My Pass Labs Alepth 1.2 Class A monos have two decades on them now. The filtering or power supply caps are the soda can electrolytic type caps; I’ve seen the moniker computer power supply caps used to describe these large caps with terminals on the top. I’d love to see if replacing those old style caps with modern low ESR say polypropylene and foil film caps or something like that would bring about an improvement.... That is just conjecture on my part; I should just leave it to Nelson, the true expert, to upgrade because if anyone would know, it’d be the man himself, Nelson Pass. The great thing also, he is within driving distance of me so I don’t have to ship my gear and let the UPS fellas beat up my stuff!
amplifier longevity
Is there any difference in longevity and or reliability between valve amps and solid state amps?
I thought that perhaps design differences between ss and tube amps might be a factor here.
Specifically I am considering the valve amps by Rogue Audio vs. the solid state amps by Luxman, both great brands in my opinion.
Thanks!
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Heat, depending on design and how and where is used, can defiantly pose a longevity problem. Early model Krell KSA and KST power amps notoriously failed do to cap failure from heat. Design modifications using better caps and more attention to heat dispersion solved the problem. I know of the problem with the Krells because I had them and went through the headache and expense of getting problem solved. Not to pick on Krell, per say, as am sure that other early hi-biasing class A/AB amp manufactures had heat issues to work out as well......Jim |
Like @rbyington711 said, Pass Labs, particularly X350.5. They are built like s tank and sound like top-notch tube amps. Their electrolytic capacitors are lasting >20 years. I went from Pass X250.5>X250.8>X350.5. Each time I am amazed how good they sound.
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@bigkidz I beg to differ. Keystone makes those white Q Covers with 4 holes, 1 hole, and no hole. The holes are not for ventilation but for a tech to use a probe to check rails voltage. There is no difference in temp disspation between the convention black Q Covers and the Keystone nylon ones. Any amp with a design where there’s more than 10-15V on the TO3 case should have Q covers covering the whole component for safety reason. The SA220s have 65+/- rails and they give the curious owners a good zap once in a while if not covered. The nylon keystone covers expose 2 screws... I honestly would not recommend unless you are using them to cover filament regs like 7806 or 7812s. There is a reason why the black ones are still being used and sold for output devices. |
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