Krell KSA 100mkII Clone

The 10 ohm on the bottom appears to be there to lift the main ground. I'm not sure if this was standard spec from Krell.

The KSA 200 was biased to about 80 watts in pure class A.

I'd keep to 75v caps.

Whatever mainboard PSU caps you use, make sure they are 105 degree rated, otherwise they'll be fried after a couple of hundred hours of use. 105 degree caps will last decades.

Okay thanks. The FM Series has the 105 degrees Centigrade rating.

The Krell is 100% standard as far as I know.
 
Even cheap electrolytics last at least 1000hours at rated temperature, and vastly more even at only a few degrees less. A modern 85degree cap in 60degree ambient will still last several thousand hours. Notwithstanding, 105degree caps are cheap so no harm using them. Make sure the fans are still good while busy with the restore.
If you can find some of the clone boards it will of course be ideal for a straight swap, I designed them actually as drop-in replacements for upgrading old or destroyed KSA100's.
Yes I know.
I've read this thread till page 89 and every night before going to bed I try to read a few pages more! Not because it's sleep-inducing, but to understand how my Krell works. I find it really great how you guys get to make a brand new KSA-100 Mk2 from almost scratch. Great to experience different main actors in the progress like you and from different countries all over the world.
 
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Found just after some better searching a couple of RIFA PEH169's for substituting the 30 year old Spragues:
1. 47mF/63V
2. 33mF/100V

They cost more then 120 USD with VAT a piece...
I will mainly use this KSA-100 Mk2 for powering the woofers of my speakers.
I measured the railvoltage @ 52 Volts isn't then good practice to go for the highest capacitance value?
I did not read any definitive choice for a G.B. in this thread (reached page 89 yesterday) regarding the powersupply components yet.
I'm inclined to choose a powersupply cap that has the same dimensions as the original Spragues. It's easy to swap then with those thick attached (looks like old Monstercable) cables to the DC side of the bridge.
 
Rivets

Just bought a Krell KSA-100 Mk2 to fight the cold winter here.
It's minus 5 Centigrade now but with the winds blowing from Russia it's feeling like minus 10. My house is at a isolated place in the country, have no neighbours (that's great with hifi) and I'm strugling to get it 17 degrees indoors.

I already decided to replace the feedbackcaps on the mainboard the Roedersteins 1000uF/16V and I'm looking for replacements for the 30 years old Sprague 40mF/75V powerlytics.
Cheap: Nippon Chemicon U36D Series 100mF/80V for around 40 USD the piece.
Expensive: Kemet PEH200 Series 100mF/63V for 90 USD the piece.
Unobtainable: Kemet PEH169 Series
Krummer caps any good/experience? Schraubanschluss-Kondensatoren - DeutschDeutsch

How important are these powercaps anyway?
Does the bridgerectifier (KBP C3504, 35 amps) handle the greater capacitance of 40 vs 100mF?
Can I use a 63V (75V peak) on the 52V rails instead of the original 75V?

A technician, which I'm not, said that these feedbackcaps are important and if you replace them with fresh caps (he used to work for Krell and advised me the Panasonic FM Series) with higher caprating the bass wil be improved on.
Can anybody explain to me how this works?

Does anybody know what those heavely soldered 10Ohm powerresistors are doing on the bottom of the amp?

Thanks in advance!

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=598392&stc=1&d=1486739947
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=598393&stc=1&d=1486739947
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http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=598396&stc=1&d=1486739947
I would have never thought to use rivets on output transistors. Rivets, no in your pictures? In fact. One of my collector screw/nut loosened and I burnt/shorted a transistor. Yes, I used a lock washer, but....... Hey, NASA had a loose fuel tank seal and BOOM. (not being funny, but worse things happens).
 
I just delved into all the old pictures of MK2's I've worked with. Your model really does seem to be very original, which is rare at this age. The only possible difference I can note is the insulation of the power lugs at the front AC loom which is black in all the ones I've seen but red in yours, but as you note this is from a time when Krell was not exactly as consistent as nowadays and it may very well be what they happened to have in stock at the time. I've seen much worse variance between amps in e.g. Sunfire.

Anyhow, experimentation has helped a great deal to learn what helps and what not, and it's of course nice if you have a whole new board to experiment with so that if something goes wrong you can still drop in the original as backup. The Clone boards also have a number of improvements.

