[JCarney]

I popped open my roughly 10 year old Trumpet to see if there was any room for improvement. Long story short, not a lot to do in there, well designed, and good parts. In checking the electrolytic caps for size, I noticed that 3 of the 4 larger power supply caps had started leaking, and one had failed completely, fortunately, in the open position. So, if you own a 1st gen Trumpet, please take a look inside to check those caps. I would hate for one to fry a board, or worse, or barf all over the inside of your unit. It's worth the effort.

Good Luck,
JCarney

[BobM]

Do you know the dimentions of the caps that are in there, and how many of what value are needed?

[JCarney]

Hi Bob,
The caps are 100uF at 450 volts, 20% tolerance. They are the caps that are on the power supply board near the transformer.  The same caps on the amplifier board looked okay, no leaks I could see.

JCarney

[BobM]

Thanks. I've been toying with the idea of replacing those caps, not because I think I have a leakage problem, but because my old Trumpet is probably 15 (or so) years old now and it's probably a good idea to replace them. I would bet there's a sonic benefit too.

I love my Trumpet and plan to keep it for a long time, so some long-term maintenance like this makes sense to me.

I need to open it up, take a full inventory, and measure the size of the caps to make sure my replacements will fit the space. However, getting this thing apart is a true PITA (I've done it before to replace a faulty diode). The Trumpet was never designed or built for easy maintenance.

What caps did you use (Panasonic, Nichicon, etc.) and what series?

[JCarney]

Nichicon is what I used, Panasonic are snap-ins and will not work. Jim apparently did not want people mucking about in there. I feel the same way about my Trumpet, it aint goin anywhere.

JCarney

[avahifi]

Over the years the physical size of electrolytic capacitors has been getting MUCH small for a give capacitance and voltage rating.

If your unit is over ten years old, the chances are that you will have no problem finding replacement lytics that are no larger then and likely much small then what was original equipment.

All electrolytics are not equal.  You can search either Digi-Key or Mouser and set each characteristic row as the search criteria.  Look for parts with 105 degree C temperature ratings rather then 85 degree C if possible, look for higher ripple current ratings, and look for longer service life ratings.

You are not going to find any "sounds wonderful" ratings unless you want to pay through the nose for parts that do not have any of the other necessary engineering ratings.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine