Electronics that had broken on me.

More Electronics That Won’t Last

Here are two more to add to my stash of broken electronics. Both of these are from 1999 and include a portable compact disc player and a powered subwoofer.

At least the portable CD player is not a big loss. First of all, thanks to China, it only cost $25-35 (I forget the exact amount) at Geekland, er, I mean Fry’s Electronics. I was using that in the MGB through a cassette adapter, and of course, I don’t have the MG anymore. (Incidentally, the cassette adapter also broke several years ago.) I won’t bother replacing the CD player especially since my $17 MP3 player has been working well.

The subwoofer is a bigger deal. First of all, it was an NHT Subwoofer that cost $400 (clearly, this was before my frugality phase). It—like my NHT main speakers—sounded fantastic , but over the last year started humming loud enough to shake the neighbor’s house off of its foundation even without any music piping through it. I thought it was a ground-fault issue, and could get the subwoofer working 50% of the time, but now, it is dead. Unfortunately, there aren’t any authorized NHT repair shops outside of Benicia, California, and according to NHT’s website, non-warranty repairs typically cost $75-150 anyhow. Add on shipping, and the potential cost could be as much as $200. No thanks; I’ll either buy a $80 brand new subwoofer that is almost as good, or none at all.

At least the Mitsubishi VCR, Onkyo DVD player (both from 1999) and Onkyo receiver (circa 2002—a replacement for a Harmon/Kardon receiver that broke twice!) are still working. I think they are the oldest electronics I have in the house at only eight years.

I wonder how many more years I can squeeze out of them.

Electronics that had broken on me.
Electronics that had broken on me.