Mark Levinson No. 335 powersupply Caps

[BrianEno]

Hi,

Friend of mine bought a Levinson 335 new for fifteen years ago. He know gets a humming buzz from one channel that's independent of musiclevel.
It is at it's worst when the amp powers up.
I'm nearly convinced that one or more of the Philips large cans inside has gone bad. I know that Levinson swapped a lot of these caps in their 3 series in the past, because they behaved like this.
If I ask his dealer or the distributor over here, the Netherlands, with the question what size and voltage these caps are (length, diameter, probably 3 inch, voltage 75 or 100 Volts probably) you get zip, nothing.
They won't give you that information because they want you to bring it in and charge you 1000 USD for repair. Nelson Pass or Jeff Rowland would never do that. So buy Threshold (before 1991), PassLabs or JRDG!

Can anybody help me out here.
When I got the size and voltage I just put the largest value of capacitance I can get hold off.
Seems to be a crime to get to the caps with these amps.

Thanks in advance

[joho]

Hi,

Try this guy
http://hanstedaudio.nl/documents/JesperHansted.pdf

You can bring it there for repair and maybe he can give youthe information you need.

[BrianEno]

Originally Posted by joho

Hi,

Try this guy
http://hanstedaudio.nl/documents/JesperHansted.pdf

You can bring it there for repair and maybe he can give youthe information you need.

Thanks for the tip.

But in the nineties he completely fucked up my ML-3 and I still had to pay the equivalent of 450 Euro's. In the end, by intervention through Audiac BV the Dutch distributor of Levinson, it had to be sent to Madrigal Conn. USA. They did a terrific good job for free got a completely overhauled amp back.
Same happened with my friends Levinson No.27, that in the end was never repaired but he had to pay the same amount nevertheless.
Since then I try to repair them (Thresholds now) myself (succesfully) with help from Pass cs. Another guy here in the Netherlands did repair succesfully my second ML-3 and a couple of ML-2's and PLS-124's, but I'm not sure if I'm entitled to mention his name.

Hope you're not Jesper himself ;-)

[analog_sa]

Originally Posted by BrianEno

When I got the size and voltage I just put the largest value of capacitance I can get hold off.

Why not simply measure the voltage across the caps and use the next higher standard value?

[BrianEno]

Originally Posted by analog_sa

Why not simply measure the voltage across the caps and use the next higher standard value?

Because according to Levinson it is a hell of a job to get to these caps.
And I need not only the Voltage rating but also the size.
I'll like to order them upfront, so I only have to open this 'backbreaking only handle with big gloves amp' once
The owner can play till I got the caps in store.
There's a risk if I order the wrong ones, so maybe I should advice him to open it up in front though.
If I can get this info now, I can check availability and he can decide how long (different shipping levels and prices of course) he wants to wait.
I have to order them in the US, in Europe they do not make these values, and the only source left nowadays with Sprague (NCC US) gone and Mallory incorparated with CDE, is CDE (Cornel Dubilier) itself.

I have eight original 40.000 uF, 80 Volts Mallory caps from my Thresholds stored for half a year now, no need to reform them yet I think, so maybe I can try them first if they fit and establish if indeed this the reason why the amp buzzes. But I'm almost sure this is the cause.

[joho]

Originally Posted by BrianEno

Hope you're not Jesper himself ;-)

N0, I'm not.

I was at his place once and saw some Levinson's for repair.

Didn't Levinson use BC elco's? You can buy them at Farnell etc.

B.t.w it's dangerous to make a conclusion without measuring first!

I also saw an article in HIFI+ (it's on the Levinson site) with some pictures from the inside and that big can's are situated in the middle. I suppose you don't have to demount the amp complete to see something.

Good luck,
Johan

[BrianEno]

Originally Posted by joho

Didn't Levinson use BC elco's? You can buy them at Farnell etc.

Johan

Yeah, I think so they were those big blue ones with four longitudinal "dents" on them.
I do not want those again I will advise him to buy new CDE's.
Thanks for the link.

[megasat16]

ML335 uses 2 x 50000uF 100V power reservoir caps and 2 x 1900uF 150V voltage amp caps for each channel. I don't know where you can buy only 2 or 4 of 50000uF filter caps but you can get 2100uF 150V (instead of 1900uF) caps from Mouser.

[BrianEno]

Originally Posted by megasat16

ML335 uses 2 x 50000uF 100V power reservoir caps and 2 x 1900uF 150V voltage amp caps for each channel. I don't know where you can buy only 2 or 4 of 50000uF filter caps but you can get 2100uF 150V (instead of 1900uF) caps from Mouser.

Thanks for the info.
Best way to proceed now is to dismantle the amp and measure the lenght and diameter of the caps so I can replace them with the same mechanical features and Voltage-rating. I can probably get a higher capacity rating because these Philips caps are at least 12 years old.
Can't get the partnumber and if I could these caps are no longer in production with Vishay that took over this line from Philips/Mepco I believe.

[megasat16]

Originally Posted by BrianEno

Thanks for the info.
Best way to proceed now is to dismantle the amp and measure the lenght and diameter of the caps so I can replace them with the same mechanical features and Voltage-rating. I can probably get a higher capacity rating because these Philips caps are at least 12 years old.
Can't get the partnumber and if I could these caps are no longer in production with Vishay that took over this line from Philips/Mepco I believe.

I seems to recall the original Vishay / BC caps are 3" in diameter and 5.75" or 5.5" in length. I don't know if you can order only 2 or 4 of any caps near this capacitance with 100V ratings since most suppliers only accepts minimum quantity of 12 or more and it gets really expensive (over $150 each cap).

You probably should contact Herman (ML) to see if they'll sell you the caps or not.