Should I buy a new amplifier; and if so, what?


I have a Mark Levinson 336 amp, Levinson 380S pre-amp, Levinson 390S CD Processor and Thiel 7.2 speakers, with Audience interconnects, cables cords and an Audience AR-6TS2 conditioner. Recently, my amplifier's bad caps blew the drivers in my speakers (including the woofer and crossover circuitry) -- that will probably cost me about $3,000, and the replacement of the caps would cost another $3,000. So, I am contemplating purchasing a new amplifier. Can anyone suggest a good amplifier to consider for my system? Thiel said they have used Krell and Simaudio with the 7.2's with nice results, and probably a few others -- I need to re-contact Thiel's customer service rep. Any suggestions, recommendations from Audiogoners would be appreciated.
gapperis123

Showing 1 response by dhl93449

If caps are exploding, there is potentially a design problem with the amp. Yes, age might be a factor, but I have electronics products built by Techtronics and HP that go back to the early 70's and their power supplies are not blowing up or caps shorting out.

Either the caps are not specified for a high enough voltage rating, or the actual voltage in use is exceeding the rating. I am amazed by some manufacturers who will specify for example, an 80 volt capacitor and run it at 80 volts. There is a surge rating for these parts but it is not to be relied on.

Have a tech measure the ACTUAL power supply voltage on the caps and compare it to the rating. Also consider any impact of increased temperature as this will also reduce rated voltages.

If you are going to replace them, buy upgraded or higher voltage rated parts or you may be looking at the same disaster again in the future. You may need to buy caps of lower capacitance to get a higher rated voltage, but to do so would improve reliability, at perhaps some expense in sound quality.

And if your are going to have Levinson replace them, I would insist they pay for it as this is not something that a properly designed product should be doing, barring anything you did as an owner such as shorting out the speaker leads.

I think it outrageous that a manufacturer should be taking advantage of customers by making them pay exhorbitant costs for their poor designs.