CA-2010 -- to recap or not? Who has done it?

bangsezmax

Turntable Whisperer
Hey all -- I consider my CA-2010 the beating heart of my stereo system. I've listened to it pretty much every day for the last 12 years or so, since it became a part of my system. It's the perfect amp for my sonic tastes.

I am considering re-capping it. There's not anything wrong with the sound per se, but I figure at some point it will need to be done.

On the other hand, I'm nervous about doing lots of work and either a) it making no appreciable difference or b) it sounds worse instead of better.

I want to hear some real world experiences from people who have done this.

Did it make a big difference sonically?
Which caps should be replaced?
What should be used for replacements?
Are there gotchas one should be aware of ahead of time?
On the whole, was it worth the effort?

Thanks in advance for responses.
 
I rebuild the power supply in mine.
I thought the bass was a bit weak.

Made no difference at all.
YMMV.

I even had a stock one to A/B it with (and I had a proper A/B switch to do it with).


It's not difficult.
It can't hurt (unless you screw up).
 
Rebuilding the power supply is a minimal investment, and helps to keep it running.

Correct me if wrong, blhagstrom, but when the power supply goes, doesn't it risk taking out other things?

I have a totally recapped Sansui 9090db. Everything I liked got better, everything I was troubled by went away.
 
I've never seen a power supply failure that took out other things.

I've seen power supply failures that made everything stop working.

I've only worked on 100 or so different units so I'm sure I haven't seen everything. And I have seen a couple units that were fried front to back (power supply all the way to outputs) but who know what did that?

I tend to drag home cheap broken stuff and 90% needs deoxit and of the other 10%, maybe 1% is really hosed and the rest tend to be a few broken parts.

Now, on the other side of the coin. I've seen enough bad caps doing all sorts of strange things so I do not discourage re-capping these great old units.
A total re-cap does seem to make things sound better, but I have no proof.
 
I'm generally against it unless you're reasonably skilled. No good comes from tearing up PCB traces, disturbing wiring and putting in the randomly reversed part. Testing a large number of caps replaced in all manner of things, the number of bad ones is remarkably small in gear that gets used regularly. If it sits in storage for years, that's another story. If it's tubes, that's another story. Your Yamaha is probably in near perfect shape. I've seen as many noisy or otherwise defective transistors as bad caps, but everybody worries about caps. If you have bad parts, replacement will probably improve the sound. If not, expectation bias will make it sound better or worse, can't predict! :scratch2:
 
I'm not a stranger to recapping -- I've done an Advent 300 (pretty easy), a KLH Model 20 (ditto) and a Sansui QRX-999/9001. That Sansui was a major pain and I didn't even do the big power caps, just most of the other signal path stuff. I was overhauling it regardless because I had to redo that nasty switch board with the pass-throughs, so I figured what the heck, might as well recap what I could.

I think it sounded better -- clearer, really -- after the recap, but there's no way to really A/B that. And it could be that having reliable signals on that switch board made a difference as well.

My gut is that QC on Yamahas was a notch higher than on Sansuis at the time. Or maybe (probably) the design was better too. I do know I like the sound of the Yamaha more than my QRX-999.

At this point, I'm finding no real fault with the sound of my CA-2010. That's why I'm asking whose done it and how big was the difference. Trying to weigh the pros and cons . . .
 
Probably have done at least a dozen complete 2010 recaps.
 
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I did mine.

I bought it, turned it on to make sure it worked, and didn't turn it on again for two weeks until I had done a major refurb, including recapping.

Honestly, I buy some vintage gear to get top notch audio products at a bargain price. I'm just not interested in listening to out of spec aged components that are 30 years old. I want it to sound like it did when it was new! And I want it to be reliable.

Given how much you like it, I would get it done. But if you are not experienced or at least educated enough in electronics to understand what you are doing, don't do it yourself. I'm an electrical engineer and the CA-2010 was my second attempt after my A-700. It's not hard work, but I did lift a couple of traces that needed fixing. You do need to understand what you are doing.
 
And? Trouble spots? Sound changes? Recommendation? Inquiring minds want to know! :D

Recommend replacing both protect and class A switching relays while your in there. Switches usually need to be disassembled and cleaned. New lamps are also recommended.Fusible resistors are usually way out of tolerance.Recommend replacement of all the adjustment pots on the amplifier assemblies.New thermal compound for the output transistors of course.
Sounds like new when your through.
Trouble spots - wrangling the new main filters into place using the OEM brackets.
Don't forget the coupler switch on the rear panel - notorious for being badly oxidized. Also probably the easiest switch to disassemble.
Some "SONY bond" glue and possible corrosion of component leads to address.
 
Recommend replacing both protect and class A switching relays while your in there. Switches usually need to be disassembled and cleaned. New lamps are also recommended.Fusible resistors are usually way out of tolerance.Recommend replacement of all the adjustment pots on the amplifier assemblies.New thermal compound for the output transistors of course.
Sounds like new when your through.
Trouble spots - wrangling the new main filters into place using the OEM brackets.
Don't forget the coupler switch on the rear panel - notorious for being badly oxidized. Also probably the easiest switch to disassemble.
Some "SONY bond" glue and possible corrosion of component leads to address.
Great info, thanks.

I've already replaced the protect relay and de-oxited the coupler switch.

You have a model recommendation on the filters?
 
It made a difference for mine, but it was pretty beat. The power/protection board and EQ boards are easy to work on. The main amp boards are a little tricky, I think. Mine must have been run a lot in Class A because the solder joints for some components in the amp board were failing, leading to weird stuff happening.

But it was worth it, it's a great sounding amp, and it does nice things for vinyl.
 
Not that I really know anything about electronics; but I look at it as a case for preservation. Some will say if it ain't broke don't fix it. However, when it comes to 30+ year old electronics, especially if you care that they last longer, I'd say a refurb is worth doing; if you know what you're doing. I don't, so I pay people to do it for me...(thanks Dave!).
 
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