M-Series ?

[NOT 2 OLD YET]

I am gearing up to do cap replacement on several of my M-Series amps While I have them opened up I thought of replacing the 16Gauge speaker leads with 12. What are your thoughts on this, will it help? I have always over killed with wiring, but if it does not make any difference I will leave it. And does any one have about 25ft Of the Blue Quick Silver (I want to keep them looking OEM) if the change should be made! Also thoughts on adding 4th cap to a M-50! Thanks guys I have learned a shit ton in my short time here!

[trickyricky]

I personally wouldn't bother on the wire switch-a-roo. Adding the fourth cap on the M50 is good if you can get it to fit... I stick with three because that way I have clearance on the top (in case it ever does pop open from the top.....haven't seen on do so). Also keep in mind that the original capacitance is a total of 6600uf, then adding 3 caps with each rating of 3900 will easily over pass the original capacitance. If you want more filtering then add a .5farad (500,000uf) cap right outside the amplifier terminals.

Good luck and takes pics of the leaky caps.


Also might want to check the resistors in the board, Eric's page shows you exactly which ones am talking about (there are some by the power supply and I believe four underneath the heat sink...those are 10ohm under the heat sink).

[Derekdahms]

Ricky , I also noticed that my M -50 had the three caps , then a blank area where a fourth one would go. I was going to get it re- capped by Alec in Portland and was actually going to ask him about this BEFORE this thread happened. I guess I'm not getting the big picture.. Wouldn't a extra cap be that much better if you load the amp down? And why would they make the board with a empty slot for a cap and not use it? Because all the marks are there and everything.

[trickyricky]

Revisions, when revisions take place certain components move around or get deleted (to save money on production).

Not quite sure what you mean by "load the amp down".

Thats not the only amplifier or model that has empty spots for components. Various processors from PG also have these "empty spots" lol, if you can use one board for three different processors then that will save on designing new layouts for each model. For example the EQ215 and then the EQ215ix....once has an LPL and crossover and the other doesn't, guess which one has more empty spots lol.


If it fits without bothering the top cover then go for it, but you will hate yourself when you try to place the top cover only to find out its hitting the fourth cap...this ISN'T and issue with the folks that know what their doing because they will make sure the length of the cap doesn't exceed the height available inside on that fourth cap.


I had serviced a few SS and the 405 I remember clearly it had two extra spots for Rail caps....they where not labeled but I clearly could see the traces where parallel to other rail caps. So I added two extra rail caps...for an extra 2,000uf on that specific model.

[Nick666]

I replaced the caps in my M50 last night. Good job I did that before powering it up as all three had been leaking.

I've replaced all with Panasonic FC 3900uF 25v and the forth fits just fine.










Next up is the M100 I just brought.

[NOT 2 OLD YET]

I replaced the caps in my M50 last night. Good job I did that before powering it up as all three had been leaking.

I've replaced all with Panasonic FC 3900uF 25v and the forth fits just fine.










Next up is the M100 I just brought.

Is that the M-100 on E-Bay? I was bidding on that one too! Hopefully its in nice shape like he said!

[vwdude]

Ha and I was watching that amp. I don't collect m series yet but that looked like a nice m100 and it was at a good price for a while.

[Nick666]

It was the one on eBay a few weeks back. Not as good as I'd like it to be but it will be.

I've not powered it up yet as the caps have been leaking. The replacements will be here today and if I get time this evening I'll pop them in and see how things are.

[zeropoint0.5]

if the caps are 32mm high or less then you should be able to put in the 4th one without touching the cover.

please replace both resistors of 330ohm by a 5W model same value, and half an inch away from the board....

you find one right between both rail caps and the second one below the right rail cap. if the little caps around

that second one have the isolation shrinked, replace then.

the 4 resistors behind the heatsink are indeed 10 ohm. if they look bad/burned, replace them and make sure they

touch the heatsink.... google " soundbuggy resistor tweak " and you'll find some pics about it done by Eric D.


edit........... here's the link.... http://www.soundbuggy.com/Eric/Car%20Au ... index.html



on the pics above you can see the electrolyte is already "eating" the gold of the board......

[Corty75]

if the caps are 32mm high or less then you should be able to put in the 4th one without touching the cover.

please replace both resistors of 330ohm by a 5W model same value, and half an inch away from the board....

you find one right between both rail caps and the second one below the right rail cap. if the little caps around

that second one have the isolation shrinked, replace then.

the 4 resistors behind the heatsink are indeed 10 ohm. if they look bad/burned, replace them and make sure they

touch the heatsink.... google " soundbuggy resistor tweak " and you'll find some pics about it done by Eric D.


edit........... here's the link.... http://www.soundbuggy.com/Eric/Car%20Au ... index.html



on the pics above you can see the electrolyte is already "eating" the gold of the board......

Serious great info...
My outlaw got the 4th. caps also, haven´t picked it up from Munk AMP doctor yet, but later today.

Ill post some pics then

[Derekdahms]

Well , I'm definately going to ask Aleck about that 4 th cap and see what he has to say just for shits ! Thanks for the info Ricky . I think it looks more complete with that 4 th cap IMO .I'm no expert by any means but PG probably would have put it in there if it actually needed it. All good info here !!!!

[Derekdahms]

Talked to Alec about the 4 th cap on the M-50. He said they didn't put it in because of the clearance issue that Ricky was talking about. He said , the caps that he uses now will fit under the cover with no problems and he adds the 4 th. When he does it . He said it's all about choice. Whatever you want to do will work. Just as info !!

[trickyricky]

Good rule of thumb is to leave a good 2-5mm above the capacitors in case they do vent from the top... I would rather have a capacitor blow steam through the top vent than for it to blow up from pressure (if the top has no room for vent...no clearance between the top of the cap and the cover). Therefore I left it out on my M50 (can always add it its a problem to a future buyer).

Since they're new caps and usually now have a longer life span rating, cap failure would be the last thing to worry about .