Not A Boombox - Epilogue
A ‘what happened next’ update regarding the pair of faulty Panasonic SY-PA100s.
https://youtu.be/9VUorpwiDcs
Just a basic video this time as I’m feeling worn down at the moment, so I’m trying to take it easy until things improve. It’s been a weird 2025 and I feel like it’s all caught up with me.
I’ve had some welcome news though on my health saga. It appears that I should be around for a while as they're only planning on checking on me again now in six months. It seems like that initial panic is over. I didn't get an 'all-clear', but it's as good as.
So now I just need to try and get myself back up to speed. At the start of the year I was thinking I could well be dead or dying or worse by this point, so now that I'm still here it's a bit of an anticlimax, albeit in a very positive way. It's a very strange feeling - there's probably a syndrome named after this. So give me a minute or two and I’ll try and get back on the horse.
Anyway I hope you're doing well, take care.
Comments (68)
Anticlimaxes are always good, and I know you don't like drawing attention to yourself so we'll leave it at that.
I hate no lead solder...especially old no lead solder. I have to flow a bunch of new solder on it at higher temp than normal...then use 'no lead' desolder braid to slowly get the crap off...a painful and dangerous (due to the extra heat on the pads) process. I had to upgrade to the Hakko 301 to give me a fighting chance at desoldering.
This explains my inability to shift it. I thought I must be doing something wrong.
Geat news on the health front. As for video a great trilogy on the Panasonic SY-PA100 and a great piece of equipment
I think you might need to put a trigger warning for the soldering when you release it 😂. Good news on the health front👍.
From past experience I don’t think that electronic repair ‘experts’ would be satisfied if every view of this video automatically deposited a million pounds into their bank account and simultaneously electrocuted me.
And so pleased to hear your health news, as is my mother, who despite not watching any YouTube video in her life, has been following your news from my reports!
I'm happy to watch a video without a completely "happy ending", though it's still nice to see something fixed if it's possible, so I appreciated this video. And I also appreciate it for giving me the mental image of you as the punk on the bus in Star Trek IV, when hitherto I'd likely have only pictured you as Mr Spock in that scenario 🙂 As for the health news, I'm very glad to hear it, and entirely unsurprised by your reaction - your body will have been completely over-stimulated by cortisol all year, now it's got to recover and re-establish a baseline. Not dissimilar to recovering from hard physical exercise, really. (Incidentally, as a species we produce less cortisol - the stress hormone - at the idea of a certain electric shock than that of an uncertain, 50/50 chance of one. You've been living the latter for months, I'd imagine. The human mind and body are wonders, but also often deeply annoying and perverse.) Cheers, Mat, and hope you're over that worn-down feeling ASAP.
It’s nice to have a reason for this discombobulated feeling. I’ve just got off the phone with my sister who was calling to tell me that the £3000 funeral bill is on the way to me, but anyway the relevance here is that she went through a similar situation with a potential cancer diagnosis which eventually turned out to be nothing and she experienced the same emotional rollercoaster.
That's excellent news, Mat. Don't overdo it!
You're on your fourth life now, by my count. Just avoid getting too close to the ninth life and you should be fine. 🤞🏼 I appreciate the repair follow-up. It's satisfying to see it functioning at MORE THAN its full potential with the added Bluetooth. Just get out the black nail polish to disguise those scratches on the grille and it'll be complete. 💅🏼 Now I have a purely philosophical question about bald-headed fetishes but I realize this isn't the right forum. 😶 Take care. 🤍
Glad to read the positieve medical news! Health is everything, although it's easy to forget this when everything's well
Very happy to hear that you received positive news!! And it's completely understandable that you feel a bit strange right now after everything you've been through this year. Take all the time you need.
Couldn't you combine both as mega headphones?
"You've been alerted that your listening volume has been too loud for too long, potentially causing hearing damage."
I'll watch this later but I am SO pleased (and relieved) at your health news. Yes, I know, you don't like mushy stuff (or really any positive emotions near as I can tell :) ) but I'm glad you'll be around for a while. I suspect I'm not alone in that! Cheers!
I'd say this repair video has a fairytale ending🙂
Very happy to hear the health update Matt. I think we're around the same age and I've lost some friends over the years so good health news is a nice change.
The Moanistry of Sound?
For maximum pleasure, run the Not a Boombox off a gas generator instead of the Jackery
It's nice to have a conclusion to that story. It's a bit like getting an unexpected but welcome finale for a beloved (but struggling) show that everyone thought was going to be cancelled mid-season. Edit: Just to clarify, I mean the SY-PA100!!
Rave at Techmoan's!
This video is absolutely brilliant
We've been quite concerned my man. I'm still hoping to buy you a round on our next swing through Manchester. Or the one after that as we're headed there in a week or so to see Edwyn Collins of Orange Juice play live, a man with health woes even worse than yours. You're both VERY inspirational!
I haven’t been to Manchester for almost a decade now. Reminds me too much of having to do a proper job. Glad to hear that Edwin is still hanging in there.
An idea for how you can put its ruggedness to the test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll6h7QJIyMY
I can’t begin to understand how you found that video.
Glad you'll be staying with us! You take care as well!
One of these units would have been perfect for foreign language exams in schools. When they had to play the French people speaking for you to decipher. We had the awful Coobe or Combe thing and it sounded rubbish in the school hall. May be a bit of D&B first just to get the students in the zone.
