A friend of mine sold me their Pass Labs X5. While seemingly sonically perfect, it has certainly seen some "love."
A previous owner was a cat lover and possibly a smoker, so the internals were very dirty.
After spray-dusting, a thorough exterior wipe-down, and a DeOxIt pass on all the contacts, things have been sounding great.
What I'm wondering is... since the "wings" have seen a lot of love, and are quite easy to remove, what kind of tools do I need to either buff out the scratches? I think the tooling required to mill a proper replacement set is a bit outside my wheelhouse (though I'd love to learn!) and certainly beyond my budget for this restoration.
(I also suppose it's not outside the realm of possibility that Papa Nelson & co. have spares -- not exactly a DIY solution, but it might be the cheapest one!).
On an electronics side, I'm wondering if anyone here has worked on these and has any advice for tuning them up?
Just because it sounds really nice to my ears doesn't mean it's not out of spec and therefore could sound even better. I had a Rotel amplifier that I used for over a decade before I took it into a local amp repair shop for service when a channel went flaky. $120 later and I felt like I had a brand new amplifier because in addition to replacing a handful of bad caps, he also re-biased the channels. I don't think it sounded that good since the day I bought it. Maybe never.
I'm fairly new to electronics work, so I've never had the pleasure of re-biasing an amp. I don't even know if that's doable or advisable here... or something a neophyte should avoid for fear of life and limb... again, just looking for advice. I do have some local electronics expert friends in my DIY club I could work with if COVID weren't a present-day concern. Hard to get elbow-to-elbow when you shouldn't even be in the same room as people! 😀
A previous owner was a cat lover and possibly a smoker, so the internals were very dirty.
After spray-dusting, a thorough exterior wipe-down, and a DeOxIt pass on all the contacts, things have been sounding great.
What I'm wondering is... since the "wings" have seen a lot of love, and are quite easy to remove, what kind of tools do I need to either buff out the scratches? I think the tooling required to mill a proper replacement set is a bit outside my wheelhouse (though I'd love to learn!) and certainly beyond my budget for this restoration.
(I also suppose it's not outside the realm of possibility that Papa Nelson & co. have spares -- not exactly a DIY solution, but it might be the cheapest one!).
On an electronics side, I'm wondering if anyone here has worked on these and has any advice for tuning them up?
Just because it sounds really nice to my ears doesn't mean it's not out of spec and therefore could sound even better. I had a Rotel amplifier that I used for over a decade before I took it into a local amp repair shop for service when a channel went flaky. $120 later and I felt like I had a brand new amplifier because in addition to replacing a handful of bad caps, he also re-biased the channels. I don't think it sounded that good since the day I bought it. Maybe never.
I'm fairly new to electronics work, so I've never had the pleasure of re-biasing an amp. I don't even know if that's doable or advisable here... or something a neophyte should avoid for fear of life and limb... again, just looking for advice. I do have some local electronics expert friends in my DIY club I could work with if COVID weren't a present-day concern. Hard to get elbow-to-elbow when you shouldn't even be in the same room as people! 😀
I've never heard an X5, but would be really cool to hear one. That's a great find, it seems the X5 is held in high regard (like all Pass designs).
Interestingly enough, this excerpt is in the X5 owner manual:
"So how long will this hardware last? It is my experience that, barring abuse or the odd failure of a component, the first things to go will be the power supply capacitors, and from experience, they will last 15 to 20 years. Fortunately they die gracefully and are easily replaced. After that, the longevity will depend on the number of operating thermal cycles, but I can say that I have had amplifiers operating in the field in excess of 20 years with no particular mortality except capacitors. The answer is, I don’t have good information beyond that. More to the point, I would suggest that you not worry about it. This is a conservatively built industrial design, not a tweaky tube circuit run on the brink. If it breaks, we will simply get it fixed, so sleep well."
If it were my unit and I wanted to try and breathe new life into it, I'd recap all of the electrolytic capacitors (which most, if not all, are probably in the power supply stage on the X5). I'd also replace any thermal paste between the power transistors and heatsink. Then, after checking for DC offset and any bias adjustments, you should be good for another couple decades haha.
I'm guessing there are some folks here who can share more in depth advice regarding the X5 tho. Also, having a service manual to reference can help save a lot of time and prevent mistakes. I've not torn into a Pass amp (yet) so I'm not sure if service manuals are widely distributed..?
