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bpecsek t1_j9z8rg4 wrote

Reply to comment by fightingthefence in Magnavox FM040 from 1961 still working with all original parts (speaker may need replacing soon though) by KittehKittehKat

Not necessarily. A lot of good quality caps from the end of 60s and 70s measure perfectly fine. In my Marantz 2226B from 78, all caps measured within spec and they were actually pair matched to within 1-2% for the two channels.

I only replaced the power supply filter caps with 275V ones due to voltage increase in the EU and one size up to improve filtering and match the size of the old ones.

I’ve been listening to it for 4 years since then and enjoying the gorgeous original sound as was intended by the designer who voiced the amp.

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fightingthefence t1_j9zpht2 wrote

I don't want to start an audiophile flame war, but I would be remiss if I didn't point that out that there are a number of problems with this comment.

Electrolytics and paper in particular need to be replaced when they get old, period. Otherwise, maybe you end up with something innocuous like noise and distortion, or maybe something damaging like DC through your transformers and speakers. Did you pull the caps and test for leakage and ESR?

You can buy fancy, matched electrolytics if that's what you've got in the signal path. It ain't going to make the amp sound worse.

And death capacitors need to be replaced immediately, regardless of technology.

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Edit: And again I just want to point out (I'm sure you're well aware of the dangers), that tube gear can kill even after the power is disconnected.

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bpecsek t1_j9zqvr4 wrote

We can agree to disagree.

In my experience this stand is quite the majority in Europe that you should replace the ones that are faulty. In the States it is quite the opposite. You like throwing money out of the window we do not.

One of the best professional restorer measured the caps in mine during the service and found them to be close to as new and perfectly within specifications and strongly recommended against replacement.

I have accepted his recommendation and saved 100s of dollars and have been running the unit rather happily without the slightest issue with it for years.

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