Yes, everything human-made requires some form of periodic maintenance, the more complex, the more maintenance,

Nothing is exempt from this need. Maintenance, such as cleaning, lubrication, adjustment, or parts replacement, is simply a designed-in element. Complex electromechanical equipment, containing hundreds of parts and often operating decades beyond its intended design life, has the greatest need for periodic maintenance.

Design Life

Manufacturer-specified maintenance information is typically found in the service documentation for a piece of equipment. Here’s the problem, though: This maintenance is what was thought would be needed over the projected design life of the equipment. When this equipment was designed and built, nobody imagined that it would still be working, let alone cherished and sought after, 30, 40, or even 50 years later.

There’s often very little longer-term maintenance information accompanying consumer-level gear like this anyway, a reflection of the somewhat throwaway nature of the equipment and its predicted lifespan. The extended life that much of this equipment enjoys because of how well-made it was is usually well beyond its intended design life. Ongoing maintenance needs are simply not covered by service data.

A classic example is bearings, gears and drivetrains found in cassette decks and turntables, which are designed to last the ‘life of the equipment’, whatever that really is. These typically need to be completely stripped, cleaned, lubricated and reassembled for that equipment to work properly again after every 10 – 20 years. This is rarely, if ever, covered in service data.

Maintaining equipment requires an understanding of how equipment ages. Many service procedures and techniques have been developed out of necessity by Liquid Audio and others. I use service procedures, parts, lubricants, etc, that manufacturers didn’t disclose or that have become superseded. I’ve had to reverse-engineer and develop solutions, as required, as have some of my colleagues. Some of the service, repair and cleaning procedures I use are unique to Liquid Audio.

Degradation

Eventually, mechanical parts slow, actions become stiff or sporadic, and seize or fail. Electronic components can also age and fail, with the release of the classic ‘magic smoke’, leaving hi-fi equipment no longer functional. * These changes are gradual and occur over years or decades, meaning that tracking and being aware of them is virtually impossible. That’s why we suggest periodic maintenance, which removes much of the guesswork.

Turntables and cassette decks are generally the most maintenance-intensive, followed by amplifiers, CD players, tuners, preamps and then things without knobs, like DACs. I’ve written more about how and why electronic equipment needs periodic maintenance here and here.

Periodic maintenance reduces the likelihood and potential severity of equipment failure and dramatically improves its performance. Whatever you do, just have the work done by someone competent. Your equipment will eventually fail if you don’t maintain it.

* Magic smoke, once released, cannot be reinstalled. It is not available for purchase and only new components containing their factory original magic smoke can be used.