capacitor upgrade on my tube phono stage

[colls65]

Hi everyone, and thanks for looking at my thread.
Ive been using my Icon Audio phono stage for a while now and recently upgraded the tubes to Mullards. the company offers an upgrade with paper oil caps but at £200 its a bit expensive for me.
Can anyone offer any advice on doing it myself?
Im good with a soldering iron but have no knowledge of electronics. Is it just a case of matching the values of the new caps to the existing ones or is their a bit more to it. Thanks, look forward to any responses

[Gordy]

Originally Posted by colls65

Hi everyone, and thanks for looking at my thread.
Ive been using my Icon Audio phono stage for a while now and recently upgraded the tubes to Mullards. the company offers an upgrade with paper oil caps but at £200 its a bit expensive for me.
Can anyone offer any advice on doing it myself?
Im good with a soldering iron but have no knowledge of electronics. Is it just a case of matching the values of the new caps to the existing ones or is their a bit more to it. Thanks, look forward to any responses

£200 is very steep! When 'upgrading' you need the right capacitance value, the right working voltage value, an appropriate tolerance (%), and an appropriate temperature rating. If it is to pass significant current then the ripple current rating is also important, however this is unlikely in a phono stage.

[pjanda1]

If you can solder, there is no reason to not try it yourself! You might try Russian military surplus paper in oil caps (K40Y-9's) or teflon caps (FT-3). They are very well regarded, and won't cost you nearly as much as audiophile eye candy. You can find them most easily on Ebay (watch out, there are many, many types of Russian surplus caps, and not all are desirable). Check first to see how much space you have. Often fancier caps are big.

Paul
Wild Burro Audio Labs - DIY Full Range Speakers

[piero7]

Originally Posted by colls65

Hi everyone, and thanks for looking at my thread.
Ive been using my Icon Audio phono stage for a while now and recently upgraded the tubes to Mullards. the company offers an upgrade with paper oil caps but at £200 its a bit expensive for me.
Can anyone offer any advice on doing it myself?
Im good with a soldering iron but have no knowledge of electronics. Is it just a case of matching the values of the new caps to the existing ones or is their a bit more to it. Thanks, look forward to any responses

Search on ebay PETP capacitors, they costs 2 cents and are simply great!!

[Geek]

Do they have to be PIO types?

Otherwise I suggest panasonic ECQ 1% film types.

Cheers!

[Bob, W7ETA]

I just ordered some K73 to try out.
I also ordered some .5uF silver micas, more k40-Y .22 200 and 400 volts, and more FT3. I've got around 30 of the .22 uF 600V K40Ys on hand.

I like to play around rebuilding Scott and HeathKit point to point wiring tube gear and always replace the coupling caps with Russian PIOs I'd love to fit in Russian teflons, but can find the space. I did however fit 2.2 uF in my monitor cross overs, stunning change after many, many, many hours of break in.

As long as you won't damage anything removing the old caps, I'd try Russian mil surplus ones. Keep in mind, they all take a long time to break in.

Best from Tucson AZ
Bob

[colls65]

If the caps dont have all the information written on them do i need to get myself a tester and if so can anyone recommend one for a fair price. Maplins maybe. Thanks

[Face]

I would not use silver micas anywhere in the signal path.

[Bob, W7ETA]

Since you aren't checking to see if a cap is bad, a multi test that does caps will give you the cap value and you'll use the testers to measure the voltage of the circuit.

The rule of thumb I was given is to double the circuit voltage when buying caps.

If you are buying a multi meter, consider getting one that measures inductance also. With that, you can have FUN upgrading components in speaker cross overs.

Best from Tucson
Bob

[Bob, W7ETA]

The micas are .1uF. So I gotta try them as coupling caps.
Bob