Phoenix Gold Phorum

I have a couple JL slash v2 amps I'm thinking about storing for awhile. I keep seeing threads on cap replacement in the older PG amps and was wondering if I would need to do this or some other maintenance to my amps if I were to bring them back out in 5- 10 years? Thanks for any help.

im running the jl slash v1 500/1 and 300/4 for 4 years and im not thinking about caps for another 10years
i think caps have come a far way since 1990-1995
i would not worry but you can check them in 5-10 year when you want to use them

it seams pg amps are the worst ever for cap failure, every single pg amp i have done has had wet caps when pulled out, they may seam ok to look at but when pulled all had some moist/leakage under them!

marko wrote:it seams pg amps are the worst ever for cap failure, every single pg amp i have done has had wet caps when pulled out, they may seam ok to look at but when pulled all had some moist/leakage under them!

X2

They buy their caps from the same place everyone else does, I think their amps just last longer and are kept working for longer then %90 of the amps out there....

The problem with caps is that when they go it can be quite an explosion and even a fire. The penalty for failing to replace them can be high as it can take the board with it leaving the amp SOL or needing a big repair.

freshkryp69 wrote:

marko wrote:it seams pg amps are the worst ever for cap failure, every single pg amp i have done has had wet caps when pulled out, they may seam ok to look at but when pulled all had some moist/leakage under them!

X2

Did u ever work on any of your Hifonics amps, marko?

Joerg I read some time ago and Marko said he never changed one

I think PG just bought a cheap batch of faulty caps and slung 'em in there to be honest. No other amp seems to be filled with such junk parts.

KUB3 wrote:I think PG just bought a cheap batch of faulty caps and slung 'em in there to be honest. No other amp seems to be filled with such junk parts.

I don´t think that a cap that starts leaking after almost 20 years is junk! When i refurbished my FAS the caps weren´t that bad. It looks like that it depends on how much the amp was used and how it was treaten.

what other amps that are 15+ years old does anyone still give a damn about AND have caps that dont need to be replaced?

sad to say my old Audio Art,sony pinkish gx are 2 i have never changed caps and they are around the 15year mark..

I have had 2 of my orions with bad caps ,on one the cap just dried right out and fell off it was from out west so I believe the ambient temps may have helped with that, on the other the caps are swollen right up round on the bottom like eggs so I believe they all have probs if you keep them around long enough

Just a few from the whole world of A-Z amps... there's a lot of collectable gear out there...

ada
adcom
alpine
arc audio
audio system
audio control
audison
brax
genesis
mcintosh
phase linear
ppi
rockford fosgate
soundstream
tru
us amps
xtant
zapco

Any of these have issues?

joerg wrote:did u ever work on any of your Hifonics amps, marko?

nope, got 14 old hifonics amps at the moment and no intentions of swapping any caps in them, they just happened to use good caps that last well. pg did use good caps too that wern't cheap but they ended up being not so good 15+ years on.

i changed the caps in my outlaws last week and everyone i pulled were damp

excuse me for butting in, but may i ask...how do you know if/when your caps need to be replaced on your amp(s)??? is cap replacement an issue for all amps or are some just notorious for that need? maybe this is a dumb question, but you never know until you ask, right?

all m/ms/mps and zpa amps will need them doing and maybe later zx too..

not all caps suffer but they don't last forever.

sooooooo...would my xenon be excluded from this?

allmet33 wrote:sooooooo...would my xenon be excluded from this?

should be ok..

cool...nice to know. it's been running for 4 years with no problems so far. maybe it can be one of those 15+ year machines.

xenons are excluded from any repairs.

I am currently using my octane LE which was made in 96 I think but I have caps on the way to replace them. It is one of those things were an ounce of preventative maint is worth a pound after the fact.