[Minn Mark]

Had a great trip up see a Frank. Drove up from Rochester to retrieve my Insight+ EC preamp. A couple weeks ago I had a couple of capacitors that went ‘walkabout’, giving me lots of annoying static. Frank replaced those, upgraded the op amps in my onboard Vision MM phono stage, and gave the rest of my unit a good going over. Less than 21 days to turn it around for me, and ( of course) it sounds great!  Attaching pics why I like the EC capabilities, but while at Frank's I was able to demo the latest SS gear.  Sounded really fantastic playing high res digital music files through the dac  into preamp and amp.  The Alta speakers are joyous and the overall combination in very revealing. Just like I like it.  So, I'm happy as a clam, but saving for some of that new silver gear. THANK YOU Frank and Mary, from your  longtime customer,

Minn Mark
Insight+EC preamp with Vision MM phono
Insight DAC
Insight 440H amp
Magnepan 3.6/R (not shown)

[rcag_ils]

Just wondering where about were the caps in the circuit board, I thought nowadays the caps should last for years and years.

[Minn Mark]

I'll paraphrase what I was told, but I'm not an electronics-type person:  While AVA buys parts from OEM and other trusted, reliable sources, on this occasion there was a batch of capacitors where the innards were made from something proprietary. The employee who knew the recipe left the company and in continuing the manufacture of the capacitors, something likely changed. Therefore, AVA has encountered, rarely, that some of these capacitors are failing before they should. Not sure but I think these were on the main power supply board, but don't quote me. I do know they were not on the phono or tone control boards.  Essentially the caps leaked and did some minor damage to the board. They were replaced and the traces on the board affected were bypassed with new wiring. The Insight circuitry with these caps had been installed in my preamp for several years so the performance was excellent for many years. That's my recollection. Hope this helps. If you wish, you might contact AVA directly for a more precise explanation.

[avahifi]

The capacitor issue dates back 10 years ago or so when a engineer from one Japanese capacitor maker left the company taking what he thought was their proprietary formula for the fluid in their electrolytic capacitors. He went to a different capacitor maker and they put the new secret formula into their production parts.  The formula also spread to other vendors too.  Unfortunately it was not the correct formula.  It caused many capacitors using it to fail after 8-10 years of use.  This caused an industry wide problem that affected many Japanese capacitor makers, manufacturers using these parts and many previously considered good reliable parts.

We unfortunately were the recipient of a batch of these tainted parts. They worked fine for many years, and we, along with other users of these parts, had no idea of the hidden issue until these parts started failing for us.

The failure mode is that when these electrolytic capacitors start leaking, the fluid leaking out corrodes and dissolves the nearby circuit traces, often ruining the circuit board completely.  The issue can also be identified with a close inspection of the boards in circuit.  The evidence is a trace of black goo along the lower edge of the board. We actually had to run a new batch of our obsolete Insight series preamp line boards just to be able to offer repairs for our clients.  These parts were used on our basic line boards, our line - tone control boards, and our phono boards of that older vintage.  They were not used on the power supply boards or in any other AVA products.

Minn Mark's preamp had these capacitors on his line -  tone control board.  Fortunately the problem was caught before the board was destroyed.  Only one critical copper trace was damaged and we were able to clean the board, replace the trace with a jumper wire, install new capacitors, and restore like new performance.

We do have the parts available now to repair or replace any damaged boards caused by this issue.  Since these units have provided excellent service for many years after the warranty expired, we don't consider this issue to be warranty related.

Frank

[Brett Buck]

  It caused many capacitors using it to fail after 8-10 years of use.  This caused an industry wide problem that affected many Japanese capacitor makers, manufacturers using these parts and many previously considered good reliable parts.

We unfortunately were the recipient of a batch of these tainted parts. They worked fine for many years, and we, along with other users of these parts, had no idea of the hidden issue until these parts started failing for us.

  Frank, what manufacturer was this?  I would like to inspect my Insight+ for this issue, before it becomes obvious (if not too late already).

    Brett

[WGH]

The leaking capacitor problem was an industry wide disaster affecting many electronic manufacturers. I built a computer in 2004 using an ASUS motherboard, the capacitors failed in 2011. Besides computer parts, I heard that TV's and other high end electronics also failed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

"The capacitor plague was a problem related to a higher-than-expected failure rate of non-solid aluminum electrolytic capacitors, between 1999 and 2007, especially those from some Taiwanese manufacturers, due to faulty electrolyte composition that caused corrosion accompanied by gas generation, often rupturing the case of the capacitor from the build-up of pressure.

"A 2003 article in The Independent claimed that the cause of the faulty capacitors was in fact due to a mis-copied formula. In 2001, a scientist working in the Rubycon Corporation in Japan stole a mis-copied formula for capacitor's electrolytes. He had first worked for the Luminous Town Electric company in China. In the same year, the scientist's staff left China, stealing again the mis-copied formula and moving to Taiwan, where they would have created their own company, producing capacitors and propagating even more of this faulty formula of capacitor electrolytes."

As you can see from the photos below, the problem was not limited to just one manufacturer or type of capacitor.

Sometimes the capacitor top bulges and a rust colored deposit appears


Sometimes the caps look fine but there is a black goop leaking at the base

 

[avahifi]

The only capacitors that has affected our products were tall tubular brown body Nichicon 3900uF 16V electrolytics.  The issue was the black goo leaking from the bottom and damaging foil traces.  This only happened on our solid state preamp line, line - tone control, and phono PC cards built in the 2000 through 2004 range. Not on the power supply cards or with any other products.

Frank

[Brett Buck]

Thank you, Frank, I see no Nichicon capacitors in mine, nor 3900mfd/16v. I think the analogous cap on this version (Insight+) is 1000mfd/16V (axial, not radial) and not Nichicon. Neither is there any indication of bulged or leaky caps.











   Brett

[avahifi_lj]

The blue caps are made by Panasonic (Matsushita).

Larry