Inside High End Equipment

STC · January 11, 2018

I am starting this thread to share pictures of high end equipment.. My friend who specializes repairing high end equipment regularly send me the pictures of all his work and often discuss the parts and quality of workmanship in them. There must be thousands of pictures that he shared with me. Instead of deleting them I thought I could archieve it here so that others could catch a glimpse of what's inside.

Today I received Swiss made hi end Nagra PL-P preamp which was restored to the original specs replacing the baattery power supply modification . I also have videos of them playing but due to copyright issues with the songs and poor audio I am refraining from posting them here. If you are interested please PM ASAP before I delete them.

STC · January 11, 2018

Conrad Johnson power Amp.

STC · January 12, 2018

17 hours ago, PeterSt said:

I think it is seriously inappropriate to share pictures made by such a repair shop. Of course this starts with the repair shop doing this itself.

This is not really about pictures which can be taken from the top with the lid off, but about parts which are normally not accessible to you and me. Say the under side of a PCB, unveiling secrets, after a day of work to tear it apart for repair.

This is just my opinion as a manufacturer. What you do is up to you.

Your concern noted.

This was done by own volition as I thought it would be useful for many other audiophiles to identify parts or finding alternatives replacement if necessary.

I am looking at it from the consumers perspective. I once paid three times for a replacement pickup lens from a High End company which turned out to be a Sony’s pickup lens which was probably manufactured in my country and could be bought at 1/3 the price. It is common to see many of the parts number obliterated to prevent us from sourcing the part directly from the source. I don’t see such practice in other consumers product. I think that is seriously inappropriate and unethical.

Manufacturers can always protect the IP legally and usually would proudly expose their innovation for all to see. Example here where the show everything.

STC · January 12, 2018

6 hours ago, Ron Scubadiver said:

Actually, Crown shows nothing.

Atleast they are not hesitating to show the internal mechanism because the innovation is genuine and patented.

STC · January 13, 2018

6 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

Oversized casing? What brand is this?

STC · January 13, 2018

Repairing Linn Genki after the power supply was modifying by tweaker. Pictures showing damaged parts.

Replaced 6pcs of Schottky diodes.

STC · January 13, 2018

@gstew nice setup.

STC · January 15, 2018

Audion 300B Silver Night Monoblocks

STC · January 18, 2018

VRDS-25

STC · January 25, 2018

VAC 3070 mono power amp. This one is difficult one as the manufacturer ignored request for schematic. That's why I love Classe products. They provided schematic except for their current model still under warranty.

STC · January 27, 2018

5 minutes ago, gmgraves said:

Useless bling that does nothing to improve SQ, It's just there to drive the prices up.

I don’t see anything wrong with their approach. Some audiophile prefer these kind of designs for better vibration control.

Audiophile is is a very small community. It is a hobby of obsession of equipment and solving the puzzle the hard way.

There is is a demand for it. Just like some people who prefer to $10 for a cup of coffee that can be bought for $1. It is Not the coffee that matters to them. Same thing with audiophiles, it is not the music but the obsession of the way they reached there.