonbass6058]

I use 1970's separates in my systems. I always have to remember to shut off the amp first, and then the pre-amp.

[@adsbadsb9488]

I take black and red shrink tube and colour code speaker wire ends. Makes it easier when hooking up and makes you think.

[@kyomori]

I've done the "wrong phase" many times via lazy cabling .. My personal addition would be, Don't handle manual turntables drunk. I've created a ton of record scratches and lost a stylus tip while playing records drunk... nowadays I just turn the streamer on for drunk sentimental listening. Somebody posted about outer-platter removal / shims for transporting, which is another great one (among the others that commenters have pointed out). In the old days, one became aware of many of these things anecdotally through conversations with friends or at shops. . Thanks for another nice video.

[@domfjbrown75]

I seem to be safer with vinyl when half cut! Not totally drunk, but merry... Don't ask me why!!?

[@miguelsalami]

2 things to note on turntables. One is proper Tone Arm Counter weight adjustment & the second is Cartridge Alignment using a Cartridge Alignment Protractor. These two adjustments are Critical for proper sound and Vinyl preservation.

[@johnbrender7635]

That’s funny what you said about the Salsa Chip bowl. Last year I ordered an album from a band that does their own merchandising and the day it was delivered it was in the upper 90’s. The carrier left it leaning on my front door in the direct sunlight.and severely warped it. I met the drummer of that band a few months later and told him about it at the merch table. He offered to replace it and I said no way man, not your fault, anyway I put it to good use as a tortilla chip bowl.

[@starker1971]

I would like to add one.. I was once listening to a record and wasn't thinking. While my turntable was amply isolated from the Subwoofer vibration, it was not isolated from the sound pressure waves. Rear port of the sub was hitting the back wall and reflecting onto my turntable. Record had some extra bass that day.

[@LakeNipissing]

Awesome photo at 7:27 . . . Not only is the ventilation being choked, the hairs get inside and build up like crazy on the PCB and heat sinks. This compounds the overheating! I have repaired amplifiers and receivers which were spotless on the outside and buried with cat (or dog) hairs on the inside!

[@skylabsaudio]

Yes, exactly

[@Crmsnraider]

....cats sure do love the warm spots ontop of amps and the hair sure loves goin in venting...

[@alm5693]

One newbie tip for Yamaha integrated amps and receivers with both "direct" modes and a variable loudness control: MAKE SURE that the loudness control hasn't been turned way down before you engage the direct mode. The direct mode bypasses the loudness control, so you go directly to whatever the gain is on your volume control, which can be EXTREMELY loud if you were using a lot of "loudness".

[@djijspeakerguy4628]

The same thing happens on the old 90s Sony receivers that had a muting button. (-20db at the press of a button.) If you have muting engaged and you don’t notice, then you may turn the volume knob way up, then if you accidentally disengage the muting button… you startle the entire household!!

[@osterlitz1]

I would like you to do a video about the handling of the vinyl records and their cleaning. This was a great video as always. Thanks.

[@byrdshot4846]

Wow, what a great video! I have been into HiFi since the early 70s and I have made almost all of these mistakes. Thanks for putting out a video that can help so many people new to the Hobby please keep up the good work

[@alain-nicolasrenaud7406]

Had a nice integrated amp with kt88 tubes. The tubes were due for a replacement. Over the years, I'd gradually augmented their ajustable bias. I put in the brand new tubes without bringing down the bias. Smoky smoky.

[@markoneswift9765]

Great video again, very useful reminders to those of us who think we know everything! I would add 'don't rush to connect your latest audio purchase straight to your rig - get it checked first'. I experienced this one myself recently, when I connected a Linn pre / power combo, which I had just purchased, straight to a pair of my better speakers. I should have known better, I should have checked what the Linns were putting out in terms of DC etc, but I didn't and I smoked both woofers on my IMF ALS40s! They have been repaired by an awesome speaker tech, luckily, was I SO annoyed with myself for doing such a dumb thing.

[@stevea.1929]

Hey Kevin. Great video as always. One thing I would ad to the record storage topic is do not store one's collection in a pile on top of each other. I see this all the time at estate sales and thrift stores. Looking forward to the next video.

[@Lfunk1983]

Good advice

[@Lfunk1983]

I put a towel over my Marantz when not in use. When in use w turntable, and my young cat wants to go over there, I gently place her back on the floor and play w her. She forgets lol.