Interestingly enough, this excerpt is in the X5 owner manual:
"So how long will this hardware last? It is my experience that, barring abuse or the odd failure of a component, the first things to go will be the power supply capacitors, and from experience, they will last 15 to 20 years. Fortunately they die gracefully and are easily replaced. After that, the longevity will depend on the number of operating thermal cycles, but I can say that I have had amplifiers operating in the field in excess of 20 years with no particular mortality except capacitors. The answer is, I don’t have good information beyond that. More to the point, I would suggest that you not worry about it. This is a conservatively built industrial design, not a tweaky tube circuit run on the brink. If it breaks, we will simply get it fixed, so sleep well."
If it were my unit and I wanted to try and breathe new life into it, I'd recap all of the electrolytic capacitors (which most, if not all, are probably in the power supply stage on the X5). I'd also replace any thermal paste between the power transistors and heatsink. Then, after checking for DC offset and any bias adjustments, you should be good for another couple decades haha.
I'm guessing there are some folks here who can share more in depth advice regarding the X5 tho. Also, having a service manual to reference can help save a lot of time and prevent mistakes. I've not torn into a Pass amp (yet) so I'm not sure if service manuals are widely distributed..?
Thanks, sp33ls. I read the same and chuckled. 
According to this page the amp released in 2006, so on the outside, I'm just entering the 15th year... which means I don't have anything to fear for several more years, or I should be getting antsy about swapping those caps out. Finding a service manual would be amazing, if only to get the specific values of the caps. I don't see one available on Pass' website.
Regarding the thermal cycles, I get the feeling that the X5 sat dormant for quite some time before it came into my friend's possession, and he didn't even use it because a Pass X250 came to him along with it. He wanted the X250 and passed the X5 onto me (what a guy!).
So, barring cap failure purely due to age, this amp's caps may have as much as 10 more years of life in them...
Speaking of cap locations, I can see 4 caps in the pictures I posted (and two of them are enormous). I also see that the top 2 caps are labeled C4 and C5, which suggests there's at least one more cap hiding somewhere...
According to this page the amp released in 2006, so on the outside, I'm just entering the 15th year... which means I don't have anything to fear for several more years, or I should be getting antsy about swapping those caps out. Finding a service manual would be amazing, if only to get the specific values of the caps. I don't see one available on Pass' website.
Regarding the thermal cycles, I get the feeling that the X5 sat dormant for quite some time before it came into my friend's possession, and he didn't even use it because a Pass X250 came to him along with it. He wanted the X250 and passed the X5 onto me (what a guy!).
So, barring cap failure purely due to age, this amp's caps may have as much as 10 more years of life in them...
Speaking of cap locations, I can see 4 caps in the pictures I posted (and two of them are enormous). I also see that the top 2 caps are labeled C4 and C5, which suggests there's at least one more cap hiding somewhere...
There are 4 large can type PSU caps under the pcb's, you can just see 2 of these and the bus connections show the position of the other 2 caps - I would say these will still have plenty of years of service life left in them.
these 2+2 Allen bolts on wings and maybe few from inside, and you can remove wings and send them somewhere for anodizing
you can do that even with entire front
you can do that even with entire front
Thanks gary & Zen...
Re: anodizing, any recommendations on reputable companies that do good work (and ideally don't charge an arm and a leg)?
As for the finish, I think there's actual scoring and damage to the wings and even the edge of the face from rubbing against something hard. I'd want to find someone with the tools to buff those scratches out before refinishing it, I think... also looking for suggestions there.
Re: anodizing, any recommendations on reputable companies that do good work (and ideally don't charge an arm and a leg)?
As for the finish, I think there's actual scoring and damage to the wings and even the edge of the face from rubbing against something hard. I'd want to find someone with the tools to buff those scratches out before refinishing it, I think... also looking for suggestions there.
re-anodizing means that these scratches would likely be gone in preparing process
best to ask guys directly, when you find them
best to ask guys directly, when you find them
You can't anodize into a deep scratch.
That may be acceptable for reducing corrosion or wear on industrial gear.
So the anodizer should offer a choice: a quick buff, anodize, and you accept whatEVER you get; or they buff until the metal is perfect($$) and then anodize is trivial time/money.
That may be acceptable for reducing corrosion or wear on industrial gear.
So the anodizer should offer a choice: a quick buff, anodize, and you accept whatEVER you get; or they buff until the metal is perfect($$) and then anodize is trivial time/money.
proper re-anodizing demands bath in acid , as way of removing old anodizing
had similar case - prefect front plate with frightening looking deep scratch
guy knew his job , said - no need for brushing or milling ..... acid will do the job
result was ( and still is) perfect
I'm just saying that is best to arrange things with Pro
had similar case - prefect front plate with frightening looking deep scratch
guy knew his job , said - no need for brushing or milling ..... acid will do the job
result was ( and still is) perfect
I'm just saying that is best to arrange things with Pro
