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NAD 1020 recap questions?!?

Signal path caps are shown here in green. Sure, it's for a 3020 amp not a 1020 preamp, but the circuitry is the same :

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/nad-3020-rebuild-and-upgrade.460678/

Signal path caps should be Nichicon KL or WIMA MKS2 film, depending on what will fit (or what you are willing to spend). C401 and C417 I would definitely use WIMA films if you plan on listening to vinyl a lot. Later amps and preamps use a 10uF for the cap in the phono stage output, you can JUST squeeze a 10uF film in there.

Elsewhere, use Nichicon KW or PW. For the final output caps, you could try an ES instead of KLs, these are the four caps behind the volume control.

Power supply caps should be PW, you can up the main ones from 330 or 470uF to 680uF.

Carry on.
 
84 is alot of caps, are those all electrolytic or a combination of all cap materials used including single-layer ceramics and green mylar chiclet types? You don't have to replace anything besides e'lytics if you want, but at the same time, you may as well replace all the e'lytics whether you think they're in a signal path that you can see/ tell, or not. There are lots of choices you can make, but purchasing a capacitor kit may not necessarily be one of them. I've used all the series mentioned here and still recommend UES for as much as possible, because I've removed all the other series because they didn't sound as good afterwards compared to UES, but that's just my preference and everyone else has theirs. They max out at 1,000uF? anyway so they are limited. Anything less than about 3.3uF can be replaced with mks/mkt/mkp/fkp/pfr as mentioned (or even CBB in the 50/63V form factor).
 
leesonic said:
Signal path caps are shown here in green. Sure, it's for a 3020 amp not a 1020 preamp, but the circuitry is the same :

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/nad-3020-rebuild-and-upgrade.460678/

Signal path caps should be Nichicon KL or WIMA MKS2 film, depending on what will fit (or what you are willing to spend). C401 and C417 I would definitely use WIMA films if you plan on listening to vinyl a lot. Later amps and preamps use a 10uF for the cap in the phono stage output, you can JUST squeeze a 10uF film in there.

Elsewhere, use Nichicon KW or PW. For the final output caps, you could try an ES instead of KLs, these are the four caps behind the volume control.

Power supply caps should be PW, you can up the main ones from 330 or 470uF to 680uF.

Carry on.
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the diagram on my service manual looks a little different and looks like C417 on yours might be C421 on mine (see below - orange highlights in signal path by my interpretation). I’m still learning how to properly read and make sense of these though. i don’t totally understand how to interpret the importance of everything not directly on the signal path in bold and don’t quite understand beyond the phono portion in the top left what the other areas refer to exactly. Any chance you can share the list/spreadsheet of caps you use that I’ve seen referred to in other threads?

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onanysunday said:
84 is alot of caps, are those all electrolytic or a combination of all cap materials used including single-layer ceramics and green mylar chiclet types? You don't have to replace anything besides e'lytics if you want, but at the same time, you may as well replace all the e'lytics whether you think they're in a signal path that you can see/ tell, or not. There are lots of choices you can make, but purchasing a capacitor kit may not necessarily be one of them. I've used all the series mentioned here and still recommend UES for as much as possible, because I've removed all the other series because they didn't sound as good afterwards compared to UES, but that's just my preference and everyone else has theirs. They max out at 1,000uF? anyway so they are limited. Anything less than about 3.3uF can be replaced with mks/mkt/mkp/fkp/pfr as mentioned (or even CBB in the 50/63V form factor).
Click to expand...
Ah I see ya if I only address electrolytic caps there are 34 total listed which makes sense given numbers stated in available kits. The SM akso shows 4 mylar caps in the signal path which are C506-8 on my SM - all 0.1 uF 50v caps.
 
As I’m searching for in stock caps on Mouser I’m having trouble finding caps that fit the description listed in the SM. So long as the capacitance matches the voltage can be different so long as it’s higher? I assume I’m to be looking at comparative AC voltage not the DC voltage listed on mouser? Anyone know what the %’s listed in the SM description refer to?
 

