ust as a little helpful topic to potentially assist those who have problems with

older kit. This is restoration of equipment that is either working ok or working

but not sounding too healthy. Faulty equipment is more of a headache as you
have to methodically fault find using the service manual if one is available.

More often than not, any problem with performance degrading and even faults
are caused by the drying out of electrolytic capacitors that all electrical
appliances use. The main causes of capacitor deterioration are:

1. Age - they have a rated age at a specific temperature in the their datasheets
2. Temperature - the higher the ambient operating temperature is the faster it
dries out
3. Lack of use - capacitors need to be used in order to remain operational,
which is why they have a shelf life and you should avoid NOS parts

Generally speaking a good quality capacitor will last around 20 years at normal
temperatures around 30 degrees. Miniaturized capacitors have shorter life
spans vs large power caps. Capacitors need not be old to be problematic
either, i've had to recap more than one device than isn't even 3 years old. This
is becoming more common due to the use of very cheaply sourced chinese
capacitors.

Here are a couple of capacitors from my collection. These are all electrolytic
and are easily identifiable by there aluminium can constriction and coloured
sleeves. (the polarised caps show themselves with a negative pole stripe) The
green one is a bipolar and has no stripe and the letters BP. (sometimes NP for
non polar) They all have their ratings printed on the sleeve, namely their
capacitance in uF and the maximum operating voltage and temperature. The
other marks signify brand and range. (Matsush*ta CE FM or nichicon PX for
example)
Some things to bear in mind whilst undertaking this kind of work:
1. There are risks that you could damage something that was working if you
aren't careful. There are also risks to your health if you fiddle without knowing
what is charged (big caps can hold their charge for a long time and discharge
via you) Not sure about it, get someone with experience to do it if you
want/need the work done.
2. Wrong values or wrong polarity is highly likely to cause serious problems.
(namely capacitor explosion and/or other damage)
3. If you have the service manual, don't just buy and fit what it states unless
your unit is already broken and you don't know it's repair history. You can and
will find that there are component value errors in some manuals. Always
double check the component values that are actually present in the unit.

The tools you would require to do this:

1. A decent soldering iron - something with a fine tip is ideal
2. A desoldering pump - a wick can be used but it's messy method by
comparison
3. Decent leaded solder (definitely not lead free, and as good as silver solder
may be, it's awkward to work with which can lead to damaging the pcb tracks)
4. Various screw drivers - sometimes need things like torx for some items

Anyway I'll use my amp as an example. Here is my 1982 luxman L-220 in it's
original state when i rescued it from a clear out in work.

As you could probably see, there was an area on the pcb that has been burnt
by a component failure. (a zener diode that couldn't handle the demands
placed upon it) You can also see that the nearby components have discoloured
slightly. Ironically, even in this state the amplifier was still working ok and
sounded better than my marantz.
This is what the caps that came out looked like. 3 were totally dead with no
measurable capacitance, the rest were ok but likelihood is that ESR (equivalent
series resistance) was probably quite high and only going to get worse. Note
that no poor quality capacitors were present, all rubycon and elna.
Once the new capacitors had been put in, there was a huge improvement.
Note how i only changed the small size capacitors at first and left the large psu
filter capacitors as was. From here i moved on from restoration to making
improvements to the standard design using superior parts.

Last edited: Nov 7, 2012

Kei86
Marantz AV7701, InterM R300, Tannoy SRM10B, Thorens TD 160B, Panasonic P50UT50
Nikon D810, Well-known
F5, 16/2.8, 17/3.5,
Member 20/1.8, 24/2.8, 28/2, 35/1.4, 50/1.2, 100/2.8, 135/2.8, 180/2.5, 300/2.8, 80-200/2.8
Mamiya 645AFD, 1000S, RZ67 Pro II, 35/3.5, 55/2.8, 65/4, 75/4.5, 80/1.9, 80/2.8, 120/4, 127/3.5, 150/2.8, 210/4
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Nov 7, 2012 #2

The first obvious improvement to be made was to replace the psu filter
capacitors as they are quite compact for their capacitance/voltage rating. I
decided to go for slightly larger capacitance in this case just to make sure that
they are of sufficient size. No point in going overboard though as too much
can cause problems for the transformer and diode bridge due to inrush
currents. (plus the size increases very quickly to the point where they are too
big to actually fit in)
Just in case moving up to 15kuF filter caps was OTT i also repaced the diode
bridge with some ultra fast recovery diodes with the highest current ratings i
could find.
I also added some additional decoupling capacitors to them in the form of
100nF X2 class (mains) polyproylene film.
With the idea of noise reduction i also added some more of those X2 class film
(X2 class being particularly important here as this is AC) capacitors decoupling
each of the transformer outputs. In an ideal world these should have a series
resistor to make them "snubbers" but there simply wasn't the room to fit any.
I then swapped out the smaller value electrolytic capacitors in the audio path
for polypropylene film where possible. (size constraints withstanding)

alexs2
Well-known Member
Marantz AV7701, InterM R300, Tannoy SRM10B, Thorens TD 160B, Panasonic P50UT50
Nikon D810, F5, 16/2.8, 17/3.5, 20/1.8, 24/2.8, 28/2, 35/1.4, 50/1.2, 100/2.8, 135/2.8, 180/2.5, 300/2.8, 80-200/2.8
Mamiya 645AFD, 1000S, RZ67 Pro II, 35/3.5, 55/2.8, 65/4, 75/4.5, 80/1.9, 80/2.8, 120/4, 127/3.5, 150/2.8, 210/4
My Flickr
Nov 7, 2012 #3

Very nice....you've clearly enjoyed doing all this,and have restored a lovely old
Luxman into the bargain.
...When the eagles are silent,the parrots begin to jabber ...
**Please note that any views expressed are my own personal opinions and not those of the forum as a whole,or any company**
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Kei86
Well-known Member

Nov 7, 2012 #4

The final changes were the most extreme. I took out and replaced virtually every single film capacitor and
carbon film resistor and replaced them with the best you can get for sensible money. Originally most of
the film capacitors were mylar (polyester or PET these days) there were 6 styrol (polystyrene) present and
4 ceramic discs. I replaced all of these with as much polystyrene as i could, where it wasn't possible i used
polypropylene which is the next best. The amp stability capacitors changed from ceramic to silver mica.
The carbon film resistors were changed out for takman metal film. (i also used two kiwame carbon films
where i needed 5W resistors)
Phonostage - i also socketed the opamp (was originally an NJM2043DD) I've tried a lot of opamps and
finally ended up keeping an LM833 in there. (strange choice i know)
Switches - loudness, high/low filters etc. The only annoying thing on the amp is the rusty patch where the
lamps live, glad it's not visible with the lid on.
Tone controls. - fully upgraded, not that they get used much
I forgot to mention that cleaning of the switches and pots was necessary as they were sounding very
poorly back when i first started. (deoxit D5 is supposed to be the best, but i already had a can of
electrolube and ambersil 50+ so used them instead)The end result was astoundingly good, the noise
reduction in particular. It is now so quiet that to hear any hiss you have to press your ear to the tweeter at
maximum volume. The phonostage is not quite as quiet as the rest, but to reduce the noise there i would
need to change the powersupply over from zener regulated to IC regulated which is probably more work
than it's worth. Vinyl makes more noise so it isn't something i'm worried about.