[@lamarw9901]

The cat struggle is real. I put a wire letter basket on top of my receiver, rubber feet down and the gap to the cabinet on top is small enough to prevent the car from getting in. I'd like a better solution but seem to be working. They're quiet when they want to be and can sneak in. Thank you for the tips.

[@kelleyhagan960]

Get rid of the cat. Get you a dog.

[@patrickcoughlin-qj9uk]

I had a fat cat that slept on my pioneer sx 1050 I always kept A towel on top of the receiver . Just in case .

[@billmellater]

​@@patrickcoughlin-qj9ukbe sure to cover up those vents. You don't want your receiver disappating any heat 🤨.

[@tms372]

Never unpluged a component in over 50 years because of a lightning storm, never had a problem.

[@Le3eFrereBrunet]

I work in telecom, we’ve had lightning strike on cell site towers…. And we use surge protectors, and surge suppressing systems… some equipement was still fried… Not a good day when you loose a site for a week or so for it to be rebuilt.

[@alm5693]

I worked at a cut-out record warehouse for a few years of my misspent youth and one of the chores we would do would be to "rebag" records which consisted of stripping off the existing damaged shrinkwrap and then sending them thru a machine that would wrap the record in plastic, seal off the ends with a hot wire knife and then send it through an oven to shrink the wrap tightly around the record. Now and then an album would get stuck inside or the cutting wire would come down on the album cover, which causes a straight-line burn across an entire edge of the record cover and the record. When we were really bored we would take unloved records and make bowls out of them by putting it through the oven 3-4 times to soften it up. If you see old sealed records with a shrinkwrap seam down the center of the back, there's a chance they've been sent through a rebagging machine by a dude who partied way too hard the night before and hates his day job, his roommates, and his life. Buy with caution and open it right away.

[@skylabsaudio]

lol- Thanks!

[@roguesquatch1]

I had left the dustcover up when I was playing a record on my Pioneer PL-L800 S and my very excitable 95 lb boxer mix swiped the tonearm so hard that it hit the spindle and destroyed the stylus. Close your dustcover when playing records! Another, much dumber move: testing a vintage amp with your pristine ADS L810s. Blew a tweeter. Always use tester speakers for any amp that is new to you...

[@scottfallis304]

Great advice Kevin I've learned so much coming into you're store this will help people who can't stop in !!!

[@tlister67]

Here’s one: after a move and year storage I took my Sansui 9090 out a couple days ago. A screw that holds the grill in the wood case came out and landed on the fuses on the power supply board. It took out a channel in the driver board. It took out a driver board fuse, so I hope replacing it is all it takes. So perhaps open up the case after a move or shipping is wise.

[@anthonyhfe6450]

For my vintage equipment speaker terminals (which are typically 6-32 flat head screws), I use 16-14 AWG, blue insulated-barrel, crimp-on Ring terminals or Spade terminals. If you are able to completely remove the screw, Ring terminals are best. If the screw has "spoiled" threads so they cannot come all the way out, then simply use spade terminals. You can also solder your wires after you crimp them, for a sturdier, low resistance connection, but be careful as the insulated barrel may melt back and shrink. This method has never failed me. I have had no issues with just twisting the strands tight and making a hook shape and wrapping it tightly under the screw head either, but if you keep moving around your amp/receiver, it's possible you can work them loose. I don't like the aftermarket ones that convert from a spade to a uninsulated binding post. They're most likely to come loose, rotate, and short out against the adjacent post. If they made them with insulated binding posts, that would solve the issue, but you still have the weight of the wires putting a torque on the screws, and possibly loosening them, so that's why I prefer the ring or spade terminals.

[@OscillationOverdrive]

Hey Kevin, thanks for the tips!

[@robertreid2637]

Another great video Kevin. Looking forward to the last instalment of the turntable top 5

[@larryhand5892]

Great stuff, thanks

[@michaelkearney7923]

Such great advice

[@exconmom2464]

Newbie problem but I had a starter audio technica table with a built in pre amp run into a receiver without a phono stage to start. I eventually upgraded my table and receiver. I was selling the old at and the buyer wanted a demo. I hooked the at with preamp on into the phono input on the receiver and dropped the needle, my Jbl’s made the most horrific sound I’d ever heard. Luckily the everything survived my mistake.

