One of the things I determined to do after finishing school in the spring was to clean house – literally and figuratively. It’s proven to be a tall order, but the accumulated old stuff just has to go, unless it really serves a purpose. This house-cleaning campaign forced me to admit that it was finally time for my old JVC A-X40 stereo integrated amplifier to go. It had reached the point where it no longer output on the right channel at all, and the left channel was hit or miss, and producing output often required highly-skilled maintenance procedures like whacking the volume knob or balance slider. No amount of cleaning fluid spray was bringing this guy back. It was, simply put, all but fried.
I try not to get too attached to inanimate objects, but I have to admit to having a soft spot for this amplifier. It has been a really good soldier for me, serving me well, over and over again, for many years. It was one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. I purchased it from Tech HiFi on Rt 9 in Framingham 35 years ago, for $230, including sales tax. It did become a bit unreliable after a while, and I tried replacing it – more than once. But I was never again able to find an integrated amplifier (pre-amp and amp only, no radio) in a suitable price range. Although I’ve succumbed to radio listening from time to time, for the most part I’ve always despised it, and had no use for one, and so didn’t want a receiver. I also greatly appreciated the graphic equalizer, even just a 5-band one, which was a significant improvement over the typical Treble and Bass controls provided with most receivers. Nonetheless, I eventually tried to replace my A-X40 with at least two different receivers that I can recall. Not only did the old A-X40 sound better, it out-lived both of them. I don’t think devices like this get MTBF ratings, but if it did, I’m sure my A-X40 would have passed its projecting lifetime decades ago. It got many, many hours of use.
But everything has its day, and on a recent steamy Saturday, I loaded it into the Jeep with a pile of other electronics to be dropped off for recycle. It felt good to get rid of the junk, but it felt wrong to be throwing my trusty old A-X40 in the junk pile.
I guess I can also throw away the receipt now: the warranty expired 34 years ago.
