Total posts : 45366
“This could be a cold solder, but the SSTran didn’t always do this.
It didn’t start hating cold until lightening zapped it a year ago
(its since been fixed)”
This is a significant clue which points to a problem with the repair. The symptoms are more indicative of a bad connection than a component drift effect.
The most efficient way I have found to repair a bad solder joint on a board the size of the SSTRAN is to retouch all the connections with a bit of new solder. It seems like a lot of work but compared to trying to find the bad joint it actually saves time in most cases.
Edit to add: Check the RCA Phono jacks and your cables. The cutting out or distortion of audio is exactly what I have experienced with these connectors.
Neil