When Matt first showed this I was thinking he should review a Coomber. Excluding Audiophile HiFi they might have been one of the last companies making audio equipment in the U.K.
Top notch episode - there was a number of LOL-moments in this one. 😄
Interesting to see the cause of that fault, I learnt somet there. Doesn't matter if there's not 100% fix at the end of a video, you don't mind that, it's when you've watched some of those you tubers that do videos that are hours long and by the end of it, whatever their working on is still dead as a post, thats when you feel a bit cheated out of your day 🤣
I read this in a semi-Cockney accent. How close am I?
Ahh… if only I could be the neighbor of the famous Techmoan! Do they have any idea as to what you do in your backyard? Also, here’s a thought: Make a little scene of a remake of Back to the Future Scene where a puppet Marty McFly plugs into the huge amp, a.k.a. The Panasonic SY-PA100…
I think I’d need a mini electric guitar, but I suspect it would be way beyond my meagre ‘move the mouth semi-randomly’ puppeteering skills.
Mat, you seem so much cheerier and obviously happier in this video than you have done in a while! The "annoying the neighbours" bit is a a proper Techmoan classic. Up there with the Coast to Coast Wind Up UK Tour.
I'm so glad you're feeling and looking much better.
Great stuff. If I could play an instrument and I had a band (much like you) I would use this as a fold back monitor and take an output feed to the house PA (if there is such a socket, I didn't notice). P.S. Was the music in the Garden a very speeded up sample of Sunshine of Your Love by Cream (Disraeli Gears)
It’s just something from the YT Audio library to avoid content match.
Glad to hear they defused your health bomb for now, and I sympathize with this being a tough year. Sounds like you've gotten through the worst, so it can only get better. If you have a willing neighbor, might be funny to introduce a running gag showing their angry face as they pull back a curtain whenever you play something loud...
Perhaps a job for a puppet.
Excellent health news. Excellent follow-up video. Colab coming too. All-round good job!
One for future Mat: If you are desoldering manually try one of these https://www.engineertools-jp.com/product-page/ss-03-solder-sucker Night and day improvement compared to my 40 year old trusty solder sucker. The silicone tube on the end makes a huge difference.
My problem was the solder just wasn’t melting properly, I could add to it but not remove it. I’ll pick up a new sucker just in case though.
Dead or dying? You will live a lot longer than some of the media formats you have featured
Pleased to hear Mat has gone from completely knackered to fully functional. You get to that age when the docs say "normal for someone of your age".
Man these things are SO COOL. I love that it just played Let It Be and with a simple modification it transformed it. It's the backing music on electronic keyboards taken to its conclusion. Amazing. I would love one of these. I hope you can create silly Techmoan jingles with it. And a puppet music video just in case you wanted to break a record for worst performing video. Lol I was surprised by the commenters being surprised about controls on the front, like they had never seen a guitar amp before, but generally speaking the commenters are smarter than me so I assumed I was wrong last week. RE: the fix I love that bodge. You sell yourself short sometimes on your repair ability. You may not be skilled necessarily but you're smart and logical and have the fundamental knowledge of how these things operate so you've pulled some miracles out of your butt in the past just by thinking it through and solving the simple problems as they come up, like this one. I hope it's just a weird board and your desoldering tools aren't breaking. Maybe lead free?
I’m going to have to try the desolderer again, I really wanted to put it on my tongue to see if it had suction, but thought the better of it.
Great to hear that you'll be around to entertain us for a bit longer, Mat! 🍀❤️🙏🏻
Mat! You buried the lede, mate. I'm just glad we're not burying you any time soon. Great news, I'm chuffed for you and the misses.
Great you got that one working again and I loved the look on your face when the music started going for it in the garden speaker experiment :-D
So glad everything is looking up :) honestly take as long as you need, it's been quite the journey.
You often say your videos are basic but they are anything but!
I know you don't like personal messages. But I'm sorry here is one. Great news. Now relax and enjoy. All the best
I know we've never met; probably never will, so it might seem a bit odd to say/hear, but I was genuinely worried about you. Glad to hear you'll be able to keep making silly Youtube videos for us weirdos for a while yet.
the syndrome is probably emotional exhaustion or sort of an 'adrenaline drain' or whatever it is. you spent so much time and mental power preparing yourself for the worst that when it didn't happen, everything unwound at once leaving you feel kinda depleted. i know you're probably C of E, if you're anything at all, but from a Roaming Catholic: God Bless You
Fantastic news! Thanks for letting us know!
So glad to hear the health scare is over. My wife and I were both very worried about you!
Great news on the health front, take it easy, the videos are still great.
Great news on the health part.
Great news on the health front!
You would hate the attention but it has made my family's entire year to learn that this wonderful human will be around long-term. A genuine amount of my life is spent worrying about you. (fairly similar, introverted as all hell and highly techy small family) YESSSSS!!! If you're not introverted then sorry! We don't know each other from adam!
So glad you’re doing better. You had me worried.
We love you.
Yes
I'm so sorry that you're going to be stuck with us insolent YouTube commenters for years to come, I'm sure you were looking forward to seeing the back of us. Or, congratulations, whichever.
That’s great news Mat, glad to hear it! Look after yourself and take all the time you need to get back up to whatever speed feels comfortable. We’re not going anywhere.
Take it slowly mate. We’ll still be here.