fuk, Fuk, FUK #3

At this point I am so ready to slash my wrists.

I am in the final count down for the party of the half century and too many things seem to be conspiring against me, I am sure I will go into total meltdown before the actual day.

Oldest and dearest bought me a new tv/stereo unit for my birthday to house all my components tidily. I picked it up last night and somehow managed to fit it into the car, the box was actually wider than the car, but you know, woman on a mission. I then invested 1.5 hours of my life putting it together this morning, the instructions were very scanty and at one point it was looking very much like ending up as firewood.

Once construction was complete (with only 2 bits left over) I attempted to slot my amp and other bits in only to find that spaces for them are TOO SMALL. I then launched into advanced level of meltdown, flatmate has not witnessed this before and was cowering on the back deck. Now, the advertising propaganda that enticed me to purchase this unit showed a massive tv sitting on top and a dvd/video in one of the underneath spaces. The only measurements given are the full external ones, so one assumes that as the picture shows a component slotted in therefore they will fit. Misleading advertising is my call, and I can't deconstruct it to take it back as it has these funny screw lock thingies that I can't get out. I have already visited the website to lodge my complaint which I will be pursuing with a vengeance.

But wait....there's more......once I'd stacked everything on top of the unit and put the stereo back together and switched it on I found that the right hand side of the amp had spat the dummy. The level of meltdown I then went into totally eclipsed all before, flatmate felt the need to go to the backyard and check her washing. A quick switch of wires confirmed it was amp and not speakers, so then I tried an old technician trick, give the amp a bloody good shake. Voila....sound came out of the right speakers. So now I know it's got a dry joint somewhere but no volt meter or soldering iron to go and explore with, so I guess I'll have to ring a fix it boy since baby AV Techie dyke is STILL OUT OF THE COUNTRY.

Good news, my lovely speaker repair man has fixed my mid cones and they are on a courier home already, however when I soldered the last speaker cone back in I returned the work soldering iron to the Chief Engineer personally, and now he has lost it. My best boy engineer has said he will loan me his own personal soldering iron, but it sounds so high powered I fear what damage I may do with it.