Check The Connection, Dummy

My sound is hooked up to a mid '85 Technics Amp tuner and equalizer rack. For a while it has been slow to start with the music and skipping / cutting out until it's been on for a bit. I've been saying 'I'll open it and blow it all out and maybe get some cleaner for the slider switches. Kept putting it off. Recently I was plugging in a thumb drive to the USB 3 port in the back and bumped against the jack going to the sound for the comp. It made a louder buzz for a moment and I yanked it out of the comp. Plugging it back in made a buzz and then perfect sound. Took it out and plugged it in once more for good measure and guess what - it works perfect. No need to open the amp. Sometimes it's right in front of you.

 

The audio jack on my laptop is a bit like that. It is a standard 3.5mm connector but if you twist the plug it crackles and hums. No amount of cleaning improves it and the socket inside the laptop is one of the ones encased in plastic so you can't pull it apart to bend the contact so it makes better contact. I can't find a replacement that fits on the mobo and lines up with the hole in the case. My solution was to get a right angle audio jack adapter and wobble it until the connection was good then gaffa taped it in position. Now I plug my headphones into the right angle adapter and all is good again
http://www.jaycar.com.au/medias/sys_master/images/h25/h08/8814977056798/PA3503ImageMain-515Wx515H.jpg
A rough and dirty fix that works
Lucky I never listen to the speakers on the laptop

 

Heck yeah! The high tech fixes that make life so much more pleasant!

 

FWIW...
I have my PC connected to a '80 National Panasonic Hi-Fi.

 

Just looking at the name you used , I saw this

https://www.etsy.com/listing/214416018/technics-national-panasonic-sa-80al

I could be happy having more hi-fi than I do pc.

 

I wish!

Definitely!

Here's mine. Do note the website's name!
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/panasonic_ledsonic_1800_sg_1800p.html

 

So how do you hook it up ? Have a line in or external jack?

 

A simple 3.5 mm Stereo Jack plug to 2 x RCA plugs cable which I made up.
The cable is connected from the PC's line out to the Hi-Fi's auxiliary in.

 

Yeah - aux . I forgot about that one. I've abused the inputs on my amps over the years. Have had an electric guitar plugged it to one or two . Even an acoustic. I robbed the speaker from an olldd portable phone. The kind for a truck or car that had the huge charger/battery pack? The speaker just did fit the sound hole in a acoustic. Wired with a old Walkman jack to the amps input. People couldn't believe I could make the speaker work as a mic. Alls good!

 

I did similar unheard of 'experiments'.
The good ol' days!