On yours, the improvements really are only to replace the feedback caps (Panasonic FC/FM/FR/FK are all good) and the main caps. The original Spragues are hellishly expensive but still sounded better than others I've tried, but I'm sure there are better options. Munforf's M-lytics were great but crazily expensive. Replacing the speaker wiring helped a bit, and if you're a little more adventurous, modifying the wiring a little so that the speaker output and the feedback to the amplifier board are a) symmetrical and b) at the same point helped too. The fans can also benefit from replacement if they're noisy or slowed down, but that depends on the operational hours and amount of dust in the environment.
 
I would have never thought to use rivets on output transistors. Rivets, no in your pictures? In fact. One of my collector screw/nut loosened and I burnt/shorted a transistor. Yes, I used a lock washer, but....... Hey, NASA had a loose fuel tank seal and BOOM. (not being funny, but worse things happens).
There's no riveting in this amp so far as I can see.
Everything is soldered or fastened with screws I believe.
 
I just delved into all the old pictures of MK2's I've worked with. Your model really does seem to be very original, which is rare at this age. The only possible difference I can note is the insulation of the power lugs at the front AC loom which is black in all the ones I've seen but red in yours, but as you note this is from a time when Krell was not exactly as consistent as nowadays and it may very well be what they happened to have in stock at the time. I've seen much worse variance between amps in e.g. Sunfire.

Anyhow, experimentation has helped a great deal to learn what helps and what not, and it's of course nice if you have a whole new board to experiment with so that if something goes wrong you can still drop in the original as backup. The Clone boards also have a number of improvements.

On yours, the improvements really are only to replace the feedback caps (Panasonic FC/FM/FR/FK are all good) and the main caps. The original Spragues are hellishly expensive but still sounded better than others I've tried, but I'm sure there are better options. Munforf's M-lytics were great but crazily expensive. Replacing the speaker wiring helped a bit, and if you're a little more adventurous, modifying the wiring a little so that the speaker output and the feedback to the amplifier board are a) symmetrical and b) at the same point helped too. The fans can also benefit from replacement if they're noisy or slowed down, but that depends on the operational hours and amount of dust in the environment.

Thanks. The guy I bought it from said it was completely original and he wanted to sell it to somebody who would use it in his setup and not to a secondhand dealer that offered a better price.
I have had a Mk1 version in the eighties and a pair of KMA-200 Mk2's after that so I knew a bit how it should look in the inside.
The Papst 4800X fans are better then the ones in the Mk1 version. They resonate just a little but I'm not distracted by that.
Today I got four Nippon Chemicons U36D Series from Digikey, 100mF 63V and all four them measured 83mF. They looked like pullouts with light dents and markings on their sleeves. I will send them back. I still have the old Spragues, 61mF, 50 V from my Levinson ML-2's and their date code is from 1978. When I measure them they all give 67mF after almost forty years.... Don't know about their ESR of course.

I'm now looking at RIFA Kemet PEH200 Series and Mouser has a 100mF 63V for 80 USD. That does sound tempting. I still want to know if the voltage rating of 63V is too close to the railvoltage of 52 Volts?
 
63V will be fine. Higher voltages will give you higher ripple current ratings and lower ESR but (good) modern 63V caps should have even better specs than the 75V Spragues.

Thanks for the advice.
I will opt for the PEH200 100mF, 63V.

Actually the ripple current specs for the 63V 100mF (100Hz 85Centigrade, 10kHz 50C and 10KHz 40C):
34.3, 62.2 and 50.3
are better then for the 100V 47mF:
30.8, 60.5 and 47.3.

Same is the case for the ESR values:
63V 100mF (100HZ and 100kHz):
5 mOhm and 5 mOhm
100V 47mF:
7 mOhm and 6 mOhm.

ESL values are the same: 17 mOhm.

Maybe it is different when they are in a circuit?
 
This is one of the four large Sprague 61mF, 50V out of my ML-2's.
It is still 6mF better (or more) than it's initial specified 61mF.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=598619&stc=1&d=1486809144
This is a "new" Nippon Chemicon U36D 100mF, 80V large can that "lost" already 17mF
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=598620&stc=1&d=1486809144
The Spragues didn't have an easy life in the hot environment of a ML-2.
Don't know about ESR values of course.

Maybe the Nippon Chemicons were shelved for a decade or so....
 

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The Sprague are rated at 50Vdc
That is too low for the ksa100 which at nominal mains voltage and fully loaded is already at 52Vdc.
When mains is high and/or the loading is reduced, the voltage on the smoothing capacitors will rise to way above 52Vdc.

You need to use 63Vdc, or higher, smoothing capacitors.