Techy board - re-capping

[Gmanuk101]

Hi,

can someone tell me where I can send my techie to to get the board re-capped and cleaned up etc..

I've spent the last 15 mins looking at various threads without a definite answer... HELP ME I AM MELTING (my eyes are).

I am in Edinburgh so someone local or within Scotland is pref'd

Thanks

[UV101]

I can do it for the cost of the parts and a beer if you are prepared to remove and send it to me :)

[Gmanuk101]

I can do it for the cost of the parts and a beer if you are prepared to remove and send it to me :)

ok that's a smashing offer!! thank you..

do I need anything to do this as I am a total noob electronically.. apart from rewiring a plug and building a pc. eg I dont have a solder iron or anything.

thanks mate, really appreciate this.

G

[Mike g]

If you're taking things apart might be an ideal time to put the power supply in an external box so it is away from the deck...

[UV101]

Hi,

From memory, most cables just unplug from the main pcb.

The only one you'll need to check is the front left as you look at the PCB which will be the 2 yellow (?) cables coming from the power pcb. The other thing you'll need to do is unscrew the regulator output transistor from the chassis which is the 3 pin device towards the back screwed in via a clamp.

There are several places on the forum explaining how to disassemble the deck.

But from memory.....
UPLUG FROM THE MAINS!!!!! :D
Remove the cartridge and store safely
Remove the lid
Remove the mat and lift off the platter (should just lift off but may stick to start with)
Remove the 6 (?) screws from the black cover and lift off the cover
Remove the 3 screws holding the PCB and bearing on the chassis
Remove the 2 (?) screws holding the regulator output device to the chassis (towards the rear of the deck)
Unplug the 3 connectors (front, right side and back)
disconnect the supply in (front left - may be soldered and twisted onto metal posts)

You should now be able to remove the pcb :)

At work at the mo so limited access to photo's but have a look under the hood and check those connectors front left to see if you can disconnect them without an iron :)

[UV101]

If you're taking things apart might be an ideal time to put the power supply in an external box so it is away from the deck...

I'd agree......there is a very good thread about it here....I guess it depends on the confidence level.

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8118

[Gmanuk101]

thanks Guys, once I've done the neccessary I will PM you for payment details and address etc.

really appreciate this by the way thank you.

G

[Wakefield Turntables]

Graeme,

Do you really need to re-cap your 1210? How old is it? I had mine recapped and noticed a massive difference it takes about 6-8 weeks for things to bed down. Its a modification that is rarely done considering the amount of tech-head we have here on the AOS forum.

A

[UV101]

Just to be clear, there are a few caps that will benefit from a change to the original spec even from new.

Some of the purely digital rails will benefit from extremely low impedance and esr solid polymer electrolytics and other rails with better quality Rubycon Z series caps. The main smoother can be upgraded to something much bigger in capacitance too.

There are only a few caps that will make any difference and the total cost is likely to be sub £20 in parts.

If for any reason you're not happy with the results i'll gladly put the board back to standard :)

[vandergraafuk]

Could we not have a thread started with components needed and a few photos of components that are ripe for upgrading. For the more DIY able?

[Qwin]

"Could we not have a thread started with components needed and a few photos of components that are ripe for upgrading. For the more DIY able?"

+1

[UV101]

not a problem :)

Leave it with me ;)

[Wakefield Turntables]

At last! A mod I suggested years ago is being taken seriously :eek: it would be nice to see just what we can do with the pcb, Paul Hynes went a long way with his mods now let's see what the rest of us can do.....:cool:

[UV101]

Spent some time after this post last night with the circuit from both the MKII and 5 and made some notes.

If I'm going to post about it, I want to make sure its accurate ;)

[Frankyc2003]

Looking forward to this post very much!

[indus]

Hi Ian

As mentioned in my PM I'd be very keen to have the the board recapped as well, providing I have the ability to get it out! My TT is virtually brand new but I presume it may still benefit?

Thanks

[Wakefield Turntables]

Hi Ian

As mentioned in my PM I'd be very keen to have the the board recapped as well, providing I have the ability to get it out! My TT is virtually brand new but I presume it may still benefit?

