Recapping Amplifier

Beginner_N

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Hi All,
I am planning to recapp my Technics SU-V7, I have original service manual.
Which brand caps I shall choose? And any genuine source in India?
 
Recap meaning only the electrolytic caps on power filter stage or all electrolytic capacitors in the circuit?
I'm *assuming* it's replacing only electrolytics - or are you planning on replacing the other types too on board/s?
 
Only Electrolytic caps.
VoltageCapacitor Value - uFQty
254.7 NP2
253.3 NP2
16100 NP1
500.47 NP1
6.322002
50150002
502201
101001
501001
351003
25472
35332
16331
50102
100104
50101
25102
254.73
503.31
5014
10011
500.471
500.11
 
Hi All,
I am planning to recapp my Technics SU-V7, I have original service manual.
Which brand caps I shall choose? And any genuine source in India?

From time to time I come across audiophiles saying this/that amp has to be "recapped". What are the symptoms that lead to decision to "recap" an amplifier & what electronically happens to lead to those symptoms?

Recapping is easy to say, but this is not a simple amplifier and one needs to feel confident to proceed.
41 caps to change seems quite a task.
All the best!
 
Hi All,
I am planning to recapp my Technics SU-V7, I have original service manual.
Which brand caps I shall choose? And any genuine source in India?

Do read what he has to say

CAPACITOR REPLACEMENT
A particular area of concern covers capacitor replacement. For reasons that defy logic, it is fashionable to replace all of the capacitors in older units. Years ago, there was an equally bizarre fad for changing all of the resistors. This followed on from the routine replacement of valves. We do not replace components for reasons of fashion, (that is all it is). If a capacitor is faulty, then we replace, but if it is not faulty it is better not to disturb the circuit. In some extreme cases, I have found noticeable deterioration resulting from replacing large numbers of capacitors with "better" new ones, with one particular tuner completely ceasing to operate after its owner "replaced all the caps", (that was a very expensive and frustrating repair!).
 
I'll second the line of thought.

Don't do it just for the sack of it.

I have been thru this, changed caps in an old amp and frankly didn't notice any change in SQ. Although upping the capacitor value of large filtering caps from 5000uf to 13000uf for each channel did help the bottom end of music (low fq.)

So coming back to recap, I changed the 30 years old Keltron caps with Nichicon FGs ( fine gold ) audio capacitors in the amp.

To my ears there was no audible difference.

At places I even swapped the simple Keltron cap with Nichicon MUSE caps too. But didn't find much difference to justify the pain and cost of recap.

Sansui amps from 70s used to have notorious black flag caps (polystyrene). They loose their value over the time and put the amplifier circuit into high frequency oscillation which takes out the output transistors. So changing them makes sense.

So, yes, for amps that are very old ( 40+ years ) there are certain caps that are notorious to go bad over the period or are prone to failure must be addressed but I don't think it serves any purpose to do all of them.

In your case Technics SU V7 is direct coupled amplifier, I think after a full recap you'd find it hard to tune and bias the amp easily.
so if it's working fine with no visible leaking or damaged cap, let it sing.

...the golden rule still applies.....

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it"
 
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If the OP is willing to work on this as he can afford, I say go for it... my advice is to start simple and be patient.
Ask questions, post pictures, and share your results.

Maybe another forum member has been through the same issue or maybe someone has the components you need cheaper than a vendor.
Part of DIY is learning... Part of DIY is also failure. No big deal.

Found this store selling the capacitor kit, only 33 caps though.


...
 
Thank you all for valuable inputs. It’s quite old amplifier and I no issues as such. I did inspection on electrolytic caps i could see few licked caps. I recently changed its terminals as well. I have decent experience with de soldering and also use temp controlled Weller solder station. But yes desolderng old amp can be tricky.
I will do detail check and see how many are real bad shape and decide accordingly.
 
One can never be sure with very old electrolytic caps - they may dry up, leak (both physically and/or electrically),
show high ESR etc. Recap with genuine capacitors from a reputable manufacturer might be the best option.
Some types of tantalum caps can have pretty drastic failure (explode or cause a short) modes.

A couple of links I found interesting on this subject -

https://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~reese/electrolytics/
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/12/wwi...-what-it-takes-to-restore-a-piece-of-history/
 
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