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Don't Neglect to check your Caps!

Lately, my system has been sounding oddly dark.

At first, I wondered whether my recently acquired VooDoo Dynasty ac cords were still settling in, then it occured to me that it might be worthwhile having my 18 year old Silverline monitors checked out. 

I found a local tech (Mike at Neal’s Speaker Service in Colfax, CA) who told me the tweeters were fine but the caps were on their way out. I gave him the go ahead to replace them and wow, what a difference!  One advantage to waiting as long as I did is that the contrast is dramatic and immediately apparent, not that I’d advocate this as a deliberate strategy.

I guess it’s like the slowly-cooking frog analogy. Our ears can adjust to slowly degrading sound and we won’t necessarily notice it until it reaches a tipping point. 

 

 

 

 

stuartk

Showing 1 response by mswale

mswale
227 posts
 

Yeah, if they are on the way out, it will be a drastic before/after! Done a couple sets of Vintage speakers now, the improvements have been huge! Almost like getting new speakers. Depending on the replacement quality, it can be done fairly cheaply. 

Same goes for other gear, my pre-amp was so much better after a fefeb that replaced all electrolytic caps. 

lytic caps, can wear out or dry out. They are usually good for 10-20+ years. It depends on use, cap quality, environment and so on. Some just fail outright, some just change value over time, others may test fine, but be bad. 

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