[Mike-48]

A friend has an old Audionics SS amplifier, I assume a CC-2. He's not used it in over 10 years and wants to put it into service again. The fear is that the electrolytics may fail when powered -- even worse, blow up and ruin the whole thing.

He is not tech-savvy, nor does he have the budget to get the capacitors replaced on a precautionary basis, and without knowing that the amp works.

Does anyone have suggestions on how to approach this? If he could find a variac, would it make sense to start the amp at half voltage?

THANKS!

[S Clark]

Yes, use a variac at low voltage and increase slowly.  Or put a light bulb in series with it
Start with a 40 watt bulb or less.

[Mike-48]

Thanks for the tip. This should be a nice thing for him, to be able to use the amp again.

When you say slowly, would reaching full voltage in a couple of hours be about right? More time? Less?

[S Clark]

More is better.  At least a couple of hours at each step.  If you use a light, just change bulbs, 25W, 40W, 60W, 100W, then hook it up direct. 

[dB Cooper]

I remember Audionics. Oregon-based IIRC. Available as kits (again, IIRC).

[Mike-48]

Yes, Audionics of Oregon. From what I've read, the CC-2 was designed to avoid TIM (transient intermodulation distortion), which was a newly known phenomenon at the time, associated with poorly implemented negative feedback.

I'm taken with the idea of light bulbs in series, increasing wattage over time. To my amazement, my friend thinks he has a variac somewhere; if not, we now have Plan B.

[justforfun]

You didn't mention popping the cover off to get at least a look at the caps. Any bulging or evidence of fluid leaks should stop you in your tracks.
I had an old Threshold with caps the size of beer cans and I was always worried. Good luck!!

[Mike-48]

Visual inspection first . . . thanks for reminding us. It would be easy to overlook in the enthusiasm of getting the amp running again.