Technics SP 10 Mk II a

Rwwear, I thought my MK3 was running fine until I had it rebuilt. When it was all original it's performance was maybe 15% above my (rebuilt) MK2. After I got it back they were so far apart I could not believe it.

I'm going to sell my Wenge plinth MK2 Technics and buy another MK3.

It looks like I should think about having the electrolytics in my MKIII replaced. I also need one push button cover for the speed controller. Anyone have a spare?

Albert, I am jealous that Bill installed fancy diodes in your Mk3. I may have to do it for myself in my Mk2A. But I am glad you are happy. Bill is a great guy, besides being supergood at what he does. (I see now that we both used the word "super" in describing Bill and his workmanship.) Likewise, my Mk2A is running smooooooth as silk and dead silent with your thingamajig.

Lewm is on top of this and correct. I did use Black Gates in my MK2 Technics because Michael Percy had them in stock and they were cheap compared to the effort to install.

A friend and I replaced all the electrolytics with Black Gate or Nichicon, based on what Mike had in stock. My Technics MK2 was happy and the results were a very speed stable and smooth turntable with reliability equal to new.

I recently had a super qualified tech rebuild the power supply of my Technics MK3 and he choose Panasonic low ESR FC caps. He said Panasonic were more up to the task in that circuit than most available. I can say for sure, the upgrade that guy brought to my MK3 was unbelievable compared to before the work was done.

His rebuild of my Technics MK3 also involved Stealth Diodes and new high speed rectifiers, so I can't say for sure what part did what. I do know the transformation from "before" to "after" could not be believed just writing about it :^).

I guess age had really taken it's toll on those old parts, plus my tech said the circuit was so sophisticated that the original caps were "marginal" even when they were brand new!

Wow, is all I could think to say, the circuit was pretty advanced so no wonder that when those old caps drift off spec that the sound goes with it.

Jax2 named a bunch of boutique film cap-makers. You only need to replace the electrolytics, not the film caps unless there is a specific problem. This is because your tt is pushing 30 years old, and this is beyond the normal life span of an electrolytic cap, particularly if the unit has been in storage for a long time. The film caps are likely to be OK. All parts other than caps are typically good or bad. But lytic caps can cause subtle problems, because they go leaky before they completely give up the ghost. The term "leaky" means they leak DC voltage. A leaky lytic can damage those ICs that would be hard to replace, if it could be done at all. I think Albert used Black Gate caps in his outboard PS, but I heard that by scuttlebutt, not directly from Albert, so I don't know. Anyway, modern electrolytic caps are better than anything that was available when the SP10 was built, so I see no reason to spend big bucks for fancy Black Gates (even tho their low voltage line is relatively reasonable). I used Panasonic. Their best low voltage line is called "FC". For the few higher voltage caps, I recommend their TS-ED line; I am using them in my amps and preamp and they sound great, if that matters in a tt. (Nichicon, which Strathorncat recommends, would be great in this application, too.) I bought all the caps needed for my entire SP10 (about 20 capacitors) for the sum total of less than $20 from Digikey. You need a service manual to find the values needed and their locations. There are about 8 electrolytic caps in the outboard supply, and I would replace those first. That is very easy to do yourself. Even though I do a lot of DIY, I am not comfortable with solid state, so I had the on-board lytics (meaning the ones mounted in the tt chassis) in my Mk2A replaced by a pro. The charge was nominal and it was worth it for peace of mind and for the fact that he calibrated the on-board circuitry as well.

I just recapped a mkII deck and power supply. I used Nichicon electrolytics for the power supply, (no special considerations)and a Panasonic series for the deck that was recommended more than once in forums for it's low ESR (equivalent series resistance). I opened things up to make sure of cap type, value and location. Be gentle with desolder/solder on the PCB's.

Manuals are available online that include schematics.

Agreed, the above mentioned folks are "in the know".

In your last thread you were given the names of two folks who've done extensive mods on their SP10 Mk II's. Have you contacted those folks? Seems to be they'd be great resources to answer those questions directly:

Albert Porter
Steve Dobbins

Someone recently pointed out to me that many of the Audiophile caps are produced (to spec) by the same company and labled with the Audiophile moniker (Auricaps, V-caps, Infinicaps, etc). Can't recall the name of that manufacturer...TVI...TMC or something like that. Unless you want to put down some serious coin for something more exotic like Mundorfs or Audionote. I think there are quite a few caps in that PS, aren't there? Not all techs are $85/hr. My friend is having his SP10 MK II supply recapped locally by Roger Hug (Seattle) and I'm sure the rate is pretty reasonable, but patience is necessary as Roger stays pretty busy. Perhaps my friend will catch this thread and chime in, though I know he hasn't got his PS back from Roger yet.