Ageing caps and frequency response

[philv]

Hi

Do caps affect frequency response?
Ie would 30/40 year old caps reduce frequency response?

Cheers

[Jazid]

Possibly depending on how out of spec they were. Mostly electrolytics but also paper in oils seem to be prone to this.
What's the application, any pics?

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[Firebottle]

As a generalisation I would say that any caps that are restricting or controlling the frequency response are unlikely to change their value enough to be concerned about.
Unlike ancient electrolytics that could have dried out somewhat.

[philv]

It was just a general question.
I was wondering what tne effects of recapping an old amp would be.
Thought frequency response, high and low, would be reduced on old amps.
Although tne same is no doubt true on my old ears.



Possibly depending on how out of spec they were. Mostly electrolytics but also paper in oils seem to be prone to this.
What's the application, any pics?

Sent from my BLA-L09 using Tapatalk

[philv]

Am i getting confused between caps and resistors?

Should ageing amplifiers not have a diminished frequency response?

[Jazid]

Not really, but components go out of spec and this may upset the performance. Difficult to say how without a circuit.
Valves of course can change considerably and the effects can be as you describe.

Re. Alan I was more thinking of coupling and smoothing caps with respectively leak and esr changes.

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[gary]

Naim seem to recommend having their amps and power supply's recapped and from what I've read it does make a difference

[Macca]

Naim seem to recommend having their amps and power supply's recapped and from what I've read it does make a difference

For every person who says it made a difference there's one who says it made no difference

Naim users do tend to leave it all switched on all the time though so it's more likely to need the caps replacing every ten years.

[Martyn Miles]

I understand that replacing capacitors in speaker crossovers can give an improvement, as their value can
drift over time.
By how much I don’t know, as most caps have a 10% tolerance so presumably they aren’t too critical in
crossovers.

[winstonmalcolm]

Hi

Do caps affect frequency response?
Ie would 30/40 year old caps reduce frequency response?

Cheers

I can say from experience there is no doubt at all.
Changing the caps on my IMF TLS 50 made a huge difference.
All I had from mine was muffled muddy bass, no mids and no top end.
Changed the caps and they came alive.

Though that doesn't mean it works for every old speaker.

[Peck555]

I have had older amps recapped, and I found the difference to be night and day, much cleaner sound, and more headroom after recapping.