Thanks

NO! My deck was 20+ years old, do you really need new caps??

[indus]

NO! My deck was 20+ years old, do you really need new caps??

Probably not!:lol:

There should be nothing wrong with my caps as such but perhaps wrongly I got the impression that standard electronics were being upgraded.

I know nothing of electronics/circuit boards etc and just thought there might be components in there that could be swapped out for more expensive varieties to achieve a sonic gain.

Thanks

[Wakefield Turntables]

Probably not!:lol:

There should be nothing wrong with my caps as such but perhaps wrongly I got the impression that standard electronics were being upgraded.

I know nothing of electronics/circuit boards etc and just thought there might be components in there that could be swapped out for more expensive varieties to achieve a sonic gain.

Thanks

Not always. You need to define what the caps are going to do. Dont jump in blind. I'm sure other posters will explain what the benefits of changing the cap values on the PCB should be.

[Gmanuk101]

I will be taking the PCB out at the weekend and put my trust 100% in the person who is doing this. Got to take a risk at some point ;)

[Wakefield Turntables]

Pcb can be bought for fifty quid on scumbay

[Gmanuk101]

Pcb can be bought for fifty quid on scumbay

a brand new one?

[Wakefield Turntables]

No

[UV101]

There's nothing wrong with a functional 2nd hand board.

The thing with electrolytic caps is over time they dry out. This will cause the specs to go out and the first thing to change will be the esr of the cap. The effect of this will be that the rails they sit across will start to become noisy which in turn will effect the performance of the circuit. There have also been advances in technology and materials in the last 20 years. Some of the new solid polymer have almost unbelievable esr specifications. Most of the time the caps will have been chosen based on price. I a circuit functions within specifications with a 1p part why use a 10p part even if this does improve the overall performance.

Replacing the caps with newer technology should make the circuits perform "better" which in turn should lead to a more stable and accurate control of the platter. Clearly along the way technics replaced the conservative power supply smoother (c1) with and even more conservative value part. The deck will still perform within the specs but the change in value from 1000uF to 470uF will have been purely based on cost. There is no other viable reason.

In any external psu, the value for the equivalent part is likely to be at least 10x that value because its not an expensive part on its own and a larger value will allow the psu to better (faster with more reserve stamina) deal with any peak current requirements.

One downside to making the value large is that the inrush of current required to charge the cap at switch on could mean that a bigger more powerful transformer is required along with bigger rectifier diodes. It's often that case that as you upgrade a component, you will also need to upgrade any supporting components.

I will shortly post the full diagram with my own recommendations for cap changes. It's not going to be expensive to implement as as a few have pointed out here, they've already experienced benefits of psu cap upgrades.

[Qwin]

:popcorn:

[Wakefield Turntables]

It's quite exciting:D I'm looking forward to see what gets published here:cool:

[Frankyc2003]

This place gets better everyday!:D

[UV101]

little bit of the work in progress just to get you on the hook :D

I've stitched together the various parts of the diagram. I don't think a complete diagram exists anywhere like this.
I've also started to show the various power supply rails in different colours and mark all of the electrolytic caps on the diagram
Next I'll mark the same caps on a photo of the PCB and finally put a list of recommended replacements together.

http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr332/Trunky1812/Technics%20SL-1200/ijb_25_zps9be6196e.jpg

[Thirsty Dog]

There is some pretty dam fine information coming up here.
Although I'm a complete modding novice, I would certainly give it a shot on my own, after a bit of practice with a soldering iron on a test PCB.

Looking forward to what follows.

Great work UV101

:more:

[vandergraafuk]

+1 for the great work

[MikeMusic]

+1

But I won't be trying anything myself !

[Gmanuk101]

bloody brilliant is what I say!!! some people in the world are just full of good stuff.... love this mate!

[UV101]

I've made a list of the electrolytic's and identified suitable replacements. There is a mix of Panasonic FC, and various Rubycon ZL,ZLG & ZLH series caps. All of them are low impedance, low esr premium quality and types that I use regularly in my upgrades. I'm suggesting an increase in value of a few of the caps on the main power supply rails and in particular on the main smoothing cap C1. The bulk of the caps will be left the same capacitance value but hopefully better specification components will yield an improvement.

