Tips for maintaining your stereo receiver

Your stereo receiver should last you a long time. Keep dust away, keep it clean, and know how to revive it when it's just not working with these tips.

Dust is the enemy of all your household possessions and stereo receivers are no exception. Use a soft cloth misted with glass cleaner to regularly clean off the case and front panel (never spray anything directly onto either surface) and always wipe away from the air vents to prevent pushing dust into the inner workings.

Dust can impede your receiver's performance by coating the circuits and controls. So it's also a good idea to clean out the chassis every few years:

1. Unplug the receiver and disconnect the cables one at a time (use masking tape to label where each one goes).

2. Place the receiver on some spread-out newspaper and remove its cover. Be careful not to touch any of the small, barrel-shaped capacitors when exploring the inside of a receiver; although the unit may be unplugged, these components can still hold a powerful charge.

3. Use a soft, clean paintbrush or artist's brush to agitate the dust, then blow it out with a can of compressed air (avoid using AC-powered vacuums because they can generate a lot of harmful static electricity). If you've been experiencing any erratic behavior from the controls, this would also be a good time to clean off the contacts and potentiometers.

• Before you junk your lifeless receiver, remove the cover and locate the internal fuse (it may be soldered to the circuit board, so you may need to de-solder it by heating the connection with a soldering iron and pulling the wires apart).
• Examine the fuse to see if it's blown — this is usually obvious by a burned or blackened appearance.
• Even if it appears to be intact, you may want to test it with a digital multimeter: On the RX1 scale, it should register 300 ohms or less.
• If the fuse is blown or fatigued, take it to an electronics supply store and get a replacement. Your receiver is likely to spring back to life — as good as new.