[@scottehrlich6653]

Love this channel

[@kathyrom901]

Always great advice

[@ricardolopez4166]

Excellent advices, thank you very much!🇨🇦

[@hal8683]

outstanding info... THX!!

[@hal8683]

Don't sneeze, cough, or hack, over your equipment!! Keep farts away also (just kidding on this one!). Slime on the turntable or record... not good! Water on tubes can explode! No slobbering over equipment... carry on! Bet you haven't heard these but seriously!!

[@kelleyhagan960]

Excellent Information !!

[@skylabsaudio]

Thanks for watching!

[@jikenj]

Great video I did a couple of those myself expecting some thunderstorms tonight I will be unplugging my Peachtree thanks!

[@adsph]

Great content.

[@ICenobyte1962]

Another tip; If you remove the head shell for any reason, put the stylus guard on. I have a separate cartridge for 45s and when I switched out the headshell, I dropped it and screwed up the stylus of the expensive one. I was sick! The stylus was only a few months old. I haven't played any 45s since.

[@MarvinHartmann452]

Oh I would have been livid if it happened to me. I understand that for sure.

[@if6was929]

I dropped my Ortofon MC Bronze the other day when switching cartridges, fortunately it didn't get damaged. Yes, I should have put the stylus guard on before removing the cartridge from the head shell but have you ever tried to put an Ortofon MC stylus guard back on? I find it to be virtually impossible!

[@everettputerbaugh3996]

Back in the day, I worked in an electronic repair shop and a console TV came in as a lightning job where the chassis fried and protected the fuse. OK, the lightning was so fast that it did not burn the fuse, but the transistors were toast. I won't discuss homeowner's insurance.

[@patrickcoughlin-qj9uk]

Same here service tech Toshiba console with Carver audio , direct hit Totally fried .

[@chrissergeant7798]

Excellent. Many of your points remind me why I sold my record collection (in 1988). I sometimes wish I hadn't , but sometimes I am glad I did.

[@mulletfishsky3080]

Great videos. Loved the one on common misconceptions. A great analogy for the production chain of recording, mastering and manufacture would be cooking. If you make a so called fancy dish with the wrong or poor ingredients it's not gonna come out well. Whereas a good old Mac n Cheese which is cheap to make tastes great. It's all in the choice of ingredients.

[@scratchback2001]

Hi from Australia. I was in a shop buying cartridges for my printer. There was an electrical storm on the way. I said I'd need to get home to unplug my computers power and cable connection as well and the power for my home cinema and other expensive things. He said to get a surge protector. I said that lightning would just fry that surge guard because of billions of volts electricity. There is nothing on the market that can protect you from lightning strikes. For the duration of the storm, just unplug everything, especially your nice new 4K TV.

[@davidbartochowski7832]

Great common sense advice keep up the great information love the channel

[@skylabsaudio]

Thanks, will do!

[@markvwood2007]

3:48 if you can't figure out the polarity using the speaker wire then face the two speakers towards each other about 1" apart. Turn on the music. If the polarity is wrong then the loss of bass gives it away. The two speakers are cancelling each other out and it is most noticeable in the lower ranges. Separate them and face them both forward to see the difference in bass output from when they were facing each other. The bass will come back which further signals that the polarity was wrong. Switch one of the wires and try again.

[@kyleseifert3892]

Yep in my first year definitely crossed positives and negatives twice, great point!

[@johnboyle1425]

I can relate to the pet issue. One night some 20 years ago one of my cats fell asleep on top of my Sony GX10ES receiver. When I turned it on the next morning there was some static but no sound. She had peed on it while asleep. This destroyed the discriminator transformer in the tuner. I sold the unit for parts. All of my equipment has been located in a covered cabinet ever since.

[@danielgeiger7739]

Re stylus protection from cleaning people, done that with a $2K Soundsmith Zephyr cartridge, no stylus protector on that; fortunately the SS carts can be re-tipped but takes a few months. There are some third party dust covers for entire TT (VPI super prime scout in my case). Put the dust cover on before cleaning folks come. -- Also, do not put the TT in any corner, as corners (vertical as well as horizontal = on floor against wall) are areas for bass build-up. -- Re the spade connectors, they look about as dangerous as the wires, because the screw block is all metal, is not insulated. So maybe the wire strands to not touch when you move speaker cables, but the metal blocks touch! Put at least electrical tape over those blocks.