Cap Value voltage > Replacement
C1 1000uF(470uF) 50v > 2200uF 50v Panasonic FC (horizontal mounted)
C2 33uF 25v > 33uF 25v Rubycon ZLG
C3 22uF 25v > 470uF 25v Rubycon ZLH
C4*
C101 33uF 35v > 33uF 25v Rubycon ZLG
C102 33uF 35v > 33uF 25v Rubycon ZLG
C103 33uF 35v > 33uF 25v Rubycon ZLG
C108 100uF 25v > 470uF 25v Rubycon ZLH
C112 4.7uF 63v > 4.7uF 50v Panasonic FC
C201 33uF 16v > 33uF 25v Rubycon ZLG
C202 1uF 50v > 1uf 50v Panasonic FC
C203 1uF 50v > 1uf 50v Panasonic FC
C205 220uF 10v > 220uF 10v Rubycon ZL
C206 1uF 50v > 1uf 50v Panasonic FC
C209 100uF 16v > 470uF 25v Rubycon ZLH
C212 3.3uF 50v > 3.3uf 50v Panasonic FC
C214 100uF 25v > 100uF 25v Rubycon ZLG
C215 1uf 50v > 1uf 50v Panasonic FC
C216 47uF 25v > 47uF 25v Rubycon ZLG
C303 1uF 50v > 1uf 50v Panasonic FC
C304 10uF 50v > 10uF 50v Panasonic FC
C306 1uF 50v > 10uF 50v Panasonic FC

Initially, I was only looking to replace caps that I thought might have most influence on performance, however as the cost is very low, I'm thinking that there is no harm in replacing the lot. I would almost certainly that any MKII's about are more likely than not towards the end of their quoted life. Thats not to say that they are about to give up, but they will no longer be performing optimally.

I'll update with some pictures explaining locations on the PCB later but I'll leave you with this bombshell..........

In batches of 5 sets, the total recap is coming out at less than £15 :stalks::eek:

I'll do a bit more checking and double checking but I'm thinking that if people are interested, I could put sets together and when I'm back from my hols, I could probably do a few boards for people for a few :beer: tokens :eyebrows:

:cool:

[WOStantonCS100]

I'll do a bit more checking and double checking but I'm thinking that if people are interested, I could put sets together and when I'm back from my hols...

Interested.

Nice work. It's not too hard to figure out; but, it definitely does take time to assemble the data and make a great presentation. :thumbsup:

[Qwin]

Great work!
I will certainly buy a set if you put them together.

:thumbsup:

[indus]

I'd be interested, at that price it has to be worth a punt.

[UV101]

Anyone else after a set? If I can get 5, I'll do an order :)

[Thirsty Dog]

Count me in :)

[OneyedK]

Great work... But errr...

My remarks:

C3 and C108: the stock regulator doesn't respond well to higher capacitive loading, can you explain what's the point in using 1000µF after a decent regulator?!
C209: dangerous to damage Q201 with this 5x value
C101,102,103: those are very important caps, the rotational balance of the motor depends on them, they carry fairly large AC voltages, I think this was the main reason why technics engineers took the 35V rating, might be safer to keep 35V rated caps there. And make sure the values are close to each other.

One other thing to consider.
The small caps are very important (to keep the noise out of the circuit), I always replace them with film caps, they are available up to 10µF (wima) to fit the board spacing.

I see that you altered the value of C306 to 10µF, there's no point in doing that as it's only function is to dissipate the noise generated by D301 and IC302.
A 1µF film cap will do this brilliantly...

[Qwin]

Hi Karl,
I can't really comment technically on your views. Its not my field.

But could you clarify something.....

Your first statement about changing to a 1000uf?
There is only one mention of 1000uf in the parts list and Ian has suggested going FROM 1000uf to 2200uf (C1) so I am confused. Also you ask why you would want to put this after a decent regulator. Surely C1 (Smoothing Cap) is before the regulator? :scratch:

[Frankyc2003]

I think Karl was refering to C3 that sits across the output of the regulator.
Not C1 which is as you rightly pointed out before the regulator.
Well at least thats how I read it...;)

[UV101]

Great work... But errr...

