KennyG
Member
**please note that I have a word doc with pics of the procedure if you guys want to see a better organized presentation** [email protected]
I have been toying around with the idea of how to go about recapping my sequels. Well guys.....I finally did it!! WOW...WOW...WOW...
I will go on the record and say that if you have sequels this would be the #1 mod/upgrade that you should be considering. I am a true beliver now and you will be too when you finally do this upgrade. There is a few problems with the work that needs to be done and the following pictures and comments will show some of these.
1. The removal of the amplifier units is amazingly easy. Remove 4 screws, unclip the 2 wires to the woofer, and unscrew 3 terminals to remove the wires for the panel. Then lift out and put on your work bench. I noticed when I got it on the bench that all the connections were labelled on the circuit board in large letters – so to reinstall just read the circuit board and hook up the loose wiring – TOTALLY FOOL PROOF!!
2. After removal I sat down and had a coffee break and just identified where the caps were that I was replacing. Hmmmmmm... There are some big caps here that could pack quite a punch... please unplug your speakers and let them power down for a few minutes before removing amp. I <bzzz> found out <zap> the hard way...<twitch> (just kidding)
3. So to the work at hand. I decided to remove one cap at a time, remove old solder, dry fit the new cap, hot glue into place and then solder connections. This worked well and made the job easier for me... you can maybe find your pace and rhythm but I would suggest doing it this way, job went sooooooo smooth!!
4. I removed the mounting screws to the board, the assorted wiring to the speaker cable terminals, and lifted the board off the unit. Placed it on its back and did the first cap.
5. The first thing I noticed was the age and size difference of the caps. The original Solens that were in the board had a date stamp..... 1989!! Almost 20 years old!! I really got excited at this point and thought there was no way to go wrong by installing the caps...
6. I decided to remove the 270uf cap on the back side of the unit and replace it.
7. I just cut the ends of the cap, there was some double sided tape holding it down. I just gently rocked it back and forth and it came off fairly easy. All the caps are mounted this way.
8. I had to piggy back 2 caps for the 270uf. The small guy was a 250uf and the bigger cap was a 20uf. On this cap be careful to not cover up the hole for the mounting screw....look carefully and take time to position correctly.
9. I then turned my attention to the 100uf just to the north of the 270uf....hmmm looks easy...
But then came the nasty surprise when the comparrison was made between old and new.
(I already knew about this...just did this part for the drama...LOL) There was a small size difference (pea campared to an orange)....hmmm looks like I may have to do something creative. I removed the cap and flipped the the board over....I will show you later what I did.
10. I noticed while taking out the connections out the blue connector on the board....ALL THE WIRES WERE GREEN WITH CORROSION!!!! So I had to remove the wiring, the connector and hard wire straight to the board. Pretty easy and good upgrade too. I used Cardas hook up wire and solder for the connections.
11. You will notice the 15uf cap on the right of picture below, they are easy to replace, very straight forward!! You will notice also the wires that were replaced and the absence of the little blue junction block....much cleaner. But what about that 100uf capacitor....hmmm what to do....what to do.....
12. I had to remote mount it. I wanted to stay with a polypropylene capacitor and the issue will be size. I believe that the trade off of what I did far outweighs the benefit of the final result.
You will see the 2 15uf on the right board and the huge 100uf mounted to the left board. The hook up wire was Cardas – Sooo now off to take a listen.
After install one board I ended up doing the other and installing it back – took an afternoon (2-3 hours).
When I first fired up the speakers I noticed something almost immediately – before the speakers had to warm up sort of if they were unplugged....had to wait for 5 min before the panels would come to life. They were charged up and to go almost immediately...hmmmm 20 year old caps could do that? Right away the difference was very audible – the speakers lost a sort of beaming and booming nature that they had. Everything tightened up and became very very open in comparison to the old caps. After about 20-25 hours they fully broke in and now I can say that this mod made my old sequels II come back from the dead.
THIS IS A NIGHT AND DAY MOD.
For about $80 and 3-4 hours I got the return of what you may have to spend thousands of dollars to do with electronics. May I suggest you please use poly caps – they don’t have to be the designer logo caps....just audio grade and poly. I would also suggest that you plan out this project and take your time, but you definitely cannot get a bigger bang for your buck!!:music:
I have been toying around with the idea of how to go about recapping my sequels. Well guys.....I finally did it!! WOW...WOW...WOW...
