17,000 repair records: what vintage audio actually fails.
Hum, power supplies, tube bias, speaker foam, turntable caps. The first public pass over our repair database, with the numbers to back it up.
Bench guides
The bench, in writing.
Component-level guides to the failures we actually see, across the brands we know. Grounded in real repair patterns and bench work, not forum rumors.
What we actually see on the bench.
Each guide starts from real repair patterns across 19 brands. No parts-swapping shortcuts, no invented prices. If a fix needs a bench, we say so.
What actually fails on McIntosh.
1,627 repair records, in counts: the tubes that get blamed, the bias that takes the fall, and the output transformer that almost never dies.
What actually fails on PS Audio.
Power regenerators run hot by design: the supply inside the supply, the hum and buzz reports, and the fuses that finally give up.
What actually fails on Pass Labs.
Class A runs hot by design: bias drift, the big supply rails, and the hum that turns out to be grounds, not tubes.
8 min read
What a vintage receiver recap actually costs in 2026.
The most requested job on the bench, explained straight: which capacitors matter, what a full recap involves, and what to expect to pay before you commit to the work.
Coming from the bench
Marantz 22xx-series: the failures we see on the bench.
Filter caps, DC offset, stuck protection relays. A brand-specific walk through the 22xx failure patterns our diagnostic knowledge base tracks, model by model.
Coming from the bench
More guides land as the bench data grows. Have a specific model or a strange symptom? Ask the Wizard before you ship anything.
17,000+repair records behind every guide
19brands of curated failure patterns
Component-levelno board-swap shortcuts
Freefirst-pass diagnosis, the Wizard
Not sure what's wrong?
Describe the symptom to the Customer Service Wizard. It's trained on real repair patterns and will tell you what to expect: likely fixes, effort, and whether it's a bench job.