Leak Stereo 20 Capacitor Replacement Question

[blueglow]

Question, restoring a Leak Stereo 20 in my personal collection...

Replace the gold can caps with modern 32/32uf even though it will change the look of the amplifier externally (they aren't as tall and would need to be painted, if I can get paint close enough to match) or leave the originals in place and hide modern caps under the chassis?

This is less of a technical question as I've seen both done and I know both will work but more of what would you do if it were yours?

I am struggling as I want it to look all original on the outside but the reason I love Leaks are for the beautiful wiring underneath that I struggle to destroy by hiding caps under the chassis.

What's your thoughts?

Mark

 

[zelgall]

I have a stereo 20 and rebuilt it pre-internet. Initially I replaced the cans with blue LCR cans but when I saw someone that put the replacement caps inside, I put the old cap cans back in, unconnected and did the inside scheme. Just aesthetics but hey...

 

[blueglow]

Happen to have a picture of the inside job? One caps looks easy to do neatly, the other is in a pretty crowded space.
Thanks
Mark

I have a stereo 20 and rebuilt it pre-internet. Initially I replaced the cans with blue LCR cans but when I saw someone that put the replacement caps inside, I put the old cap cans back in, unconnected and did the inside scheme. Just aesthetics but hey...

 

[jgf]

It sounds like you might like what's behind door number three... restuff the old cans with new caps.

 

[blueglow]

It sounds like you might like what's behind door number three... restuff the old cans with new caps.

I've done that with a lot of fisher & scott gear over the years. The paint on these is pretty fragile, when I've done it with other caps they can be a pain to get the stuff out of much less having to be careful with the paint.
Have you seen it done with these Leak caps?
mark

 

[Shoog]

I've done that with a lot of fisher & scott gear over the years. The paint on these is pretty fragile, when I've done it with other caps they can be a pain to get the stuff out of much less having to be careful with the paint.
Have you seen it done with these Leak caps?
mark

Its the standard restoration technique for the Leak Stereo 20. However the caps are usually sufficiently small that you can simply disconnect the old ones and mount the new ones in the chassis somewhwere.

Shoog

 

[jgf]

I've done that with a lot of fisher & scott gear over the years. The paint on these is pretty fragile, when I've done it with other caps they can be a pain to get the stuff out of much less having to be careful with the paint.
Have you seen it done with these Leak caps?
mark

No, does sound like a tough problem then

 

[stokessd]

My vote would be for a small circuit board under the chassis, attached to existing bolts that hold on the transformers to the chassis. The caps and any resistors that were originally attached to the can caps would also be on the PCB.

The best caps (lowest ESR, ESL, and longest life, and highest temperature) are radial PC mount units. That's what all modern electronics use, and thus the form-factor that is targeted.

I'll be glad to design that board, but I'll need a stereo 20 to use for the design. I'll only keep it for a couple of decades or so.

Sheldon

 

[michaelsamra]

You don't need to do that my friend

Here is one of mine I am redoing where the original filter cap exploded and made a mess underneath but it blew the insides of the old cap out and i need to clean it up so excuse the mess..Anyway,I did the upgrade 5 years ago with the signal caps that you see but what I do now is use film caps in the power supply which are exponentially better than electrolytics and being we have generous amounts of room in the Leak and Mcintosh amps,it makes wonderful sense.
You can hollow out the original guts of the old gold can cap and these 35uf at 500v poly film shove right up in there and then you keep the original look..These are only one section however,take a look at the square film caps I posted you can get from Mouser and these you glue in underneath with Goop and that way you keep the original look and the amp is going to sound incredible..I always go with a little higher values down stream after the rectifier. I did my Leak Stereo 50 this way and I will post some photos later..