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Bocama LA-224B followed me home

RJee

RJee

Active Member
Hi guys, you warned me: tube gear is addictive.

This fellow followed me home yesterday. You may also know the Lafayette version of it.

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It's a cute and small EL86 integrated from the sixties in (for its age) pristine and unrestored condition. All original (I guess) hitachi tubes putting out around 10 watts. It is now playing on my kef101s, worst match ever, but still ok.

Also caps are still original Suzuki ones. Looks like no one has been in the inside of this one yet.

So a recap will be in order. If you have any tips of what caps to use to replace the Suzuki pio's, please let me know.

Besides a recap, should I keep it original, or are there must-do mods to up spec my new little friend?

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Cheers,

RJ
 
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These are the insides:

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Strange cap on transformer:

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And easiest cap-list ever:

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The PIO cap across the transformer primary I would replace with a modern safety cap. Caps not rated for that duty tend to blow up. Here, it would be an X1Y1 rated cap. Not sure if you might need something different for higher line voltages.
 
gadget73 said:
The PIO cap across the transformer primary I would replace with a modern safety cap. Caps not rated for that duty tend to blow up. Here, it would be an X1Y1 rated cap. Not sure if you might need something different for higher line voltages.
Click to expand...


I agree. That pio has no place there. But do I need a cap there at all? What is it for? -probably line filtering, but anyway, necessary?
 
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its line to chassis coupling. They do that for transients and to provide a "ground" connection. Its not a safety thing, its more to drain off static and such. It was common practice in the days before grounded power cords. The problem is that the old type capacitors could short out and make the chassis live. Or they can blow up. See evidence of explosion from old style non-rated parts here:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=619669


I expect that transformer primary is actually two 110v windings. In parallel, you ran it from 110 volts. In series, you run it from 220v. The voltage switch topside probably manages that. The Lafayette version doesn't have the dual voltage transformer so its not shown. A CL90 thermistor on the power line will knock down the voltage some. If not enough, use one on each side of the power line.
 
gadget73 said:
its line to chassis coupling. They do that for transients and to provide a "ground" connection. Its not a safety thing, its more to drain off static and such. It was common practice in the days before grounded power cords. The problem is that the old type capacitors could short out and make the chassis live. Or they can blow up.
Click to expand...

So? Should I put a cap back there? And if so, can anyone advise me what to use?
 
For signal caps (PIO) I like the Russian K40Y-9 PIOs. Just make sure to put heat-shrink over the caps as they are metal body.

-D
 
RJee said:
So? Should I put a cap back there? And if so, can anyone advise me what to use?
Click to expand...

Use a film cap of at least 300VAC rating, that has Y2/X1 rating. This one should be OK. Mouser # 80-R413I21005000K
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...=sGAEpiMZZMv1cc3ydrPrF0/KYujtVgoKTPK4vDXwjQs=

The reason for this is the Safety caps fail OPEN, not short like a regular cap will. If it fails short, you have full rail voltage on the chassis, and it can KILL you if you touch the chassis, and aren't isolated from ground. especially with an ungrounded cord.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. The place I want to order most of my caps and some other bits only has a 250vac safety cap with the Y2X1 rating will that be enough or shouldn't I get lower than 300?
 
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