My remarks:

C3 and C108: the stock regulator doesn't respond well to higher capacitive loading, can you explain what's the point in using 1000µF after a decent regulator?!
C209: dangerous to damage Q201 with this 5x value
C101,102,103: those are very important caps, the rotational balance of the motor depends on them, they carry fairly large AC voltages, I think this was the main reason why technics engineers took the 35V rating, might be safer to keep 35V rated caps there. And make sure the values are close to each other.

One other thing to consider.
The small caps are very important (to keep the noise out of the circuit), I always replace them with film caps, they are available up to 10µF (wima) to fit the board spacing.

I see that you altered the value of C306 to 10µF, there's no point in doing that as it's only function is to dissipate the noise generated by D301 and IC302.
A 1µF film cap will do this brilliantly...

Hi Karl,

Thanks for the comments. I'll try to go through your points 1 at a time.

C3 & C108 - I've never had any issues with higher value caps post regulation. If you look at many discrete regulator circuits in commercial products, larger value decoupling caps are used close to the devices being supplied (albeit often bypassed with 0.1uF for shunting noise) I see no reason to do anything different here and i'll gladly add some 0.1uF X7R's to the list to go across the pins under the board.

With respect to C1, No one mentioned using a better regulator so this is the smoothing capacitor. So far as I am concerned, the bigger the better within the limits of the surge current through the transformer and diodes at switch on (I use 22,000uF before my reg.) I assume this is the 1000uF cap you are refering to?

C209 , happy for you explain why this is dangerous to increase the capacitance value on the 9v rail post Q201 (2SC1846) Looking at the specs for the Q201 I cant see any reason why damage would be caused. Q201 is more than capable of dealing with any additional load at switch on cause by upping the cap value from 100uF to 470uF.

C101,102,103 - I've taken the view that 25v should be enough but of course its impossible to measure the actual voltage on anything running becuase the platter is in the way! I'll gladly raise the voltage of these caps to 35v in either Rubycon Z's or Panasonic FC's in order to stay within the manufacturers often specs.

C306 is the decoupling for the 5v rail (Zener and resistor) and would again potentially benefit from a 0.1uF bypass cap. My reason for this change (which was conservative value for me) was based on my experience bypassing zeners used for rail regulation. This type of mod works exceptionally well in the Quad 405 which uses zeners to regulate the rails that drive the input opamp. I'd actually make some changes here and use a 5v reg, no resistor or zener and a 470uF bypassed with 0.1uF but I didnt want to go that far here.

With respect to film caps, I agree that the low value caps (1uF) would potentially benefit from film caps but I opted to stay with original types for the purposes of this exerciser.

As said, I've tried not to go too overboard, ultimately, I'd like to see the introduction of 2 additional regs for the 5v and 9v rails with bigger caps again :)

[OneyedK]

Hi all,

The 1000µF post regulator I mentioned, is the sum of all post regulator caps. (470µF + 470µF)
Sorry for not being more clear.

Personally, I would never use a value like that after a series regulator, it slows the regulator down, ultimately ruining it's output impedance.
It doesn't mean that you will have real issues with stability, as Ian mentioned, He's never had issues with higher value caps post regulation.
But it degraded the performance of the regulator, and that's not the point of a mod.

About C1, 1000µF is what I found to be adequate, 2200µF will not pose a problem to the diode bridges of most SL-12xx mkII's.

C209, it's indeed the inrush current that worries me and on the other hand, what's the point of using 470µF, it's a step down regulator from the well regulated 21V.

C306, you're right, a shunt regulator here would be great. I stick with my 1µF film cap. (unless my -long time ago- ordered PH regulators arrive and I can measure the improvement with a shunt regulator)

btw, film caps up the price a little, but they have an (almost) infinite lifetime and outperform most (if not all) electrolytics.

[UV101]

I take your point about potentially slowing the reg down however as stated its no uncommon to see high values of uF post regulator in some very expensive equipment and although I suspect the primary purpose is to shunt noise, larger values will still carry some reserve capacity to help with difficult demands. I have already pointed out that I have my own discrete reg in my own player in a previous post. I also have a total of 4 x 470uF post 21v regulator at various locations. It's been like this for over 2 years.

