[Closed] Electronics repair places?

Rubbish, isn't it. There used to be loads of shops in town if you wanted electronics bits or needed something fixing (or needed advice on fixing things). We had a great independent computer shop with an electronics department upstairs, an electronics repair shop, an electrical repair place (for domestic appliances and such) and the then-ubiquitous Tandy. Probably more that I've forgotten, and that was just in a crappy little East Lancashire backwater.

Now we've got, what, Maplin if I want to drive to the nearest large retail park, or the Internet. Or ten-a-penny market stalls covered in cheap iPhone covers, run by some dodgy bloke with a sideline in unlocking potentially stolen phones, Playstation chipping and cloned Sky cards.

I guess part of it is down to the rise of Internet shopping and the decline of the economy, and all that happy stuff, but I suppose the nature of modern consumer technology doesn't really lend itself to hobbyist tinkering any more. I do wonder - and indeed, hope - that perhaps we might be on the edge of a second wave of these sort of places with the upsurge of interest in things like the Raspberry Pi. There's suddenly a reason again to pop to the shops for a handful of resistors and a catering pack of LEDs.

Sorry, where was I? Oh, headphones, yes. No idea, sorry. I'm not helping much am I, dad.

A lot of stuff these days isn't designed to be repaired - iPads, iPhones etc have many parts which are glued together and are not really intended to be taken apart (although you can find ways around it).

Planned obselesence and globalisation isn't it?

The small child that probably made them was probably too worn out to do a proper job. If they're more that 5 minutes old they're not supposed to function any more: if you could just file them in the local landfill and log on to Anazon the replacements will be with you tomorrow.

+1 to the cougar. I think if you have the skills electronics repair is possible, but for consumer grade electonics, if you charge enough to pay wadge and cover shop rent e.t.c no one will employ you as it is cheaper to buy new, hence why the only repair shops are ones that spcialise in particular fault of phones ,playstations e.t.c that they know and can quickly fix.

OP, you could try an electonics club or HAM radio club adn offer some cash to a keen person.

Yes, it is rubbish Cougar, but I wouldn't keep such a shop afloat (due to doing most stuff myself with help from youtube), so I can understand why they no longer exist.

Would be useful now though 🙂

I don't trust my local phone unlocking/case shop - they also sell bongs and rocket lighters, etc, etc (in the market in Macc).

OP, you could try an electonics club or HAM radio club adn offer some cash to a keen person.

as mentioned above... seek out a Ham radio club, or hackerspace/makerspace, and surely there must be a load of universities all around there with an electronics/radio club.
and unlike those of us that used to solder 0.1" pitch thru hole stuff, the current batch of students do soldering by hand on teeny weeny surface mount parts that are smaller than my old solder blobs.
offer them a beer, and they'll probably fix it for free. and then you'll find out they are teetotal 😉

I used [url= http://www.mpavservice.co.uk/ ]this guy[/url] on an amp (agree it's not the same as headphones) and he did a good job at a reasonable price.

Might be worth calling him to see if he'd be interested.

Modern Radio on Derby Street in Bolton is a real old-school shop for obscure electronics bits and pieces. I think they do repairs but if not chances are they will know someone who can. They aren't particularly local to you but not too far really.

That's a point actually,

There's a couple of Raspberry Jam type meetings in the Northern Quarter somewhere, if memory serves. You could probably find someone there who would happily sort you out and accept payment in branded SD cards.

ourmaninthenorth - Member

I used this guy on an amp (agree it's not the same as headphones) and he did a good job at a reasonable price.

Might be worth calling him to see if he'd be interested.

For other's reference, he charges a min of £20 plus return postage. We don't know what the problem is, so it's difficult to get any further quote.

Thanks - just spoken to him. Sounds good.

HTH. Hope you get back to full musical pleasure soon!

It's ok - I have another pair of identical headphones that are all banged up and old but still work perfectly after 15 years!

If the repair isn't economical, I'll probably ask him to combine the two pairs - pristine outers with the working innards!

It's more economics, most electronics goods are cheaper to replace than pay the labour to repair them.