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ccrnnr9 said:
Anyone know what the %’s listed in the SM description refer to?
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It's the tolerance. You may have to go up in value to match this because most new caps are +/- 20%. And they are usually closer to the lower limit.
I don't think you need to change the Mylar caps unless they are damaged.
 
redk9258 said:
It's the tolerance. You may have to go up in value to match this because most new caps are +/- 20%. And they are usually closer to the lower limit.
I don't think you need to change the Mylar caps unless they are damaged.
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When you say value you mean capacitance value or voltage? I assume it’s a matter of figuring out that percentage based off the original value and finding something that falls in the stated % range? Conversely I haven’t looked in detail at what’s in there beyond knowings it mainly those stock lavender caps and then some past owner replaced a couple large caps with nichicon fine gold.
1020-3.jpeg1020-2.jpeg
 
Don't bother to change the capacitance because of what new ones might appear to be. This is a rabbit hole you don't want to go down. Just replace like for like, with the exception of the power supply caps, where you can go up to 680uF.
 
leesonic said:
Don't bother to change the capacitance because of what new ones might appear to be. This is a rabbit hole you don't want to go down. Just replace like for like, with the exception of the power supply caps, where you can go up to 680uF.
Click to expand...
So how crucial is the listed voltage in the SM? Im finding very few exact or even close matches for capacitancd AND voltage on Mouser. Also, the listed voltage is AC, no?
 
ccrnnr9 said:
So how crucial is the listed voltage in the SM? Im finding very few exact or even close matches for capacitancd AND voltage on Mouser. Also, the listed voltage is AC, no?
Click to expand...
You might want to check to see what is actually on the board and use that as a guide. I've seen higher voltages installed by the factory in a quite a few places in the 3020's and 7020's I've worked on. I've even seen factory-installed mismatches in capacitance and voltage between channels in some places. Examples would be 10v for 6.3v, 25v for 16v, and 100v for 50v. I've used Panasonic FR as an alternative as well. In looking at my lists, everything can be found between the recommendations here and the FR. I generally end up with a blend of FR, UKA, UES with WIMA and a few Kemet for things under 4.7 uF. Maybe not the ultimate, but certainly noticeably better than 45 yr old caps and I like the results, but I don't have golden ears. However, I have been yelled at for changing out the green chicklets.
 
Electrolube = those are poly-carbonate film caps, Musical designs used to use only Electrolube caps in all his upgrades

Even the Hafler 915 and the 95xxx series all Electrolube film caps
 
Been revisiting this after grabbing a 1600 preamp to use while I work through this project. Got it on the bench and went through all 34 on the board today to note specs. Looking at both digikey and mouser I’m having a really hard time finding any WIMA MKS2 caps of correct or close to correct specs in stock. looks like the WKS4 is the closest thing now? I’m worried the lead spacing on those is much too wide though for the tight quarters of C401/2 and C417/8
 
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leesonic said:
Don't bother to change the capacitance because of what new ones might appear to be. This is a rabbit hole you don't want to go down. Just replace like for like, with the exception of the power supply caps, where you can go up to 680uF.
Click to expand...
You mean just stick with listed/current capacitance and don’t worry about the 20% variance specs? Hard to find matching 10% variance specs in most of the wima or nichicon suggested series at Mouser.

in the service manual it lists C529/530 as ‘electrolytic, solid’ - what’s the ‘solid’ designation referring to? It’s the only one on the list with that designation. It’s spec is listed at .68uF +/-10% 16V - the ones in my unit are powder blue Sanyos that match that spec save for 25V version.
 
redk9258 said:
You can go up in voltage but not down. The voltage rating on a capacitor is generally DC volts.
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Is there a limit to how much further up? Or a recommended increase? Most common place I’m running into this is with KL’s they may not have 25V but have 35, 50, 63, 100. Is there an advantage to going with one level of increased voltage over another?
 
leesonic, redk, Iamstubb, et al thank you for all the help. Dropped a Mouser order today and should have everything in a couple days. Where I could find matching specs or close, I stuck with leesonics advice and kept with a combination of Nichicon KL, KW/PW, and ES. Couldnt find wima mks2‘s in stock so I went with some Kemet R82 films for C401/2. Where I couldn’t find correct spec of the above I subbed in Panasonic FR/FM. It may not be a perfect build sheet but for a first go I think this will work out well. I can always adjust based on what I hear. All in all I’m in under my $50 budget and bought a new power switch while I’m at it, though the current is not having issues…yet
 
I've tried the automotive-grade R82 polyesters quite a bit. They don't sound as good as ES, even though they should be technically superior on paper as they are film. I recommend as much ES as possible for all cap positions up to 1,000uF instead of switching around between all these other polarized types with better (listed) specs on paper. Improved sound quality does not correlate to better listed specs compared to other alternatives that don't have competitively listed specs. The figure you really want to acknowledge is distortion which seems to have the most effect on SQ but isn't listed in datasheets but is lower with BP types and films. Either way, it will sound good and be an improvement over what it was. Some higher-performing alternatives to R82 are CBB, pio, polystyrene, mkp/fkp/pfr, teflon and perhaps even COG/NP0 MLCC.
 
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