This diagram is from the Marantz SA11S2 diagram. The discrete regulators for the analogue output stage have 470uF immediately following the +/- 11v regs. They also have an additional 3 x 470uf per channel on the rails near each stage. That's a total of 7 x 470uF on each rail!!!! A total of 3790uF post reg on each rail.

http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr332/Trunky1812/27299738aac681ec44c92ef1e432a2a1_zpsb1031758.jpg

http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr332/Trunky1812/f038f9082106ec5d4229cbc9c06119c5_zps110ff246.jpg

I'm happy to build kits based on original values if wanted. I'm also happy to use film caps as required :D

[Qwin]

Mnnnn.........

Where do we go from here? :scratch:

Difficult to know as a non expert in this feild.

I think my preference would be to leave post regulator caps C3 and C108 as stock values and just use like for like replacements. I may be using the KAB regulator and am not sure if it will like a change here.

C101, C102, C103 using 35v as originals, wouldn't do any harm.

As for the smaller values, How much would it add to the kit price to use film caps?

Whats anyone else think?

[Wakefield Turntables]

Ken can you post a piccie of whe you put the ferrite coils please?

[DaveK]

Please count me in as a 'definite' for a set of bits. I have taken the PCB out before when faffing about with beefing up the bearing housing so no probs there and I anticipate posting just the PCB to a friend who does building for me.
TIA,
Dave.

[OneyedK]

One more post and I promise I won't sidetrack this topic anymore ;)

I'm well aware of the fact that crazy things are done in (expensive) amplifiers as I spent the better half of my life working on amps, DAC's, CD-players and their clocks.
But there's a big difference when you're working in an environment where music programme is the main signal, or, when you're working with clocks and PLL circuits.
With music programme, very often, it's important to have PSU that supplies a high current when transients occur, this can be done with big caps, as long as the output impedance stays within reason, a slow response of the regulator is often desired.
This can be judged purely by ears and supported by measurements.
With clocks and PLL's (and constant rotation motors), there are no transiënts, or at least a fairly constant current draw.
Here, the biggest problem is (wideband) noise, so you need low output impedance at the largest possible bandwidth.
This is something you do with an active regulator, you cannot achieve that with caps, and certainly not with "large" electrolytics.

I intend to measure the stock regulator and it's performance and see if something can be done (improved) by loading it with different caps.

[Qwin]

Rexton - Hi Andrew, think you posted your question in the wrong thread. :D

I will put a picture of the ferrites up in my Turntable thread. Just need to put it up on my website first so the link can work.

[UV101]

Karl, definitely not side tracking this thread. If the outcome of these discussions are to settle on a certain cap type or value then that's just acting to improve the value of the thread.

I'm happy to work on the list and put together kits in any form.

I've started to revamp the list based on the discussions so far. Please have a play with the post reg capacitance values and post back your findings and along with any further constructive input.

Lets make sure we get a list that should give us the best chance of improvement on all fronts ;)

[337alant]

I've made a list of the electrolytic's and identified suitable replacements. There is a mix of Panasonic FC, and various Rubycon ZL,ZLG & ZLH series caps. All of them are low impedance, low esr premium quality and types that I use regularly in my upgrades. I'm suggesting an increase in value of a few of the caps on the main power supply rails and in particular on the main smoothing cap C1. The bulk of the caps will be left the same capacitance value but hopefully better specification components will yield an improvement.

