Which capacitors should I replace?

[davidzhou]

Hi, I have a vacuum tube amplifier, the existing capacitors are from SULAN. I heard that the JENSEN capacitors' performance would be better than that, do you think so? Can you tell me which capacitors on the existing amplifiers should I replace? Best regards.

[SY]

Do you have a schematic? It may be that the performance problems you're having are unrelated to the brand of the capacitors.

[richwalters]

For such an artistic styled amp; What's that unbolted bridge rectifier (at 10' oclock) flying in the wind ? I can't quite see if the can electrolytics have mounting clips, are they any ?

The rest seems quite tidy with screws and washers.

You need to tell us what "sounds wrong" to make an improvement. Youv'e even got gold plated output posts.....??? what more ?
Got a spec sheet ?

richy

[Globulator]

The MingDa stuff always looks good!!

Sounds good too IIRC...

[nicoch58]

the scr pp are not so good in signal path, the low price claritycaps can be a good start , russian teflon ft3 too....

[nicoch58]

the four katodo bypass caps (elko) with elna silmic /cerafine

[planet10]

Originally Posted by richwalters

amp; What's that unbolted bridge rectifier (at 10' oclock) flying in the wind ?

I get the feeling the picture isn't telling us the whole story.

A pretty amplifier, PP EL84 -- what are the driver tubes? And since P-P construction much easier to work on.

The coupling caps are SCR, (ie the same as the cheap Solen poly caps), and marked in the attachment. They are usually the 1st thing replaced when talking about better caps. After removal, they can be used as bypasses on the power supply elcos.

Do keep in mind that cap prices do not directly correlate to quality, that higher cost ones are usually bigger (make sure they will fit). I've found Brian Cherry's (diy hifi supply) Obligatto caps to be good bang for the buck, and until such time as much of the rest of the amp has been replaced, not the weakest link.

dave

[davidzhou]

Hi, this is the schematic for the amplifier, I hope it can help us. In fact, This amplifier is suitable for the youth because it fashionable and the sounds it is soft. And I want to upgrate it by myself, I hope the bass can be deeper. but I know what component should be replace? Best regards.

[sacpul]

If you need better sound just check the earth connection. If it is not connected you need to do it. The sound will be better

[SY]

The design is basically solid (though a 12AX7 split load inverter is not the best choice). One thing that strikes me is the use of separate supply points for the voltage amplifier and split load inverter- this can sometimes affect bass stability. You might consider using some simple regulators to supply those points; it might even help the bass a bit.