[@djijspeakerguy4628]

If both positives on the receiver are going to the negatives on the speakers, it will sound fine. The “out of phase” issue comes in when only one speaker is wired incorrectly, in which the bass will be nonexistent it might sound like it’s coming from a strange location in your room.

[@inkeman0917]

Great Show Kevin, I own a Yamaha CR-1040 and a Audio-Technica automatic turntable.. Sounds great when play my Vinyl LP's.. I began high school in the early 70's.. My favorite to listen to is Booker T and the MG's... Melting Pot..

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

Regarding pets and audio equipment: Cats are well known for wanting to sit on receivers - especially if it has been on for a long period of time.

[@LakeNipissing]

Cat: "Wow. The longer I lie here, the warmer it gets... and the stranger it smells.".

[@patrickcoughlin-qj9uk]

Fur balls cats like the warmth I had a 20 year old that was a heat pad thief .

[@HoneyWindbutton]

Definitely gonna be a fun one 😊

[@egotrpn420]

Had a friend who ripped off his stylus and arm from his $2300. sound Smith cartridge send it back for repair. Got it back in a couple weeks wasn’t that expensive. It pays to buy your stuff from a dealer who can give you service.(upscale Audio).

[@TurboDV8]

Those beautiful gold Spade lug connectors look like a short circuit waiting to happen when you bump something and pull on a speaker, as you mentioned. That's a pretty sizable torque arm rotating around a speaker output screw not really designed to secure with a lot of torque itself. Bump that wire using those connectors and you would have a short more easily than just using stranded. I would forgo the fancy, pretty and expensive gold Lugz and just used standard, insulated lugs which you crimp and flow a little solder after its crimped.

[@michaelduffee6402]

I had a cat that napped on top of my reciever years ago. I never thought too much about it until I leaned over and realized how much fur and kitty litter grit had settled down into the electronics of the reciever.

[@karaDee2363]

Great video on what not to do... And what to do . ..👍

[@skylabsaudio]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@PartySpock]

As an audiophile as i am, i never be too old to learn. Thank you very much👍

[@jamesstratton4488]

Thanks!

[@anthonypuopolo4586]

Some common mistakes I always see are people that stack components. I will see a turn table on top of amplifier vents. A common rule of thumb is to ALWAYS have at least 12 inches of space around any vents. With Marantz receivers, I almost always see circular socket scratches around the small faceplate screws because people are too lazy or careless when removing the faceplate with a rachet. Oh yeah, when removing a faceplate, people also use a screw driver to pry off the knobs, leaving horrible dings and scratches on the faceplate. Another one I always see is using WD-40 to clean pots. People also misuse deoxit when cleaning pots. If you use the wrong chemicals, you can completely destroy the traces. I recommend having a skylabs tech or Kevin make a video on what chemicals can be used on pots and which ones to avoid.

[@LakeNipissing]

Spoon is good as a lever to remove knobs, with the convex side against the faceplate. "Contact cleaner" for pots?? Never!! Only if you want to scratch the carbon off completely with the wiper. Potentiometers need to be *_lubricated_* as well as being de-oxidized and cleaned.

[@MarvinHartmann452]

WD-40 will ruin the pots, people used to do that before and I've repaired countless of devices with ruined volume knobs or other control because of this.

[@LakeNipissing]

@@MarvinHartmann452 Very true. A mil-spec material such as *_ACF-50_* which is designed for electronics is the right way to go. We have been using it for about 30 years.

[@seedney]

What temperatures is ok for the equipment? I have it stacked in Rack, but have ventilators inside with temp sensor. Also - back is open, Amp is bigger than the rest and turntable is outside of that rack. I have a little kid and I don’t want my equipment to by scratched or painted etc.

[@stanleygodsunyahoo6128]

Love your show … I got white van Acoustics Response 707 .. still sound good

[@allanellis5827]

Thank you very much for the great advice. Another tip. Do not keep your tt within reach of children. Many years ago I had a very expensive Shure cartridge that got destroyed when a friend's child lifted the dust cover, stuck his hand underneath it and broke the stylus off. To add insult to injury the parent's of this child did not offer to replace it.

