Restorations real or fake ? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: MosherIV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 18, 2020, 09:58:57 pm
content: HiI came across these restorations on YoutubeGiven the level of damage to the tape deck and amplifier - I doubt they can be restored.(Amazing the level of effort though !)What do you think ?

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 18, 2020, 10:01:04 pm
content: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/restoration-fake-or-damaged-beyond-repair/

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 18, 2020, 10:27:59 pm
content: Of course it’s fake. Look at the gibberish printed onto the Sony. (I think it’s a real Sony, as I own a compact Hi-Fi system of the same design family, but the model number is fake and the description is literally gibberish.)

author: cliffyk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 12:57:13 am
content: My reaction, having owned much of that same crap over the years is "Why???". Any cell phone and a $15 Bluetooth speaker will sound better...

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 01:51:57 am
content: Quote from: cliffyk on July 19, 2020, 12:57:13 amA $15 Bluetooth speaker can’t compare to a real stereo. But that’s not the subject of those videos either way...

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 03:40:49 am
content: Quote from: tooki on July 19, 2020, 01:51:57 amI think his point is that it's a bit of a stretch to call that a "real stereo", it looks like one of the very cheaply made one-piece fake component systems I remember seeing a lot of in the 90s.

author: GlennSprigg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 12:35:26 pm
content: Didn't look worth it. All the valves/tubes were missing!!!!

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 01:50:09 pm
content: I too have watched one or two of these videos and I can't help but wonder how financially destructive this gig would be if the damage was real at the level and type of equipment being restored. That is probably why there are so many fabricated restorations, including the offending light oxide dust on top of closed equipment.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 02:04:57 pm
content: All of these "found in the bushes" things look the same. The guy sprayed the same gunk on them before placing them there. That "rust" and dirt is fake.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 03:39:56 pm
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on July 19, 2020, 01:50:09 pmWell yes, and no. Of course the dirt is fake as in it has been manually applied but the damage (caused by the idiot) is very much real! As has been discussed in the previous thread, all the "after" shots and clips of the units operating are actually the before shots of the unit prior to being destroyed by a monkey. That cheap tape deck, and now that cheap amp, will never run again. There is no consequence to them because the got it for probably $5-15 at a yard sale, flea market, Ebay, exc. The real cost is the damn ewaste from destroying working gear. Assholes!

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2020, 12:44:56 am
content: Quote from: james_s on July 19, 2020, 03:40:49 amIt’s from Sony’s line of mini component systems from the late 80s-mid 90s, which were very well made. Depending on the region, they were sold as the MHC series or FH series. The one I got back in 1994ish was the MHC-2700. Other than using a single power supply and a few ribbon type umbilicals in place of individual cables, it’s basically the same as the lower midrange components sold at the same time. They’re not junk, and their prices reflected that. (Mine was a roughly $800 system.) Having disassembled Sony component gear of the same era, I can confirm their mini components are made with the same mechanisms and circuit designs as the “full” components.So no, nothing distantly in common with a $15 Bluetooth. He clearly does NOT have any experience with these systems, or he’d know that that series was actually pretty decent gear.P.S. the dinky speakers connected in the video are not what these came with, which were altogether decent bookshelf speakers.

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2020, 05:21:05 am
content: Quote from: cliffyk on July 19, 2020, 12:57:13 amYou've never heard proper audio in your life.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2020, 06:09:57 am
content: Quote from: Alex Eisenhut on July 20, 2020, 05:21:05 amHe's probably already suffering hearing loss and at his age the music is always "too loud" anyway.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2020, 09:55:35 am
content: Quote from: Cyberdragon on July 19, 2020, 03:39:56 pmPerhaps I should have been clearer; I was referring to the videos where the person says it finds a piece of equipment "in the woods" while it only has a layer of fine dust and a drip of mud here and there.The reverse videos are pretty much as you describe, but they are only viable due to technological obsolescence and the change in habits of the general public. These equipments would be ewaste anyways, especially on the more developed world where these were/are more plentiful and cheap(er).Over the years I was given several AV receivers in pristine condition when they cost US$300~1000 new in their day. I did restoration on some just to satisfy my curiosity, but the resale value is close to zero. If I were in my birth country, I could have sold these for quite a lot more given they are much less common as they were luxury items.Of course, there are other items where the market simply vanished or was reduced to severely low levels - case of the tape deck or a VCR, for example. In this case it is much more understandable that someone would make such video to get more return than its resale value. Not that I like it or would do it, but it is a hustle like any other.