Ads Mx 860

[capea4]

Hi all,

First off I would like to say that I am not a repair tech, just someone into audio equipment.
This thread is about my ads amp. It is an 860, not the 850 I see talked about on here. I have had the amp for some 5 years and it has always been great. Right now I have it out, getting ready to build a new system in a different car. I would like to take this chance to give something back to it. I understand caps die over time and abuse, so I was thinking about changing them out. Are there other components I should also replace? I have a nice iron, and plenty of experience soldering, but minimal with internal components.
Does this sound like a good idea? The amp is in good working order, I just dont feel the need to replace it, and would like to see many more years from it. This amp has 12 gauge wire from the fuses to each power supply, I was looking to see is I could maybe fit some 10. The ground jumpers is an 8, maybe a 6 could fit. Do any of you have experience with this amp? Even if not any suggestions are much appreciated.

 

[1moreamp]

I change caps just about everyday for folks and I will say that they are some of the weakest components inside your amp. Mostly I see leaking caps where the chemistry inside the cap is actually leaking on to the board threatening the board and conductors. But these amps are 10 to 15 years old.

Your caps may still have lots of life in them, so it comes back to you and how you feel about preventative maintenance in order to protect your investment. If your caps are tested and they past muster, then there is no need unless your just being careful.

I have found that the caps value will drop off with age and abuse, so yes it cam make a SQ difference in your amp. Remember that the main caps that go bad do so from filtering the raw DC for your amps power, and by filtering the switching power supply so its noise will stay out of your 12 volt system < these are almost always in need of replacement with enough age..

While your inside your amp, try to replace any Silicone heatsink compound if your amp has it at all. Silicone tends to dry out and creep with heat and age. It will creep so bad that the paste drys up to a crusty power that has very poor thermal transfer ability.

There isn't much more you can do to protect your investment, but just like changing fluids in your car, something a pennies worth of prevention saves a pound of cure. I get to replace some more caps again tomorrow in a 15 year old PG MS-275, and I just replaced some today in a 20 year old PPI A600.2......Hope this helps.