[Parkford]

Back in the 70s, I was Technical Officer of Dundee University's Audio Visual Unit and inherited an audio side which was virtually 100% Uher based. In terms of audio performance, they were excellent (on a cost/performance basis) but especially in the portable models were mechanicallys was by no m finicky though this was by no means unique to Uher.

On the electronics side they were highly refined and generally gave superb results. However, as with most electronic devices of the late 60's early 70's they were heavily germanium semiconductor based and susceptible to the relative electrical fragility of these compared to silicon devices. 40 plus years on these should be viewed with similar suspicion as other components such as RIFA capacitors et al. I regard any germanium device as likely to suffer from the 'whiskering' problem and this applies equally to any 'new' replacement as this most likely will have been sitting on a shelf for 40 or 50 years since manufacture. Whiskering is not dependent on usage, simply real age. Finding a silicon alternative would always be my preferred option as any devices should be relatively young and the manufacturing and packaging technologies are much less susceptible to the problem - plus the devices, if properly configured and used are generally more rugged. Note that there is evidence that whisker growth is not unique to germanium semiconductors but at the very least you should be setting yourself up for another half century of usability and most likely a great deal more. It should certainly see me out!