Maintenance of audio equipments at weekend/vacation home

Do any forum members have experience with maintenance of audio equipments at weekend/vacation homes? Clearly, a weekend/vacation home is a place you only visit occasionally. How do you ensure your equipments will survive somewhat unattended (assuming there is no burglary)? I guess my concern is more weather-related, the heat and the cold, etc.

 

I'd shut it off, seal it in a big plastic bag with a couple of silica gel packs inside. You can get the silica gel at your local camera store. That should keep the moisture out!

 

If anyone needs silica, I'd be happy to ship any one of the many packs I get with new computer stuff...

The Silica packs say don't throw away, I've always wondered what you're supposed to do with them!

 

Don't eat em, they are not a toy!

 

Agree with the advice there Tonepub. I keep spare silica in my camera bags all the time.

 

You might also experience a little break-in time is required when you fire up the system after a long delay. Give it a few days to warm up (and I don't mean temperature).

Not sure why, but some pieces of equipment/cables tend to be like a Stradivarius. They lose their tone when not played.

jh

 

My wife has been interested to get a weekend/vacation home in the Berkshires and it just appears to me some of the vintage equipments such as the Tandbergs and some Naks can go there. Good music is always a nice thing no matter where you are. The challenge is of course being in the mountains and not exactly in some climate-controlled condo, the vintage equipments could be damaged after a few months unattended. While I can always use an iPod, but I just have so much disdain for using one when I am not on the road.

 

If you eat one, the secrets of the universe are revealed to you. The Man just places that warning on the bag to keep you from knowing the real truth, man! Attica! Attica!

 

Not a big deal

We have a beach shack on the Atlantic north of Boston that we use mostly July.Aug. We keep a vintage system there. It's never been a problem.

I have Smaller advents mounted high on the wall- if anyone wants to be bothered unscrewing them..goodluck!!!. Not much floor space and it keeps critters away. We sometimes get mice off season so ported speakers would not be a good idea. I use a Sherwood S7110 ss receiver with a sealed top case (no beer spills inside...this is important). Off season I just unplug it...no silica or wrapping. The following year, we plug in and enjoy. No prep necessary. The cold does not seem to noticeably affect anything off season. We have a combo VCR and DVD player that we use for CD...works well enough for this purpose. If any of this stuff got stolen or broken I would not be too upset- there's always a yard sale around town for a new receiver. Just don''t take the barbeque.

Corrosion is a big problem on the shore but it's never seemed to affect the audio stuff. No vinyl...just too sandy/dusty and I don't have the patience for it there.

When we're there we often buy CD's and DVD's that we leave...the following year it's fun to see what's there that we forgot about.

Stuff inside the house is never much of an issue. Stuff outside corrodes like the dickens, though. No outdoor speakers for that reason.

MAK