By Julian Hirsch
IN the last two issues, I outlined what I consider the most valid reasons for replacing the speakers, record player and cartridge, and tape deck in a music system. Although a loudspeaker is perhaps the most durable hi-fi component, ongoing design improvements may justify replacing your speakers after a number of years even if they are still in perfect working condition. Record players and tape decks are subject to mechanical wear that can necessitate their eventual replacement. Also, as with loud speakers, technological developments may warrant the purchase of a new turntable or deck simply for the improved sound it will provide even when your old one is still in good working order.
The situation is not so clear-cut in the case of the purely electronic components of the system: the tuner and amplifier (or receiver, if the two are combined). Barring actual failure of an internal component (a transistor, switch, etc.), an electronic audio product can continue to give good service for a surprisingly long time. With an occasional touch-up alignment, there is no reason a tuner or amplifier should not still meet its original operating specifications after twenty or thirty years of service. (I still have a communications receiver that is going strong after more than thirty-six years with no failures or even a tube change!) Granted, there are few hi-fi components that will satisfy the tastes of today's audiophiles after a couple of decades of service.
For one thing, a mono system is passé today no matter how well it works. For another, our standards of audible performance are higher than they were in the Fifties and Six ties; the hum and noise levels of the best components of those decades would probably not be acceptable today. Finally, as I pointed out in the first part of this series, maintenance of an old piece of tube equipment can become unreasonably expensive or even impossible.
Therefore, let us consider an "old" system to have electronic components that are all solid-state, stereo, and no more than five to fifteen years we will assume that the components were good enough to have been called "hi-fi" when they were new and still function adequately in most important respects. It is certain that the written specs of those older components, even if they were expensive, top-grade products in their time, would be surpassed even by lower-priced equivalents to day. But, for a variety of reasons, even major differences in some specifications are rarely audible, so it is usually inadvisable to use specs as the only, or even the main, criteria for deciding whether to replace some thing that still works properly and sounds good.
Older FM tuners usually have a number of adjustable internal components (mostly in the i.f. and multiplex-decoder sections) that should be checked at regular intervals (such as annually) and realigned if necessary to ensure full performance. Owners tend to ignore such routine maintenance, especially if their systems seem to function normally without it. Most current tuners do not require as much routine maintenance as older ones, and they have generally superior performance characteristics as well, so it is quite possible that replacing an old, neglected tuner with a new one will make a noticeable improvement in sound quality.
But not always! Most FM listeners need only a small fraction of the total performance capability of a reasonably good tuner, which, alter all, must be designed to meet the needs of a very diverse group of users.
Moreover, most FM broadcasts in this country offer sound quality ranging from mediocre to terrible. Therefore, replacing an undistinguished older tuner with the latest "state-of-the-art" model may make no audible difference at all. If you have a specific, identifiable reception problem (distortion, noise, interference from another station, or the like), a new tuner with superior qualities in that area may help. But the only way to be sure of this is to try it out at home before buying, if you can find a dealer who will allow this or if you can borrow a com parable unit from a friend.
Before digital-synthesis tuning became common even on inexpensive units, some degree of guesswork (and skill) was usually required to tune in a station correctly. Tuning meters and similar aids sometimes failed to deliver their implied tuning accuracy. Dial calibration was not always good to begin with and usually deteriorated over time (this is correctible with a simple alignment procedure, but if you already know where your favorite stations appear on the dial the actual calibration is less important). Although digital tuners have no fundamental performance advantages, they at least leave no doubt of the received frequency, and, with no dial to be calibrated, they require no realignment to maintain tuning accuracy throughout their useful lifetimes.
While I cannot guarantee that digital tuners will always be trouble-free, they should be substantially more reliable over the long run than the older analog variety.
To sum up: if your old tuner sounds good, don't replace it-unless, like so many of us, you find the various features of the current crop irresistible. If you have a specific reception problem, look to your antenna system first (ordinarily, multipath distortion can only be treated effectively in the antenna system, although a number of recent developments in tuner circuit design offer other avenues of improvement). Then try to borrow a better tuner to see if it really makes a difference. Even if it does, your old tuner may still be acceptable after a thorough overhaul, although that might be a less appealing alternative than buying a new digital tuner with its advantages of compactness and potentially more reliable operation.
There are several valid reasons for replacing an old amplifier even when it is still working well. A new speaker system might benefit from substantially higher amplifier power, although a small power increase is barely worthwhile (doubling the output power can increase the sound level by only 3 dB). Alternatively, your new speaker's impedance may be too low for best results with your old amplifier, especially if you plan to drive additional speakers in a different room at the same time. Or perhaps the preamplifier you have lacks the flexibility you require for your upgraded system (you may have added a second record player or cassette deck, and not all preamplifiers are designed to control a large number of ancillary components with equal effectiveness).
Another reason for upgrading is that to day's amplifiers are usually very quiet, and your old one may be showing its age in the form of hiss, hum, or crackles.
The parts of a hi-fi component most prone to wear out or deteriorate over a period of time are the switches and potentiometer controls that fill the front panels of most preamplifiers and integrated amplifiers. After some years you may find that turning a volume or tone control produces scraping or crashing sounds from your speakers or that a switch does not always make contact properly the first time you move it (moving it through several positions and then back to the one you want may help). These problems are often easily and inexpensively solved with various spray cleaners and lubricants, but if the control (particularly a rotary function-selector switch) actually re quires professional replacement, the expense could be enough to justify replacing the whole unit.
Obviously, if you have a receiver, it can only be replaced as a unit even if just one part of it is not performing properly. This is one of the very few real disadvantages of a receiver (there are no inherent drawbacks in performance compared with equivalent separate tuners and amplifiers). On the other hand, it is likely that a receiver that has been used for a number of years will no longer be the equal of a new receiver in many important performance characteristics and features (such as peak output-power capability or digital-synthesis tuning).
So far in this discussion of system up grading, I have not mentioned one of the most compelling (though not particularly logical) reasons to replace older equipment every once in a while. Human nature is such that we insist on occasional change in our personal surroundings. That is why our omes are periodically redecorated or refurnished, why we buy new clothes even though last year's are still perfectly service able, why we may trade in a car for a new one long before it has ceased providing reliable transportation-and why we avidly read about the newest audio components and, in many cases, add some of them to our systems.
I suppose it is fruitless to be too rational when dealing with something as personal and subjective as a stereo system. The appeal of those new components with their microcomputers, digital readouts, flashing LED displays, and so on is undeniable and, for many of us, irresistible. But for those who are not lured by the technological trap pings of audiophilia and just seek the best possible musical reproduction for their money, I hope I have put into perspective the factors that affect a system's actual sound over the long run.
Turntables: How to Evaluate the Specs
How to Judge a Vinyl LP Record Without Playing It