Rebooted Electronics gives new life to vintage audio equipment
The guys at Rebooted Electronics weren’t even alive when most of the audio equipment they work on was made. That just seems to make them appreciate it even more.
“To me, the best sound quality that I’ve encountered tends to come from that vintage gear,” said Avery Potillo, who works in the business with owner Sam Carbonneau. “It pains me to think of it sitting down in basements or on a shelf just deteriorating.”
Rebooted Electronics services, repairs and restores older stereo equipment such as amplifiers, speakers and turntables. Sound old school? Rebooted doesn’t even have a website (okay, it does have a facebook page).
Carbonneau, 35, started working on stereo equipment out of his home about four years ago, eventually realizing there was enough demand to do it full-time. Potillo, 23, trained with him in his spare time for about six months.
“He taught himself,” Potillo said of Carbonneau. “He’s very hands on, very intuitive. He pretty much taught me everything he knows. Thank god for his patience.”
Potillo noted that the schematics of most audio equipment is readily available online today, “so we’re not just shooting in the dark.” Modern capacitors and other electronic components typically perform better than the originals they replace, he added.
In October, Rebooted took over some space in the back of Spektrum Muzik in Delano, which specializes in vinyl records. Potillo said the resurgence of interest in vinyl records – both those recorded years ago and new ones being produced today – helps. Much of Rebooted’s business comes from the “tight-knit” vinyl community that visits Spektrum and Spin It Again, a similar shop, or from members of a group called Central Kansas Vinyl Collectors, he said.
“Long before we had an office here, I was a regular customer.”
Potillo said there aren’t many other businesses in the area dedicated to repairing old audio equipment. They’ve already got a backlog of two months on bigger jobs. “If it’s just a minor job, like a belt going bad on a turntable, obviously it’s not going to take that long.”
Amplifiers, receivers and turntables are the main things Rebooted works on, but they also repair cassette decks, reel-to-reel players and more. The oldest piece they’ve encountered was an AM radio receiver from the 1920s. If there’s a common thread, it’s that vintage audio equipment tends to be a lot bigger than its modern counterpart.
“It’s not uncommon to have an amplifier dropped off that weighs 50, 60 pounds,” Potillo said.
Among vinyl record fans, it’s an article of faith that they sound better than compact discs and other digital formats. Rebotted wouldn’t exist otherwise, Potillo said.
“We love music and we want people to enjoy music like they used to.”
Rebooted Electronics
905 W. Douglas, (316) 361-6031
Owner: Sam Carbonneau