Cap Value voltage > Replacement
C1 1000uF(470uF) 50v > 2200uF 50v Panasonic FC (horizontal mounted)
C2 33uF 25v > 33uF 25v Rubycon ZLG
C3 22uF 25v > 470uF 25v Rubycon ZLH
C4*
C101 33uF 35v > 33uF 25v Rubycon ZLG
C102 33uF 35v > 33uF 25v Rubycon ZLG
C103 33uF 35v > 33uF 25v Rubycon ZLG
C108 100uF 25v > 470uF 25v Rubycon ZLH
C112 4.7uF 63v > 4.7uF 50v Panasonic FC
C201 33uF 16v > 33uF 25v Rubycon ZLG
C202 1uF 50v > 1uf 50v Panasonic FC
C203 1uF 50v > 1uf 50v Panasonic FC
C205 220uF 10v > 220uF 10v Rubycon ZL
C206 1uF 50v > 1uf 50v Panasonic FC
C209 100uF 16v > 470uF 25v Rubycon ZLH
C212 3.3uF 50v > 3.3uf 50v Panasonic FC
C214 100uF 25v > 100uF 25v Rubycon ZLG
C215 1uf 50v > 1uf 50v Panasonic FC
C216 47uF 25v > 47uF 25v Rubycon ZLG
C303 1uF 50v > 1uf 50v Panasonic FC
C304 10uF 50v > 10uF 50v Panasonic FC
C306 1uF 50v > 10uF 50v Panasonic FC

Initially, I was only looking to replace caps that I thought might have most influence on performance, however as the cost is very low, I'm thinking that there is no harm in replacing the lot. I would almost certainly that any MKII's about are more likely than not towards the end of their quoted life. Thats not to say that they are about to give up, but they will no longer be performing optimally.

I'll update with some pictures explaining locations on the PCB later but I'll leave you with this bombshell..........

In batches of 5 sets, the total recap is coming out at less than £15 :stalks::eek:

I'll do a bit more checking and double checking but I'm thinking that if people are interested, I could put sets together and when I'm back from my hols, I could probably do a few boards for people for a few :beer: tokens :eyebrows:

:cool:

I would be interested in a set as well

Alan

[UV101]

There are a few points up for discussion which is why I've held off.

I'm away for a couple of weeks now so I'll be dipping in and out when I can but I will get a final parts list together with price when I'm back ;)

[CableMaker1]

What is the consensus of using Nichicon KZ and FG Electrolytic caps for cap replacement as opposed to Elsa or Rubycon? And has anyone replaced the Polyester Caps for Film Caps? Changing from Polyester to Film Caps will drive up the cost quite a bit.

I used these Nichicon series Electrolytic caps and replaced the polyester caps with Film Caps with great success in my power amps when I recapped them. The amps do sound smoother.


Mike

[OneyedK]

The Electrolytics:
They don't have to "sound" good, they just need to have pristine specs, Nichicon and Panasonic are perfectly fine.
Used Sanyo in the past but they don't produce suitable models anymore...

My personal rule 1:
Electrolytics up to 10µF, film caps (WIMA).
Over 10µF, Nichicon or Panasonic.

My personal rule 2:
The Technics engineers did a great job, correct values (found on the schematic) have been verified by
recalculation, simulation en testing with different values. No need to try and change the values unless
you are perfectly sure that you can and will do better than the technics engineers.
With a different rectifier, you can up the value of C1. But ask yourself, what are you improving at that point.
Remember, after startup, it's a constant current three phase motor you are feeding.

There's no need to replace the polyesters, they are perfectly up to the task and last longer than most human beings ;)

[dimkasta]

I just found this thread

I started planning on recapping myself. I started from the easier stuff, trying to replace all the polyesters with polypropylene 1837 and 1841 Vishays and ceramics with plcc Vishays.

About the electrolytics, I am a bit reluctant to change stuff, mostly because I have no opinion on needed ESR per position.
Has anyone tried the list of post 33? At least keeping the values the same and just using modern electrolytics of adequate specs.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Dimmy,

I think post 54 is probably the best post in this thread. All you need to do is replace old with new and dont worry about fancy boutique parts or messing with the values, the technics guys probably spent millions on developing the PCB and many months testing, listening etc to get the final specs. Justr recap where needed and enjoy your 1210.

Andy

[dimkasta]

Hey Andy

What worries me more is that we have no info on the needed ESR per electrolytic.

We could use modern high quality caps of the same value (not boutique), and still create instabilities if a component expects higher damping or esr.

Anyway, I am getting my polypropylene/ceramics today, so I will start moding and report back :)

[Wakefield Turntables]

Hey Andy

What worries me more is that we have no info on the needed ESR per electrolytic.