[@ejcheck]

Your comments on removing platters for transport was excellent. You then showed a Thorens TD turntable and missed the opportunity to point out that a TT like the Thorens has a suspension that allows the platter to bounce around, sometimes violently, in transport. The TD you showed had the MOTOR PROTECTION ROD, this can be added for ~$20. It is supposed to keep the platter from destroying the motor (for transport you'd still want to remove the platter or screw down the transport screws if present). Motors for these TTs have become very difficult and expensive to find.

[@michaeledwards9376]

If the vintage gear you buy has a two prong, non-polarized plug, change it out, with a polarized plug. Just be sure that the hot and nuetral are in correct positioning. If you have never done this, and are not sure of the procedure, take it to a repair facility and maybe consider a three prong grounded plug. This is a SAFETY THING!!

[@ripjones5294]

Another excellent installment. My brother earned his "Salsa Dish" T-Shirt ! Record storage of older releases -- PLEASE invest in some really good sleeves. I still am amazed when I see someone pull a disc out of a thirty year-old paper sleeve. BTW: sure is a "purty" L100 in the background.... Take care...Rip Oh yeah, those Minimus 7's again...

[@sopasadena1499]

Couldn’t agree more with your tips. One other item with streaming into a DAC into your amp or reveiver, i find that the volume of various music selections can vary widely. If the volume of one selection is low and you turn your amp way up the next selection could be way loud and maybe damage your speakers if you don’t adjust volume between music.

[@johnsonadekunle7675]

Awesome!

[@mjmonjure]

Lightning arc's over everything, no protection. But when power gets knocked out, it's usually the surge when it comes back on that fries things. Also, I've lost more equipment from lighting strikes to the the network (DSL lines) than power lines.

[@keithchua5840]

I feel it's important on the resistance (ohms) matching between speakers and amplifier as well; especially if one loves to crank out loud music.

[@mostirreverent]

Great video. By the way I’d love to see a video on your favorite direct drive turntables

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

Easy way to phase speakers. even with unmarked wires ... put them face to face in the middle of the room ... hook them up the way that gives you the best bass ... Now mark the wires at both ends with bits of red and black tape. For future just follow the color codes. Yep ... spade connectors for screw down terminals ... hardware store, 10 for $1.00. No excuses.

[@georgezahorcak7764]

Hello, I purchased a beautiful, perfect, immaculate Bang and Olufsen Beogram RX 2 turntable just before the pandemic. It is beautiful and perfect. it is really perfect for my useage. However, the other day, I heard a flutter on the left speaker. I believe the cartridge is passing away. The least expensive cartridge is around $300.00. Hifi is awful.

[@sourceonepainting]

Hello Kevin, i live in Sacramento, CA. I am into vintage and modern. I really dig the channel. Great work, thank you. I am planning next summer to take a road trip on my Harley. Making stops at Harley and stereo shops. My vacation. Your shop is a stretch for me, but i want to see your shop. Planning this is there other shops in the midwest that I can visit. Please, if you could let me know. Thank you again and great work.

[@SteveRead-fx4rg]

Removing the turntable platter reminds me every one I have bought has the plater unmounted in the box for shipping purposes. There's a reason they do that!

[@briannewell6064]

A word of caution to all the cord cutters out there. I lost all my electronics to a lightning strike. Everything right down to the water meter. I believe it came in through the ungrounded TV antenna and went through the entire home. I now have the antenna grounded with 2 eight foot copper rods embedded in the ground along with a lightning arrester.

[@johnhermanson5249]

I love it when a newbie (who acts like he's the first to discover classic audio) puts the turntable on top of a speaker, or puts speakers on top of a cabinet with receiver and turntable in the middle. Speakers are 3 feet apart, no separation, and the bass vibrations go right into the turntable.

[@davidnorton573]

Most of the old tube amps (I also have a Fisher 400) were pretty forgiving when the speaker posts were shorted, just touching them together is unlikely to damage anything. This is because of the high output impedance of output tubes, as an example the 7868 in the Fisher is about 3KOhm (I have an old RCA receiving tube manual on my bookshelf from 1961, it was dusty). This is why there wasn't a strong reason to do a better connection on these amplifiers. The problem starts with the early transistor amplifiers, these amps also used the same speaker connectors, however the output impedance of the power devices is fractions of an Ohm, shorting these would cause all the smoke to come out. The amplifier manufacturers saw the problem and came out with better connectors. The only early solid state amps that I have experience with that didn't have this problem were the early Knight amps, they used a light bulb instead of a emitter series resistor, shorting them out would cause the light bulbs to light up. Pity the transistors were so noisy, otherwise the amps were kind of cool. I still have one lying around in a box, perhaps someday I will shift the input devices around to a low noise transistor and put it back in service. I would also note that most modern high quality amplifiers have incorporated current limiting, a momentary short will likely not damage them, however you will cause damage if you leave them shorted and operating as they will overheat.

