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We're all in agreement that recapping is good, right? AU-D11

98%chimp

98%chimp

Member
So I've been thinking of doing a a recap for my AU-D11, it sounds amazing but is full of black flags and has an electrical smell (for other D11 owners: is that normal? My D9 produces no smell whatsoever). Anyways as the date of parting with the amp approaches I've found myself having second thoughts. It's probably my inner junky that doesn't want to part with my favorite machine, but I just wanted to make sure that there is a consensus about recapping being a good thing and also are there any other replacements that the experts here recommend for the D11? Thanks in advance... I pretty sure I'm being silly about the whole thing, but damn I don't know how I've become so attached to a piece of electronics.
 
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98%chimp said:
So I've been thinking of doing a a recap for my AU-D11, it sounds amazing but is full of black flags and has an electrical smell (for other D11 owners: is that normal? My D9 produces no smell whatsoever). Anyways as the date of parting with the amp approaches I've found myself having second thoughts. It's probably my inner junky that doesn't want to part with my favorite machine, but I just wanted to make sure that there is a consensus about recapping being a good thing and also are there any other replacements that the experts here recommend for the D11? Thanks in advance... I pretty sure I'm being silly about the whole thing, but damn I don't know how I've become so attached to a piece of electronics.
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I'm confused. You love it, but you're parting with it?

In any case, yes, recapping a 50 year old amp is a good thing. Along with other preventive maintenance.
 
Yes my D11 smells too when warm. The smell reduced after recapping and cleaning the boards (especially phono board) thoroughly from flux and solder residue. The smell didn’t alarm me because I grew up with electronics smelling like that. VCR, tv, some clock radios, etc.
 
Yeah I experienced all of those other machines even a few betamax, now that I think about it. But since my D9 has none of that and runs almost complertely cold it made me think maybe there could be something wrong
penmarker said:
Yes my D11 smells too when warm. The smell reduced after recapping and cleaning the boards (especially phono board) thoroughly from flux and solder residue. The smell didn’t alarm me because I grew up with electronics smelling like that. VCR, tv, some clock radios, etc.
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If your D11 is original and never been serviced it it likely out of spec on the adjustments creating more heat than normal. The tech you take it to for recap should dial it in after the work he does.
 
There’s not many mods to be had with the D11 is there? I suppose it’s a terribly complicated piece of equipment
 
98%chimp said:
There’s not many mods to be had with the D11 is there? I suppose it’s a terribly complicated piece of equipment
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DB-7 said:
Maybe @Hyperion will chime in on this.
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On this particular model a good reconditioning is all that is needed, no 'modifications' as such. If we were talking about the AU-D11 II - that's different, and there are some useful updates that can be done. For those that read this and have a D11 II, I have listed these a couple of times on AK, just do a search. ;)
 
Hyperion said:
On this particular model a good reconditioning is all that is needed, no 'modifications' as such. If we were talking about the AU-D11 II - that's different, and there are some useful updates that can be done. For those that read this and have a D11 II, I have listed these a couple of times on AK, just do a search. ;)
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Do you recomend any type of cap in particular por the signal path? how about changing resistors?
 
98%chimp said:
Do you recomend any type of cap in particular por the signal path? how about changing resistors?
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Just the usual advice, low ESR 105°C capacitors in the PSU, and local filtering. Use low leakage (or film) types for orange sleeved originals. For the signal path, take opportunities to upgrade low value electrolytics to film capacitors, swap two polar's (arranged as a bipolar) with a single Nichicon ES (a 'quality' bipolar). As for others you can use anything that takes your fancy, some people like to use Audio Grade types such as Nichicon FG, or just use good quality 'allrounder' electrolytics like Panasonic FC. I suggest you read through a few of Leestereo's restore threads, as they are copiously illustrated, often with reasons for the use of some components. You'll soon get the idea of what is used and/or required. ;)
 
Yed
98%chimp said:
So I've been thinking of doing a a recap for my AU-D11, it sounds amazing but is full of black flags and has an electrical smell (for other D11 owners: is that normal? My D9 produces no smell whatsoever). Anyways as the date of parting with the amp approaches I've found myself having second thoughts. It's probably my inner junky that doesn't want to part with my favorite machine, but I just wanted to make sure that there is a consensus about recapping being a good thing and also are there any other replacements that the experts here recommend for the D11? Thanks in advance... I pretty sure I'm being silly about the whole thing, but damn I don't know how I've become so attached to a piece of electronics.
Click to expand...
Yes!
 