We could use modern high quality caps of the same value (not boutique), and still create instabilities if a component expects higher damping or esr.

Anyway, I am getting my polypropylene/ceramics today, so I will start moding and report back :)

Brilliant keep us all updated.

[dimkasta]

I thought I would start from the ceramic ones.

First thing I noticed, was that C208 was 22pF on my deck and not 33pF as stated on the service manual.

On top of that, I saw three caps that are not documented in it. C217, C218 and C219, all ceramics

Could it be that there was a revision of the MK2 board?

Anyway, replacing c207, c208 and c213 with modern vishay ceramics did not have any noticeable effect.

12790

[Wakefield Turntables]

Anyway, replacing c207, c208 and c213 with modern vishay ceramics did not have any noticeable effect.

It takes a little while for them to bed in.

[dimkasta]

Yes this makes sense.

I attached a photo of my pcb on the previous post as well, just for reference and for comparison. I am really curious about the undocumented caps. MK5 seems to include an entry for C217-C219 as 100nF @50v

[Wakefield Turntables]

you need to be careful that your caps dont snag the platter. :D

[dimkasta]

Nah it's ok. There is about a centimeter of space above them :)

I replaced some of the polyesters too. Unfortunately I made some mistakes in ordering caps, so I have to reorder some of them. I will probably with the rest of the electrolytics.

The caps that I removed from the pcb measure good in capacitance, although their dissipation factor is high. Something around 0,0030 like the orange drops or PIOs or MKP375. While the 1837 and 1840 polypropylenes measure a solid 0 making them quite better, at least in theory.

From a late night low volume audition, there seems to be a distinct improvement in bass definition and clarity after the change. I still have lots of them to change though, and I still have to do some proper volume listening.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Nah it's ok. There is about a centimeter of space above them :)

I replaced some of the polyesters too. Unfortunately I made some mistakes in ordering caps, so I have to reorder some of them. I will probably with the rest of the electrolytics.

The caps that I removed from the pcb measure good in capacitance, although their dissipation factor is high. Something around 0,0030 like the orange drops or PIOs or MKP375. While the 1837 and 1840 polypropylenes measure a solid 0 making them quite better, at least in theory.

From a late night low volume audition, there seems to be a distinct improvement in bass definition and clarity after the change. I still have lots of them to change though, and I still have to do some proper volume listening.

I'm talking about when you start to try different platters on your deck. You have much to learn! It's nice to hear that you can hear changes with your recapping experiment. I would say that I agree with you with regards to bass extension. I remember being blown away with my bass response once I'd had my PCB fully recapped. In fact I would say that the bass on my deck is its best feature as it's certainly the best I have heard on any deck so far.

[dimkasta]

I'm talking about when you start to try different platters on your deck.

I don t think I will try ready platters. What I have seen is way out of my budget...

[Wakefield Turntables]

I don t think I will try ready platters. What I have seen is way out of my budget...

You might want to dampen the underside of the platter and buy an Acromat, you could probably do this for less than £100.

[RickeyM]

I'm talking about when you start to try different platters on your deck. You have much to learn! It's nice to hear that you can hear changes with your recapping experiment. I would say that I agree with you with regards to bass extension. I remember being blown away with my bass response once I'd had my PCB fully recapped. In fact I would say that the bass on my deck is its best feature as it's certainly the best I have heard on any deck so far.

You just had to go and put that last bit in there. I'm new to AOS and was studying up on mods for my SL-1200MK2. Before I got to that part, a re-cap was something that I figured could wait. Now, it's "I must-do-this-soon :drool:

[Wakefield Turntables]

The 1210 has excellent bass without being recapped. My advice would be to do each modification one by one and they the merits of the modification. You can then see how each mod has improved your 1210. I was stupid and did everything at once. I lost a lot of the awe and wonder that you can feel when you get a new mod which improves your deck.

[RickeyM]

My plan for my 1200 is first the outboard PS, then a tone arm rewire and then damping the underside of the stock platter. I'm going to order the caps before I'm ready to do the work so they'll be on hand when I'm ready. I'm also re-painting it black while doing the PS work, but I don't think it'll affect performance much :D