Got this several months back from the bay, an 8150 - the bronze faced version of the KA-8100. Same exact amp with selectable voltage.
Nothing really groundbreaking here that hasn't been covered in other threads - more of a show and tell really.
All electrolytic caps were replaced. The new filter caps are 15,000uf 63V (United ChemiCon KMH)- the originals were 10,000uf 56V. Since these are snap-in caps vs the original solder lug caps, new holes for the lugs had to be drilled in the board to accept them. To do the job I made a template of the bottom of the new cap, placed it on the board exactly where I wanted it, marked the spots and drilled with a pin vise and a numbered bit (I forget which size) There is "just" enough space on the solder side to accomplish this - in a couple of spots I had to scrape a little to enlarge the solder pads. The glue was removed with lacquer thinner on a Q-tip (or 10). Lacquer thinner is pretty harsh stuff, but makes quick work of removing the glue. I had no issues with it removing the screening on the board, but try this at your own risk.
All that yucky flux on all boards was removed with 91% isopropyl acohol from a spray bottle using chip and tooth brushes.
I ditched the original filter cap/fuse board brace in favor of a stainless steel wire tie and short spacers. The new caps looked a bit lost in the original brace. I covered this awhile back - http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/ka-8100-filter-cap-brace.783845/
The caps on both the pre-amp and tone boards were all Nichicon UPW 105 degree (I had a bunch left from other projects) with a few exceptions. The exceptions: The two signal path caps on each board got Elna Silmic IIs. All caps originally with an orange jacket got Nichicon UKL, and ALL 1uf caps were replaced with Wima films. Of course I forgot to take photos of the pre-amp board.
The heat-sinked regulators on the tone board were replaced with On Semi MJE15032/3, and resistors Ri97,98 were upped from 1/4W to 1W (maybe 2W, I forget)
The main amp board got mainly Nichicon UFG (had a bunch of those also). The 3 transistors in the protection circuit were replaced. The rectifier diodes were upgraded from 2.5A rated to 5A. A new Omron relay was installed. A previous owner had already replaced the 4 original trimpots with Bourns mult-turns, 'so I had that going for me, which is nice' (Carl Spackler)
The power switch was disassembled, and the body rotated 180 degrees to utilize the unused contacts and reassembled. The two sides were then bridged together to share the load, and a triac was installed to greatly (drastically) reduce wear on the switch. I drilled a hole in the verical section of the chassis in front of the transformers and mounted it with a Genuine Kenwood Screw.
I sent the cover out to be powder coated and they screwed it up (badly) TWICE. So I decided to use the p-coat as a base for Zolatone "Lilith Charcoal" paint. Doesn't sound very manly, but I'm really happy with the way it turned out. This isn't rattle can paint - you need a compressor and a gun to spray it. It's tough stuff - lots of aluminum drift boaters use it, fire departments, etc. It's also used as trunk spatter. Yikes!
Thanks to roger2 for his recent KA-8100 restoration thread, and to hopjohn who gave advice via PM.
Nothing really groundbreaking here that hasn't been covered in other threads - more of a show and tell really.
All electrolytic caps were replaced. The new filter caps are 15,000uf 63V (United ChemiCon KMH)- the originals were 10,000uf 56V. Since these are snap-in caps vs the original solder lug caps, new holes for the lugs had to be drilled in the board to accept them. To do the job I made a template of the bottom of the new cap, placed it on the board exactly where I wanted it, marked the spots and drilled with a pin vise and a numbered bit (I forget which size) There is "just" enough space on the solder side to accomplish this - in a couple of spots I had to scrape a little to enlarge the solder pads. The glue was removed with lacquer thinner on a Q-tip (or 10). Lacquer thinner is pretty harsh stuff, but makes quick work of removing the glue. I had no issues with it removing the screening on the board, but try this at your own risk.
All that yucky flux on all boards was removed with 91% isopropyl acohol from a spray bottle using chip and tooth brushes.
I ditched the original filter cap/fuse board brace in favor of a stainless steel wire tie and short spacers. The new caps looked a bit lost in the original brace. I covered this awhile back - http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/ka-8100-filter-cap-brace.783845/
The caps on both the pre-amp and tone boards were all Nichicon UPW 105 degree (I had a bunch left from other projects) with a few exceptions. The exceptions: The two signal path caps on each board got Elna Silmic IIs. All caps originally with an orange jacket got Nichicon UKL, and ALL 1uf caps were replaced with Wima films. Of course I forgot to take photos of the pre-amp board.
The heat-sinked regulators on the tone board were replaced with On Semi MJE15032/3, and resistors Ri97,98 were upped from 1/4W to 1W (maybe 2W, I forget)
The main amp board got mainly Nichicon UFG (had a bunch of those also). The 3 transistors in the protection circuit were replaced. The rectifier diodes were upgraded from 2.5A rated to 5A. A new Omron relay was installed. A previous owner had already replaced the 4 original trimpots with Bourns mult-turns, 'so I had that going for me, which is nice' (Carl Spackler)
The power switch was disassembled, and the body rotated 180 degrees to utilize the unused contacts and reassembled. The two sides were then bridged together to share the load, and a triac was installed to greatly (drastically) reduce wear on the switch. I drilled a hole in the verical section of the chassis in front of the transformers and mounted it with a Genuine Kenwood Screw.
I sent the cover out to be powder coated and they screwed it up (badly) TWICE. So I decided to use the p-coat as a base for Zolatone "Lilith Charcoal" paint. Doesn't sound very manly, but I'm really happy with the way it turned out. This isn't rattle can paint - you need a compressor and a gun to spray it. It's tough stuff - lots of aluminum drift boaters use it, fire departments, etc. It's also used as trunk spatter. Yikes!
Thanks to roger2 for his recent KA-8100 restoration thread, and to hopjohn who gave advice via PM.
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