[@werner.x]

Kind of a dangerous approach telling people not to worry with old tube amps outputs, because they are so forgiving.... A tube amp transformer dies silently in the background, while you don't realize anything wrong. Most old output transformers fall under unobtainium these days - and having them rebuilt and matched from scratch after toasting one of them accidentally by not worrying too much sure breaks most peoples bank.

[@davidnorton573]

As I said touching them together is unlikely to damage the amp, however I wouldn't leave it running shorted. As far as unobtainium transformers I was concerned about that with my Fisher, originally Fisher set the bias high, and it had a lot of variation due to the selenium rectifier used. I suspect it was set high to account for production tolerance, otherwise crossover distortion could have occurred. I redid the bias circuitry and set the tube bias fairly close to the bottom edge of the spec for the tube, the whole unit runs much cooler, and I suspect the transformers will last longer than I will. @@werner.x

[@Individual_two]

I have a vintage Shure V15 Type 3 cartridge that I've owned for over 40 years. One cool safety feature it has is a built-in stylus protector that I just pull down when I'm cleaning, then put it back up when I am ready to play. Sadly, Shure is out of the cartridge business and focusing on pro audio gear (which I use for gigs).

[@VirtualGuth]

My top piece of advice is to trust your own ears. One person's bright is another person's dull, etc., etc.. We all have different components making up our hifi systems and no two listening rooms are alike. A piece of gear that others aren't happy with might work perfectly for you in your system in your home. On top of that, we all have different levels of hearing ability, the older we get the more our own hearing is likely to roll off at the top. Ever see a hifi reviewer publish the results of a recent hearing test? (I haven't). The sound as heard through your ears is what matters most.

[@Lfunk1983]

If I know storms are in the area, I unplug my Marantz and Technics TT, as well as my iMac and synths. Paranoid but smart lol

[@johnvincent4048]

If you have separates, especially tube amps turn the volume all the way down and power up the amplifier last and power off the amplifier first to avoid the loud pop.

[@triples4good]

I’ve done a couple of these things. Ebay gear I should have sent back but didn’t. Also be careful where you walk when you clean. I kicked a speaker cable and cause one of the cable pins to break and it touched the other terminal. Lost the right channel on my Marantz 1060. It’s in the shop now. I could have kicked myself!

[@lechiffre2617]

Easy test for out of phase speakers : turn balance knob to the left (less bass) - turn it back to center (more bass)

[@bacarandii]

Ouch. I had a Soundsmith fixed coil cartridge which (like many moving coil cartridge) has a non-removable stylus. I don't even know how I did it, but one day after removing it from the box in which I'd carefully stored it while I wasn't using it, I noticed the whole cantilever was gone. Never did find it. Fortunately, Soundsmith will rebuild their cartridges for about 20 percent of the original cost, but that took weeks and it's money I no longer have to spend on records!

[@stephen579]

I have done the mistake with the cleaning cloth, never again, I take the headshell off now.

[@haqitman]

Turn the amp volume all the way down before turning the amp on. With the volume up, the protect relay will arc when it kicks off and over time the contacts will carbon over and degrade leading to failure.

[@paulflannery2353]

Hi Keven, love your videos, I think they and you are amazing. I have to apologize for being petty but speaker wire is stranded wire not braided. If it were braided it likely would not have the issue described in the video. An example of braided wire would be like solder wick.

[@davidmorgen4558]

on occasions the polarity of speakers is reversed not often but it does occure from time to time

[@edwardgonczy3170]

In addition to removing the "outer" platter like on a Linn or Thorens, put some cardboard "shims" to just barely elevate the inner platter and keep it from bouncing up and down within the spindle shaft.

[@richardwagner4460]

Yup, works like a champ!

