MPS 2240 Upgrades

Xtian · Post by **Xtian** » Sun Dec 25, 2011 7:51 am

Hi guys,
i have this MPS 2240 i just recapped with some better caps then original...
I love this amp, and i wanna know if there's some more upgrades i can do.
Is it recommendable to switch the caps in the signal path or not?
if anyone has suggestions... please share some...

i'm also looking for a endplate, cause that's missing...

freshkryp69 · Post by **freshkryp69** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 11:14 am

What brand and capacity are your rail caps?? I can tell they are made in Germany..can you get more??

Post by **kg1961** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 12:03 pm

sure like the black with gold letters

Xtian · Post by **Xtian** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 4:55 pm

Hi guys, these railcaps are Mundorfs 22000µf 25V, and yes i can get as many as you want.
the psu caps are nichicons.

I also did a MS 2125 with the same psu caps and also mundorf rail caps, but these are 22000µf 40V..
On this one, i also swapped the signal cable with Van den Hul D-102 III HYBRID and the speakercable(=phoenix powercable) swapped for 6# silvercable

oh yes, and i polished the inside of the heatsink.....

Post by **ttocs** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 5:20 pm

they look nice but realistically the idea of you hearing any of these changes is pretty small.

Xtian · Post by **Xtian** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 6:16 pm

These amps are powering my home setup...
Believe me, without car noise and other random noise this is clearly audible!!!
and those caps are not too expensive, so why not try it

Xtian · Post by **Xtian** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 6:19 pm

for the polishing it's obvious you won't hear that....

holmis · Post by **holmis** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 6:42 pm

Cool project !

I would have had a little more slack on the speakercables... look like they bend the connection point at the board...

Xtian · Post by **Xtian** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:00 pm

your right, they are a little on the short side, but that's the only way to keep the cable straight

00goobs · Post by **00goobs** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:29 pm

My speaker wires are a bit different than yours internally. I believe one channel should be reversed of the marking outside of the amp...

Nice and shinny!!!

Post by **ttocs** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 9:42 pm

I would love to see/hear an a-b comparison of that amp and an equivilant model. More then that I would pay to see the person that can hear the difference in the caps installed and tell the difference in the two.

Xtian · Post by **Xtian** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 12:28 am

More then that I would pay to see the person that can hear the difference in the caps installed and tell the difference in the two.

I think your not very bright hey mate..??
everything you change in the signal path makes a difference, the railcaps are actually in the output signal path.
And i didn't only change the caps did i? The more changes you make the more difference.

There will allways be some people who say there's no difference between a 5$ interconnect and a 500$ interconnect.....

marko · Post by **marko** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 12:51 am

25v caps on the rails seams very low.. would of thought 50v is better!

Xtian · Post by **Xtian** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 1:14 am

25V are on the MPS 2240...

marko · Post by **marko** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 1:16 am

Xtian wrote:25V are on the MPS 2240...

just re-read it and you used 40v, more like it!

Xtian · Post by **Xtian** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 1:30 am

Thx..

Post by **ttocs** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 6:06 am

Xtian wrote:
More then that I would pay to see the person that can hear the difference in the caps installed and tell the difference in the two.

I think your not very bright hey mate..??
everything you change in the signal path makes a difference, the railcaps are actually in the output signal path.
And i didn't only change the caps did i? The more changes you make the more difference.

There will allways be some people who say there's no difference between a 5$ interconnect and a 500$ interconnect.....

and I think you have a funny way of welcoming yerself into a pretty tight group of guys.... Yes, every little thing done like the wire was worth 1 hp, the caps must have been at least 3hp on that amp and I am willing to bet when you finished that you powered it up, on the polished heatsink and told yerself that it is 10x better then the one I might have next to me

. The rest of us just look at it and say it looks perty

which is all the difference really is. I will say it again that myself, you and the rest of us -would be lucky to be able to tell an properly set up a-b with yer amp so keep telling yourself you are superior or that I am not bright and all is happy in the universe.

