In the event my poor knowledge isnt sufficiant to find the loose connection or that theres any serious soldering needed (my hands are very unsteady, I have difficulty with hand-eye co-ordination) is there anyone or any place that would be able to help me with fixing the problem with my hitachi?

Basically the left sound has failed, Im not overly bothered about the clock but with the sound loss it takes a big chunk of the boom away, It is a loose connection for definate as sound came back very briefly when I tinkered with the wires a bit.

Checked connectors and made sure they were tight and not damaged, still didnt solve the issue, found left to be coming through very weak when the volume is cranked up.

It did have static coming through properly at one point and then it crackled and by time I tuned it in to the FM stereo point it have stopped working properly again.

Its a TRK 8110e so it doesnt have a heck of a lot of controls, for some reason both volume dials just affect right and I cant figure out where its going wrong, its not a radio or tape deck issue as they come through fine on my skull candy headphones.

In the words of the police Im sending out an SOS

sometimes the loss of channel is down to bad contact in either the selecter (line in   tape   radio) or balance or volume knobs...you need to make sure you spray inside the backs of the knobs (potentiometers) and back of selecter switches with contact cleaner....deoxit  or servisol...google these and youll see....until they are totally clear and the static is gone, you shouldnt try and repair circuit boards....try the easy fix stuff first then look for loose wires, cracked solder joints etc

sometimes the loss of channel is down to bad contact in either the selecter (line in   tape   radio) or balance or volume knobs...you need to make sure you spray inside the backs of the knobs (potentiometers) and back of selecter switches with contact cleaner....deoxit  or servisol...google these and youll see....until they are totally clear and the static is gone, you shouldnt try and repair circuit boards....try the easy fix stuff first then look for loose wires, cracked solder joints etc

well would be helpfull if you were to toss your pic of Hitachi back up here to refresh memory fo what model it is ...

OK have you checked and or wiggled the function switch and do you have any 1.  electrical contact degreaser spray - cleaning - 2. a can of 'air' 3. Deoxit, and and or any television tuner lube spray - that's what it was called back in the day ...

Have you checked the switches?

checked the knobs or sliders for continuity

or

use another boombox...

Ive fettled with the switches but not sprayed anything, only cleaning sprays I have are wd40 but I can see if I can get something else in a bit.

As requested a photo of the Hitachi trk8110e

Fettled with the volume switches, you guys were right it was them causing the issue, Ive not cleaned them yet but Ive got full power back as I just tested it with the Beastie boys Intergalatic single and cranked up both cones moved nicely.

I will still clean them at some point though to make sure it doesnt happen again in the near future, thanks for all the advice guys

Man what ever you do...do NOT use wd40 that can distroy the contacts....ask litfan what i was like....i'll put a link upto what you need

use this dude

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SERV...;hash=item45fc4d4471

Its alright I know not to use WD40 on electrics, Ill take a look locally for the spray in the link to save the postal service faffing with it, Webbs will proberly be my best bet as they sell similar stuff for Car electrics as I used some on the Humber.