[bobbyrae]

Hi,

I started back in the late 70's pretty clueless about what a good system was and just went after an ad I saw in my college newspaper.  All I really new at the time was that Magnolia Hi-Fi (Seattle) had pretty good stuff and I could afford the payments if my mom would co-sign the loan.  I was lucky, in that it what was many would consider a golden year of audio - 1978, and they sold me some great brands - Yamaha, Advent, and Technics.

So 30+ years later, I've still got the same stuff, have added to it and am now thinking strongly about RESTORING the electronics by replacing all the capacitors.  Daunting but doable.

I have questions about finding vendors and selecting capacitors, and even deciding which ones are worth replacing.  If anyone has any pointers on this, I would really appreciate it.  Right now I am shopping at Mouser, Digi-key, and Parts Connection.  It's frustrating because I'm not sure I want to spend the bucks on Nichcon's KG gold stuff and most places don't carry the specific caps I need.

[Construct]

There are always alternatives without having to get either OEM or magic caps. 
If you are talking components, you named my big three, but there is also capacitors.com, zalytron, madisound, speakercity.

The biggest thing that I replace 1st are electrolytic caps of any kind-especially storage.  Some restorations can be a pain, but it's more painful to have those dry out a blow up. 

For speakers, I stick to dayton metallized film, solen or sonicaps.  I know other are other "magic"  caps out there, but once you get to 1% metallized film with a very low ESR you've won the battle.  Crossover repair is a breeze compared to amps/receivers.  The sonically vital caps are those in the path of the tweeter/midrange.  The blocking caps are often electrolytic and should be replaced due to degradation, not some massive sonic improvement.  Speaker caps that are electrolytic of OEM value are dirt cheap.

When I replaced 25 year old caps (even if with OEM spec-no "magic caps), there was a world of improvement in sound.  Electrolytics in crossovers degrade in as little as 5 years. 

[lonewolfny42]

bobbyrae ...

Welcome to Audio Circle.

Sounds like a good topic for the Lab Circle....that's where all the "geeky" guys hang out....

So....I'll switch you over there....where you should get some good help with your project.

Good luck.....

[bobbyrae]

There are always alternatives without having to get either OEM or magic caps. 
If you are talking components, you named my big three, but there is also capacitors.com, zalytron, madisound, speakercity.

The biggest thing that I replace 1st are electrolytic caps of any kind-especially storage.  Some restorations can be a pain, but it's more painful to have those dry out a blow up. 

For speakers, I stick to dayton metallized film, solen or sonicaps.  I know other are other "magic"  caps out there, but once you get to 1% metallized film with a very low ESR you've won the battle.  Crossover repair is a breeze compared to amps/receivers.  The sonically vital caps are those in the path of the tweeter/midrange.  The blocking caps are often electrolytic and should be replaced due to degradation, not some massive sonic improvement.  Speaker caps that are electrolytic of OEM value are dirt cheap.

When I replaced 25 year old caps (even if with OEM spec-no "magic caps), there was a world of improvement in sound.  Electrolytics in crossovers degrade in as little as 5 years.

Thanks for the tips.  I have already gone through my speakers.  I have recapped Advent/1, Infinity Qb and Boston CR8 with ERSE audio's caps.  They had such similar specs and sizes as Solen, I was pretty sure they were just rebranded at a lower price.

I have so many concerns about recapping receivers and amps, though.  Even my tuner.  Some say go for it to restore the quality, others say to watch out because you can ruin the sound.  But my tuner needs a new memory backup cap for sure. 

[BobM]

I did the same thing with my 30 year old NAD 3155 Integrated Amp that I bought back in the early 80's.

- First, get a schematic for the piece, if you can.
- Second, open it up and inventory the areas where you may want to replace some parts. I suggest replacing caps there, but you may want to look at other things as well.
- Compare your inventory to the schematic, if possible to make sure you get values right. Nothing worse than thinking a cap reads 22uF when it really should be 220uF.
- My suggestion is to replace all caps in the power supply and anything in the analogue signal path. You may also look at better diodes in the power supply. Anythng else is subjective on how deep you want to dig.
- If you're dealing with tubes you may want to look at heater resistors, but be careful. The values listed may not be the values used. You will have to measure voltages and adjust as necessary. A bit more of a task than simply swapping in new caps/passive parts.
- you could also look to better connectors in key spots - speaker connections, RCA's, etc.

I used Panasonic FC caps in my project, available from Digikey or Mouser. Bottom line is I feel I have extended the life of this unit another 30 years and am very happy with it powering a second system in a back room for casual listening and for powering my outdoor speakers.