Capacitor Upgrade All Around?

Hi there to all the DIYers out there,

Right, I have done a bit of light modding to my Musical Fidelity X10-D and X-Can V2 in the shape of swapping out both the sets of JAN/Philips valves for some rather tasty matched NOS Mullards with very good results. The next step is to perform a capacitor upgrade on them both as I have read that this is worthwhile, and swap in some Panasonic FC's. I had fancied using ELNA Cerafines, but they seem very expensive, are nigh on impossible to get hold of, and apparently are not that much better than the (loads) cheaper and easily accessible FC's.

Now, all of this got me thinking about the rest of my kit. A capacitor swap is a relatively cheap upgrade to perform, and (although I am waiting to hear the difference with my own setup) supposedly makes quite a substantial difference. Would it be worth doing the same with my CD player, pre and power-amps?


The Moog

 

Hi Moog

I've got the X-Can v2 and was thinking of modding it. So for I have bought the X-PSU and found that a worthwile improvement. Please could you let me know where you got the valves (PM if you don't want to advertise a retailer publicly).

I would be very interested to see how you got on with the caps.

Have you thought about the volume pot and the phono sockets (both were on my list for possible replacement).

 

NOS

2 online sellers of valves that i have used are -

http://www.tube-shop.com/home.asp

http://www.watfordvalves.com/

HTH

 

I got my matched pairs of Mullards from

www.highendaudio.co.uk/

but they were running out of stock last time I spoke to them. Could give them a go though.


Anyone any help on the question of whether doing a cap swop is worthwhile?


The Moog

 

For Valves talk to either Lilolee or SCIDB. caps, for speed and noise reduction has to be B/G's for a more nautral and organic sound try Oscons. Although if on a budget Nihcicons, or Rubycon ZL series Wm

 

WM, but you think it is worthwhile?

The Black Gates are probably a bit out of my price range, and are notoriously difficult to get hold of. I'll check out the Nihchies and the Rubycons though... Any good places to get hold of them that carry a good range of capacitances and a reasonable stock?

Cheers,


The Moog

 

BG available here -

http://www.hificollective.co.uk/index.html

may not like the prices tho

 

Moog, depends on the amount of use your going to give it, B/G aint cheap (Cost over £200 in caps, to do one dac not so long ) I do prefer os-cons for signal worl, but they are limited in voltages/Capacitance too.

Nichis arn't bad at all, Rubycons ZL (B/G's are made by Rubycon) these are 60% quiter than the best of the rest 105 degrees too (handy in a X can ) prices are fair too (RS stock them, I do believe). whorth while upgrade these
While your in there, maybe take a look at psu regulation as well, better still make a half about psu, with a torriodal, thats a good up grade too. Wm

 

Heh heh,

My X-Can doesn't get too hot... but I suppose that all may change when I get around to building my own power supply

So tell me about capacitor life then. The X-Can is left on all day every day, and the Rubicons are only lifed at 4000 hours (admittedly at max temp). What will this work out as in a real life situation (everything is on a rack and so has plenty of ventilation)? I suppose the unit isn't stressing any of its components too much, but this will obviously become more of an issue with the power amps (X-AS100's and X-A200's) which will be drawing alot more current, yes? The last thing I want to be doing is replacing all the capacitors more than every couple of years or so...

Thanks for all the help WM,

P.S Oh, the Panasonic's are lifed at 7000 hours at 105 degrees. I know price/quality should be the only deciding factors, but I want to be able to spend time enjoying my music rather than replacing spent capacitors...


The Moog

 

Moog. 'Lifing' much the same way as in FI engines, the 3000 hours refers to the 'In use' time, Idling (as in standby) the go on for centuries, and remember the hours are lifed @ maxium tolerance @ Max tempature, so those oscons I fitted to my last wadia dac, (as it's on 24/7) would if a lot of people believe be stuffed by Now however even my listening quota at say 24 hours @ week times 60 weeks 1440 hours, so about another 3-4 years to go at the same rate.
Panasonics arn't bad either, but the ZL series are a fair bit better, IMHO look for ones with High ripple current & Lower ESR. Wm

 

Cheers for all the info on capacitors WM,

all invaluable stuff mate . So, I have a decision to make then... Go for the slightly cheaper and very long lifed Panasonics, or the shorter lifed more expensive but possibly better sounding Rubycons... Why are these thing never simple Well, the Rubycons it is then! Only one problem, Farnell don't stock a 50V 10uF cap...

Oh, I also heard that you get a better sound AND longer capacitor life if you use the same value capacitance and up the voltage rating... This true?


The Moog

 

It's a matter of tayloring your needs, you can use higher voltage cap, with the same C factor, but remember the size increases, so because of baord spacings, you could use a 22Uf cap of the same voltage.
B/G do that very size and in the 'C' class I think there £2.15 each, it's a very popular size, that and the 50v 1uf, the arkwark one is 16V 470uF seems they all like to charge silly for that one
Although, I feel you knew most of this anyway Wm

 

Righty then,

I have ordered all the Rubycons and Black Gates after taking apart the X10-D and X-Cans V2 to see what would sensably fit in there, and am surprisingly excited to hear what a reasonably inexpensive upgrade can do to these particular bits of kit, especially after hearing what others have said using lesser capacitors

Now, While I had the screwdriver and hex keys out, I thought that I would take a peek into my X-AS100 and X-A200 amps to see what I could see. Well, the main caps in the '100 seem to be 63V 6800uF of which there are four in each as well as some smaller ones, and there are two massive things in the '200 which I can only make out the markings "Jamicon" and "727KO(M)". The thing is, with the '10D and the 'Can, once you have taken off the back and front of the units, the PCB slides nicely out so that you can see all aound it, but with the amps it is a little more complicated. The boards are attached to what I assume are heat-sinks, which are then attached to the case with liberal lashings of thermal compound all around them. I did try and get into my X-P100 but couldn't seem to get off the two knobs which means you can't take the face plate off, and I got too scared to open up the X-Ray what with moving parts and all

Depending upon how impressed with these current upgrades I am though, I might fancy getting the CD, pre, and all the amps done. So the questionis this... Can anyone tell me where to go looking for someone to do it for me? Someone who obviously knows what he is doing though, not just a local electrician but someone who expressly deals with Hifi and would do it for a reasonable price...


The Moog