[@mtlman12]

Hello Kevin. Thanks for the reminders. These are some very avoidable mistakes that you put some thought into listing. I appreciate that. I'm getting old and looking at retirement/social security. In my life, during the late 70's and 80's I had a pretty nice stereo system, Kenwood integrated amp, 60w/channel. Techniques SL1600(I think) direct drive turntable with an Audio Technica cartridge. Pioneer three way speakers. I pampered the system and my albums. This system went by the wayside in my travels over seas. Then in the early 2000s I got the home theater bug and had a Sony 5.1 system as I was living the apartment life. Now I'm thinking of re-building a system and I'm looking for some advice. Are the newer home theater receivers good for music as well or should I get separate (maybe vintage) receiver or amp for enjoying the instruments? What do you think? Thanks, David

[@johndrx165]

Good stuff. Any tip for a slightly bent cantilever? I noticed my Otofon LM 15 I have on my Dual CS 522 is slightly skewed to the right after just a few months. I had the new stylus put on by a tech when servicing the turntable.

[@skylabsaudio]

Not that I know of

[@DrRock2009]

My turntable hangs from the rafters: sure does isolate it from the speakers, which are mounted on a C section girder attached to the brick walls, again, to isolate them from floorboards etc. Yes, I am 🤪

[@Crmsnraider]

I prefer old style thin spades atm, Id got some of the spade adapters and wass some tension on wire, perhaps the adapter wasn't tightened 100% and it turned/pulled into the one next to it and popped the fuse, thank goodness that was it and it was only out of commission until I got new fuses...scary.

[@sand0077]

Can also make an interesting quartz clock out of that Kiss record!

[@grants7390]

i learned the hard way that almost every company uses a different pin-out for their xlr to rj45 adapters (also tend to be referred to as cat boxes). i know that's more of a professional audio problem, but i use them for home audio to use the cat5e in my walls to carry the audio to whatever room i want from the A/V closet

[@MarvinHartmann452]

If you buy spade connectors, wrap them with shrink wrapping because they will become loose over time and if they touches, it can, and will damage the output transformer, also, if you have a tube amplifier, never power it up with anything connected to the speakers terminals, it can cause oscillations and damage the transformer, and as you may know, it's a very expensive repair IF you find the part. Better safe than sorry.

[@robsonbass6058]

I bought CCR's "Cosmos Factory" when it first came out and then dropped by girlfriend's house for an hour or so. I came back out to the car and the record was laying flat on the front bench seat in direct sunlight. Yeah, same as your kiss album. Had to throw it away.

[@Pootycat8359]

Here are two things that DESTROY records, but apparently, few people know about. 1) NEVER play a cut on an LP over & over, without pause! Time must elapse between playings. The reason is this. The stylus zooming back & forth in the groove exerts considerable force on the vinyl walls. The vinyl stretches and becomes brittle. Time must pass before it regains its resiliency. If a cut is played several times, without being allowed to recover, the groove walls crack. This results in that harsh, raspy distortion which "hurts" the ears! How much time should elapse between playings? A day is definitely sufficient, and is what I read was recommended, back in the 70s. I think 8 hrs or so would be OK, but that's just a guess. Maybe someone has conducted some serious research on this topic? 2) NEVER track a cartridge at the lowest possible force! It should be set at or near the allowable maximum, recommended by the manufacturer. That's because, if it's too low, on an intense passage, the stylus can lose contact with the groove wall, and careen about, gouging out chunks of vinyl. While normal wear does increase a little, at higher tracking force, tracking too low can destroy a record, in a single playing. The distortion that results is the same as that described above, from playing, over & over, without rest. If these rules are followed, a record should last almost forever. Sure, it may acquire some scratches & pops, but those are far less objectionable than the ear-torturing distortion that results from ignoring the above rules.

[@halofour01]

I think mismatched impedance would be a good thing to bring up. I saw a guy burn up an amp because he thought it was cool to have 3 sets of speakers connected to a single set of output terminals.

[@ebaysnipa]

Thanks for the tips. can you recommend a set of replacement feet for a sansui SR 838 turntable I think you know these are notorious for the feet disintegrating. thanks

[@skylabsaudio]

www.mnpctech.com/products/sansui-sr-838-sr-737-sr-535-sr-333-custom-turntable-isolation-feet?_pos=1&_sid=cf6dfae8b&_ss=r