Just stumbled on this thread.
Staying momentarily off topic, a long retired neighbour who had a senior role in the NHS and lots of contact with ministers and civil servants defined yes minister perfectly. "When it came out it was a satire, now they use it as a training video"
Back to Jim's original post. I had one of those Trio tuner/amps and a magnificent beast it was. Paired with some AR 25 speakers, budget end of the AR range but better than most. I reluctantly got rid of the Trio when one channel went crackly and I couldn't find the problem, but I regret parting with it now. I can solder dodgy joints but envy people like Jim who can do proper fault finding on electronics. Replaced it with a modern Sony amp, modern in that I bought it 25 years ago, and a separate all-singing FM tuner with a digital display.
My son ate one of the speakers - well not the whole thing. When he was crawling size I came into the room to find him sitting by the speaker chewing a bit of the foam ring around the outside of cone. Speakers went to the roof and I got a pair of Tannoy Mercury which never were satisfactory.
So my lock down audio activity was to re-furb the ARs. I found a forum - classicspeakerpages.net which is excellent - and found you could get the foams and central caps easily online in various sizes. New crossover capacitors as well. It takes a bit of thinking to make sure all the bits are centred, if the foams aren't spot on the magnet will foul the sides of the carrier. All is now done, the cabinets just needed a good clean and wax. New fabric fronts easy to get and cut to size. I got rid of the hum from my deck, sounded like motor hum to me and it was - all the rubber mounting parts had hardened, made up new ones from odd bits. Found the receipt, the deck was sorted in time for its 40th birthday in October.
So now I can listen to Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker, early Joni Mitchell and lots more - analogue recordings via mostly 40+ year old analogue kit into analogue ears and a (steadily slowing) analogue brain. I know the new stuff is better in every respect when you measure it, but the old stuff has a certain sound. Plus vinyl gives you 144 sq in of artwork, often proper sleeve notes, and keeps you fit - you have to get out of your chair to turn the record over
