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9

After more than 10-15 years, you can be certain that the electrolytic capacitors in your amplifier will have aged, leaked, if not worse, and will not perform at their best, making your amplifier a worse performer.

Some of those capacitor are important because they provide an electrical power reserve when volume peaks are needed, some others are on the signal path, some are within the phono pre-amplifier.

A replacement of those capacitors (a recap) is something that is needed at that stage.

Theory

Here are the capacitors that will need changing on this amplifier, on the schematic diagram:

Power supply capacitors in yellow, signal path capacitors in pink

Here are the capacitors that will need changing on this amplifier, on the wiring diagram:

Power supply capacitors in yellow, signal path capacitors in pink. Red shows the bias adjustment points and variable resistors

In order to visually help, here are a few shots of the real thing. The two main 8200 µF capacitors for the power supply are not shown here, but you can't miss them, they are the biggest things on the board!

Here is the list and description of the capacitors to change:

ItemNumberVoltage (V)Value (µF)Diameter (mm)Comments
1. Power Supply
C9033582003010,000 µF 35-40V would be ok too
C9043582003010,000 µF 35-40V would be ok too
C90125220016
C90225220016
2. Amplification
C605100106Something like Panasonic FC series
C606100106Something like Panasonic FC series
3. Phono stage
C405104.7"Bead"Something like Panasonic FC series, use 10 µF instead
C406104.7"Bead"Something like Panasonic FC series, use 10 µF instead
C41750106Something like Panasonic FC series
C41850106Something like Panasonic FC series

Here are suggestions for replacement, with references from RS Components:

ItemNumberDescriptionPack ofDiameter (mm)RS Stock NoManufacturer part #PriceURL
1. Power Supply
C903Nichicon Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitor 10000μF 35 V 22mm Through Hole 5101-4 VY Series Lifetime 1000h +105°C122739-5324UVY1V103MRD£3.02http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/aluminium-capacitors/7395324/
C904Nichicon Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitor 10000μF 35 V 22mm Through Hole 5101-4 VY Series Lifetime 1000h +105°C122739-5324UVY1V103MRD£3.02http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/aluminium-capacitors/7395324/
C901Nichicon Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitor 2200μF 25 V dc 16mm Through Hole PW Series Lifetime 8000h +105°C516715-2684UPW1E222MHD£4.64http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/aluminium-capacitors/7152684/
C902Same as above, in the pack of 5-
2. Amplification
C605Nichicon Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitor 10μF 100 V 5mm Through Hole JIS C 5101-1 VY Series Lifetime 1000h +105°C15862-4190UVY2A100MDD£0.24http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/aluminium-capacitors/8624190/
C606Nichicon Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitor 10μF 100 V 5mm Through Hole JIS C 5101-1 VY Series Lifetime 1000h +105°C15862-4190UVY2A100MDD£0.24http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/aluminium-capacitors/8624190/
3. Phono stage
C405Nichicon Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitor 10μF 50 V dc 5mm Through Hole PS Series Lifetime 2000h +105°C55519-4289UPS1H100MDD£0.93http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/aluminium-capacitors/5194289/
C406Same as above, in the pack of 5-
C417Same as above, in the pack of 5-
C418Same as above, in the pack of 5-
VAT£2.42
Shipping-
TOTAL£14.51

Practice

Removal and clean-up of all capacitors:

Installation of the new components, plus bias readjustment:

This little amp is now singing like a champion!

Reference

For your reference, here are the owner's manual and service manual:

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