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When a capacitor fails in the power supply would an amp with decent protection circuitry disengage the output to the speakers? Or would the impending failure be audible way before the capacitor fails. It's never happened to me but it doesn't stop you from thinking about it.
Edits: 01/16/15Follow Ups:
On a Manley 120 I got a bright white flash and loud pop from the amp (not the speaker) followed by another a couple seconds later. Music continued to play as I reached to shut it down. The caps measured fine on a Fluke meter, so I sent it in. Manley tech Paul Fargo played the amp without incident for about a week before getting the same. So in this case at least, a p/s cap can fail, then continue to work. (The two flash/pops were the bad cap failing, and one of the others failing a second or two later as it became overloaded from the first.) There was no visual indication that the cap was going; no puffiness, leaking, etc. that you could see without removing the cap. (I don't know what the business end of the cap looked like after it was taken out.)
The amp had about 30,000 hours on it and was about nine years old. Paul recapped the p/s and it's been fine. I recapped the p/s on its mate, so we should be good for a while now.
WW
"A man need merely light the filaments of his receiving set and the world's greatest artists will perform for him." Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA, 1922
Depends on what and where. I just had my ARC pre recapped and it fixed a nagging groundloop hum that had come out of nowhere. Also had a multisection on a Stereo 70 blow like a bad high school science experiment.
Mark
"I just had my ARC pre recapped and it fixed a nagging groundloop hum that had come out of nowhere."
Some would be disposed to believe that there was never a "groundloop" hum but a power supply capacitor failure that was repaired when the faulty power supply capacitor was replaced.
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Old caps can lead to other operational issues before they go bad. When they go, the fuse will blow immediately and your speakers should be OK.
True or not, I'm told the Big PS caps 'give warning'.
They will last 20 years or more in regular use. Much shorter in storage, especially if not woken up properly and allowed to 'reform' after extemded storage.
For amps greater than 15 years old? Maybe an annual inspection looking for impending physical failure. Bulges? Leaks? That sort of thing indicates REPLACE RIGHT NOW.
Too much is never enough
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