I will go on the record and say that if you have sequels this would be the #1 mod/upgrade that you should be considering. I am a true beliver now and you will be too when you finally do this upgrade. There is a few problems with the work that needs to be done and the following pictures and comments will show some of these.
1. The removal of the amplifier units is amazingly easy. Remove 4 screws, unclip the 2 wires to the woofer, and unscrew 3 terminals to remove the wires for the panel. Then lift out and put on your work bench. I noticed when I got it on the bench that all the connections were labelled on the circuit board in large letters – so to reinstall just read the circuit board and hook up the loose wiring – TOTALLY FOOL PROOF!!
2. After removal I sat down and had a coffee break and just identified where the caps were that I was replacing. Hmmmmmm... There are some big caps here that could pack quite a punch... please unplug your speakers and let them power down for a few minutes before removing amp. I <bzzz> found out <zap> the hard way...<twitch> (just kidding)
3. So to the work at hand. I decided to remove one cap at a time, remove old solder, dry fit the new cap, hot glue into place and then solder connections. This worked well and made the job easier for me... you can maybe find your pace and rhythm but I would suggest doing it this way, job went sooooooo smooth!!
4. I removed the mounting screws to the board, the assorted wiring to the speaker cable terminals, and lifted the board off the unit. Placed it on its back and did the first cap.
5. The first thing I noticed was the age and size difference of the caps. The original Solens that were in the board had a date stamp..... 1989!! Almost 20 years old!! I really got excited at this point and thought there was no way to go wrong by installing the caps...
6. I decided to remove the 270uf cap on the back side of the unit and replace it.
7. I just cut the ends of the cap, there was some double sided tape holding it down. I just gently rocked it back and forth and it came off fairly easy. All the caps are mounted this way.
8. I had to piggy back 2 caps for the 270uf. The small guy was a 250uf and the bigger cap was a 20uf. On this cap be careful to not cover up the hole for the mounting screw....look carefully and take time to position correctly.
9. I then turned my attention to the 100uf just to the north of the 270uf....hmmm looks easy...
But then came the nasty surprise when the comparrison was made between old and new.
(I already knew about this...just did this part for the drama...LOL) There was a small size difference (pea campared to an orange)....hmmm looks like I may have to do something creative. I removed the cap and flipped the the board over....I will show you later what I did.
10. I noticed while taking out the connections out the blue connector on the board....ALL THE WIRES WERE GREEN WITH CORROSION!!!! So I had to remove the wiring, the connector and hard wire straight to the board. Pretty easy and good upgrade too. I used Cardas hook up wire and solder for the connections.
11. You will notice the 15uf cap on the right of picture below, they are easy to replace, very straight forward!! You will notice also the wires that were replaced and the absence of the little blue junction block....much cleaner. But what about that 100uf capacitor....hmmm what to do....what to do.....
12. I had to remote mount it. I wanted to stay with a polypropylene capacitor and the issue will be size. I believe that the trade off of what I did far outweighs the benefit of the final result.
You will see the 2 15uf on the right board and the huge 100uf mounted to the left board. The hook up wire was Cardas – Sooo now off to take a listen.
After install one board I ended up doing the other and installing it back – took an afternoon (2-3 hours).
When I first fired up the speakers I noticed something almost immediately – before the speakers had to warm up sort of if they were unplugged....had to wait for 5 min before the panels would come to life. They were charged up and to go almost immediately...hmmmm 20 year old caps could do that? Right away the difference was very audible – the speakers lost a sort of beaming and booming nature that they had. Everything tightened up and became very very open in comparison to the old caps. After about 20-25 hours they fully broke in and now I can say that this mod made my old sequels II come back from the dead.
THIS IS A NIGHT AND DAY MOD.
For about $80 and 3-4 hours I got the return of what you may have to spend thousands of dollars to do with electronics. May I suggest you please use poly caps – they don’t have to be the designer logo caps....just audio grade and poly. I would also suggest that you plan out this project and take your time, but you definitely cannot get a bigger bang for your buck!!:music:
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