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In Reply to: RE: Musical Fidelity integrated- PS cap upgrade cost/benefit? posted by Caucasian Blackplate on May 24, 2015 at 12:16:21
Yes, I should have mentioned that messing with the power supply caps, and also the secondary power supply, made no difference. The noticeable improvement came with changing the output caps. Thank you Cauc, for bringing that to light.
Follow Ups:
Changing power supply filter caps of unknown pedigree with "audio grade" caps like Nichicon Muse series electrolytics, **MIGHT** change the sound, but I think it unlikely. There are likely to be electrolytic caps on the power rails to ground right on the amp boards too, and changing these **MIGHT** make a difference in sound, too- but it would likely be quite subtle, if there was any difference at all. Looking to see if there are any electrolytics in series with the audio signal anywhere and replacing these with film caps is something that is somewhat more likely to change sound quality.
Be careful changing caps- NEVER use a cap rated below the voltage or temperature rating of the caps you are replacing. And, I would not decrease or increase the capacitance very much, if at all. Putting too large a cap in the power supply filter can over-strain the rectifiers, transformer or regulator (if any.)
It also seems to me that changes likely result in subtle differences- such as changing filter caps in a power supply - are best carried out in circuits operating at low levels. For example, I noticed that for years Conrad Johnson has used all film caps in the power supplies of their preamps. A C-J PV-10A had NO electrolytics in it's operating power supply. If you think about it, the subtle sonic difference that this approach might bring should be most important in a component like the PV-10A with it's phono stage and line stage- rather high levels of gain employed here, and it is the "first thing" to "touch" the audio signal. Any aberrations introduced would be magnified by the power amp- so it seems most important to "purify" the lower level stages and sources first, and after that is done, turn to the power supply of the amp stage.
Just a thought.
I'd say more than just a thought! You, CB and the others have offered excellent advice. and I believe I will save my 36 dollars and ~two hours of work.
Speaking of C-J, I HAD noticed that my PR-R preamp had no 'lytics anywhere- always thought that seemed unusual. LOTS of polystyrene caps in that thing. Had an inconsistently bad one in it giving a severe coming-and-going DC offset problem until I finally replaced all four OP coupling caps and all has been well since. Thanks much.
Mark in NC
"The thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains" -Paul Simon
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