"Bruce Esquibel" wrote in message
...
Hey all, hope this isn't off the charter for the group that much.

Was sort of looking for an opinion/comments if you were stuck in my shoes
and course of action to take.

I have a pair of Soundlab R1's, with the bass cabinets. Owned them since
around 1983. Probably the best I've owned, but that isn't saying all that
much if you knew what else I've picked up through the years.

The thing is, I haven't used them at all in the past 5 years or so, they
have been in storage. Reason they are there, at least one of the brain
boxes
is bad again. Those boxes are basically the electronics for the panel,
where
the amp hooks up to and the ac for the power.

I guess it's a transformer inside that fails, the panels still power up
but
the audio is slightly distorted. Soundlab can still fix these (but no
longer
the panels according to Roger West). I imagine with inflation it's more
but
last time I sent them in, it ran about $250 each, plus shipping. They (he)
recommended both boxes go in for rebuilding, to make sure they match.

But here is my query, I'm not all that interested in using them anymore.

I don't think they really fall into the area of being junk either. After
thinking about it for the past few months on and off, the choices seem to
be...

1) table saw them and bid a fond farewell to the trash
2) give them away "as is"
3) sell them "as is"
4) get them repaired, clean them up and try to get best dollar for them

The way I see it, both option 3 and 4 have a problem. I'm not so sure the
speakers have any value anymore. Even though I'm in a large metro area
(Chicago), it seems like it would be an uphill battle to find anyone to
even
pay a nominal price these days. If they were repaired, you would need to
get
$500-$600 just to break even.

Like I said earlier, I don't consider them junk so chopping them up or
just
plain giving them away seems distasteful to me. But #2 and #3 seem the
most
logically to me, especially since they have been collecting dust for half
a
decade already.

The opinions/comments would be on #4. Would trying to sell them, repaired
or
not have any merit? Even if I just shot for a break-even solution, does
something this old (but kind of unique) have any value in the $500-$600
range?

Randomly checking ebay hasn't been that much help, Soundlab shows up once
in
a while, never seen an R1 listed though.

Keep in mind with all of this, shipping them would probably be in the same
range pricewise as getting them repaired. These are curved panels and
those
bass cabinets they sit on are fairly heavy themselves. Crates would have
to
be made custom. I bring that up because although it's possible some rich
Asian might see a collectors value to owning them, I also could hit the
lottery and start looking at A1's.


My recollection was that they were pretty darn good speakers. You say you
are not much interested in them anymore. If they are still the best
speakers you've ever had, why not?

From you description, my guess would be capacitors are gone, not the
transformer. Any really competent repair guy or hobbyist EE could probably
troubleshoot and repair the power supply right there in Chicago, and for
less than $500. If I'm right (and that's obviously only an "if") then you'd
have a perfectly fine set of speakers..."probably the best I've owned." Of
course, that assumes you still have something to drive them with. And that
you still have an interest in music. If not the latter, then i think option
number three is best...put them up, describe the situation accurately, make
them "pick up only". My guess is you'll find somebody between the Quad
Cities and Milwaukee willing to pay something for them.