I think using major distros like Fedora, Ubuntu, or Debian is fine, because corporate backing often supports faster security fixes and better infrastructure.

I would go with Arch and i3. Dont use archinstall. Do it the hard way and you will learn alot about linux.

Just replace the potentiometer, they get rusty. I had the same problem restoring my grandmas old amp.

Does it make crackling noise while turning the volume potentiometer?