I would say welcome to the phorum but what the fuck would that matter to the sound of your amp?

Xtian · Post by **Xtian** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 7:18 am

I would say welcome to the phorum but what the fuck would that matter to the sound of your amp?

you're right twice my friend, so let's start over....

I'm christian and i'm from belgium, age 38.
about 15 years ago i was one of the phoenix dealers in antwerp (belgium).
i've known the brand since '93 and loved and used them since.
So i had a few and worked with more, but i kept on lovin' the M and MS amps.
Let's say i'm a fan of the oldschool phoenix amps just as everybody else here

Now this is my first MPS amp and i like it alot..

The psu caps were leaking so i decided to replace the railcaps to...
It is powering a high sensitivity 4ohm fullrange driver in open baffle with addition of 1 4 ohm 10inch woofer per side
this setup is filtered @ 300hz 2nd order.
The first difference i noticed after the recap was a bit wider soundstage and the imaging was more detailed.

there is absolutely no power increase..!!

So again.. if anyone has any suggestions.. i'm willing to go far, but not as far as one of the other antwerp dealers who made a watercooled MPS2500

marko · Post by **marko** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 7:25 am

I'm not convinced a cap change will make a wider stage and better imaging but the caps you replaced were obviously faulty so maybe you just restored the amps sonic capabilities back to factory stock

Mark.

jammer750 · Post by **jammer750** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 7:54 am

Do the plexi. covers still fit on ?
The rail caps look to tall.
I like the look of the gold power supply caps.
What part # are they ?

Xtian · Post by **Xtian** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 7:59 am

I'm not convinced a cap change will make a wider stage and better imaging but the caps you replaced were obviously faulty so maybe you just restored the amps sonic capabilities back to factory stock

possibly... not going to argue that

Xtian · Post by **Xtian** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 8:07 am

Do the plexi. covers still fit on ?
The rail caps look to tall.
I like the look of the gold power supply caps.
What part # are they ?

indeed the railcaps are too high for the plexi, but because of the in home use that's no problem..
I'm planning on making a custom smoked plexi with cutouts for the caps and maybe a phoenix logo sandblasted on it

This are the psu caps: NFW-240
http://www.hificollective.co.uk/compone ... on_fw.html

Post by **ttocs** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 8:14 am

interesting that you never owned one before but now know that increasing the capacitence a wire small amount makes them sound better. Wonder how many of the others will follow since it is now so superior?

Sounds like a plecebo to me but then again I am not that bright...

Post by **Eric D** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 8:30 am

Yes, two of the speaker wires on the output of the amp are wired backwards.

Also, there is way too much tension on them. Over time they will break off the PCB from this.

The rail caps are not in the output signal path, how could they be? Changing them and the input supply caps will not change the sound of the amp. This is assuming you use something near the original values.

If you take the rail caps or the input caps and drastically reduce their value, then you will change the sound of the amp in a negative way. (it might not even work).

This is only my opinion, but using yellow RCA wires, and vomit brown input capacitors really goes a long way to make the amp look like a cheap flea market brand amp.

Polishing would look much better if you removed all the swirls...

If you think that changing these things makes the amp sound better, then stop wasting your effort. Just go buy an amp which sounds better from the start. I know this is the PG forum, and we all love PG, but there are better amps out there. They just cost more, and tend to be more rare.

Xtian · Post by **Xtian** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 8:50 am

funny how everyone is hassling about the 2125 while i asked a question about the 2240....??

and eric you're right, one speaker is faulty wired, that is corrected after i first connected it, these pics are right after i finished it..
and i did'nt reduce the value of the caps..the 2240 had: 15000µf 25V now: 22000µf 25V
2125 had: 10000µf 40V now: 22000µf 40V
the psu caps were 2200µf 16V on both, now 10000µf 16V