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The most critical parts when recapping

I've done some recapping, but I realize I don't know what parts are the most important. I'm doing this on the basis if just replacing cheap caps with good/great caps; I want to increase sound quality. But there's a ton of caps, both larger and small.

If we limit this to integrated amplifiers, what are the most important for sound quality? All of them? Preamp caps? Power caps? Small, large?

What other parts are a big deal, like resistors? And are there rules of thumb for what that makes the biggest difference, or is this completely up to the design, or is it always the whole of it?
eyrepm

Showing 2 responses by erik_squires

erik_squires
16,678 posts
 

There are a bunch of tiny caps, like 10uf 50v. Worth swapping out?


Yes, any electrolytic on the power supply rails is worth swapping out to prevent them from shorting down the road.  I used to use Panasonic FM for these, since they were reasonably affordable and had low inductance, and therefore high noise blocking.
erik_squires
16,678 posts
 
Recapping is usually understood to mean replacement of the filter caps which keep the power rails smooth and noise free.

The main power supply caps and what are called de-coupling caps are the important ones for this project. Basically small power filter caps that are placed physically close to the circuits which must draw from the power rails.

After this, coupling caps. A cap that blocks DC on the input. Elna silk bi-polar are sometimes used here, affordable good sounding. If you have a tube preamp, it will also have a cap on the output. That is often replaced by modders for different sound qualities.

I'd leave everything else alone.  If you want to do more work than that, maybe what you should do is get a FirstWatt kit and build a new amp from scratch.


Best,

E
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