Which Capacitor?

[Ultracon]

I have to recap a Kenwood C2 Preamp. Great piece of equipment and easy to work on. Does anyone recommend a particular brand of cap? Other than the super expensive ones......

 

[Blue Shadow]

Panasonic FM or FC, Nichicon HE or PW, are the go to caps for general recapping. Of course, in the last few years folks have come into an extra few dollars and are now using Elna Silmic II and some of the Nichicon Audio Grade caps that are offered by all the regular folks, digikey and mouser. Don't forget you can slap a nice film cap in place of anything 2.2µF and under and it will probably fit nicely. Come up with your cap list and post it for all to see. Look for a thread with cap lists and see what columns you need.

 

[gadget73]

The Nichicon KL are a low leakage cap, they work nicely in the signal path. They are supposed to be lower noise vs a general purpose type.

 

[Binkman]

The C1 & C2 listed on highfiengine. https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/kenwood/basic-c2.shtml
I should think the electrolytics may be of concern. Mains. but seems the most are 25v rated or or better only a couple of 15v rated and one 6.5v I'd replace.

Rest listed as ceramic or mf (metalized film) ought to be good usually.

Just suggesting I hope you're not falling into the total recap idea?? I mean without diagnostics?

 

[gadget73]

good point. What ails it, or is this just a maintenance thing on a working piece of gear? The last two problematic pieces I had were actually transistor problems. The recap was done as a "while I'm in here" sort of thing. Both were definitely due but the caps weren't the source of problems.

 

[Blue Shadow]

good point. What ails it, or is this just a maintenance thing on a working piece of gear?

This is AK where we have to get inside and do something. I don't always know why but for some reason with everyone talking about it, we're going to do it if we can. Sort of makes the unit more personal, I guess.

I'd up all those voltages to 35V to get what ConradH says are better performing caps in the long run. Shouldn't be any larger than the same voltage cap you might put in.

 

[Ultracon]

The C1 & C2 listed on highfiengine. https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/kenwood/basic-c2.shtml
I should think the electrolytics may be of concern. Mains. but seems the most are 25v rated or or better only a couple of 15v rated and one 6.5v I'd replace.

Rest listed as ceramic or mf (metalized film) ought to be good usually.

Just suggesting I hope you're not falling into the total recap idea?? I mean without diagnostics?

Nope, when I took the top off for cleaning I noticed two caps leaking so I am going to replace those. Everything else looks good. Except of course for the balance pot. They seem to be extinct and I cracked the plastic case on mine trying to rebuild it. Therefore I am going to bypass the pot. Also, the caps I bought were Nichicon Gold FW 1000uf, 35v. Anybody out there have a balance pot, Kenwood, 35k?

 

[Blue Shadow]

Nope, when I took the top off for cleaning I noticed two caps leaking so I am going to replace those.

Probably the largest caps in the unit and might well have been glue holding them to the board. But changing them isn't a bad idea.

 

[Ultracon]

Here is a pic of the two caps.....

 

[gslikker]

The brown stuff on the top is glue, indeed, as Blue Shadow states.

 

[Ultracon]

The brown stuff on the top is glue, indeed, as Blue Shadow states.

Great! I won't fix what isn't broken for sure. Thanks!