Hyperion said:
Just the usual advice, low ESR 105°C capacitors in the PSU, and local filtering. Use low leakage (or film) types for orange sleeved originals. For the signal path, take opportunities to upgrade low value electrolytics to film capacitors, swap two polar's (arranged as a bipolar) with a single Nichicon ES (a 'quality' bipolar). As for others you can use anything that takes your fancy, some people like to use Audio Grade types such as Nichicon FG, or just use good quality 'allrounder' electrolytics like Panasonic FC. I suggest you read through a few of Leestereo's restore threads, as they are copiously illustrated, often with reasons for the use of some components. You'll soon get the idea of what is used and/or required. ;)
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Thank you, and you’ll excuse me if I’m not saying this correctly, as English is not my native tongue…, but this here comment is damn juicy )
 
Ok so its about time I did a review of the recapping experience in case others have similar doubts to the ones I had. So.... short answer is: I'm glad I did it. First off: the tech found a bunch of black flag caps. He wasn´t familiar with the loss of capacitance issue because he hadn´t worked on Sansuis before, but all had lost some amount capacitance, and a couple had lost almost 70% of their original values. Which is to say: my beloved machine was a disaster waiting to happen. Beyond that there was an issue with a boken volume potentiometer and a previous and undisclosed output transistor replacement. The results of the recap are palpable: the command it now has over my speakers is brutal, bordering on despotic. The music, bass frecuancies in particular, isn´t just coming out of the drivers, the sound waves are propelled forward. Now I understand what people mean when they talk about tired amps, and this no longer applies to my D11. But even as it bullies my speakers around, the warmth is still there and the amp is revealing as ever (I like this intermediate stage between the 70s sound and the eventual clinical approach). However there's a few problems that have emerged and I'll have to take him back to the shop. On the one hand the protection relay is not engaged auntomatichally, so the speakers pop sometimes whe I turn it on. Aditionally the phono imputs have a weird hum (which goes away when I touch the tonearm, so I'm guessing it's a grounding problem?) and I have to switch the cables from one phono imput to the other every so often because one of the channels will invariably start losing power. I'm hoping it's not too serious but I really should get it into the shop soon. Anyways thanks for the recomendation, other than it seems like the tech is still learning some things about his craft, I'm glad I did it... sure: it would be better if he already knew everything, but It feels like he'll be more and more proficient with each new machine he works on.
 
Do you know what caps were used by the tech, general purpose or "audio grade"? Did he change the types of caps like some do, electrolytic to film? Or change values?
 
If films were used to replace electrolytics, the whole sonic character of the amp would have been badly damaged. Who would do such a thing?
 
@DEFTECHY he changed values on the big caps, choosing to go slightly higher, used high quality all rounder caps in general and audio grade in the signal path. Changed the two polars to a bipolar, as @Hyperion rcomended. @spark1 He actuallly also recomends canging the low value electrolytics for film caps but I dont remember if that was done.
 
98%chimp said:
@DEFTECHY he changed values on the big caps, choosing to go slightly higher, used high quality all rounder caps in general and audio grade in the signal path. Changed the two polars to a bipolar, as @Hyperion rcomended. @spark1 He actuallly also recomends canging the low value electrolytics for film caps but I dont remember if that was done.
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I sure hope not. The lower ESR of film caps will play havoc with sound quality. I used them in my AU717, AU919 and AU7900 restorations. Now those amps are clear and detailed, rather than warm and fuzzy. They are just about ruined. So sad.
 
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