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Any amp repair guys on asr that every one trusts?

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Ssmokeyy

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Do u know what style these our in the picture? I have never seen a manufacturer use different brands of parts on the same boards of an item. Its like what they ran out of one brand of caps and just had another laying around and put them on. Seems fishy.

I just got pictures from another seller on ebay with a anthem mca 50 and it has the same caps brown on every amp module and in the same spots.
 
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antcollinet

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Do u know what style these our in the picture? I have never seen a manufacturer use different brands of parts on the same boards of an item. Its like what they ran out of one brand of caps and just had another laying around and put them on. Seems fishy.

I just got pictures from another seller on ebay with a anthem mca 50 and it has the same caps brown on every amp module and in the same spots.
Not fishy at all.

Pre retirement I worked in an electronics manufacturing organisation. For many (internal) part numbers we might have more than 1 equivalent part from a number of manufacturers. Purchasing were free to optimise the supply chain by purchasing from any of the approved suppliers for a given part. A lot of work went into ensuring every approved part for a given item were genuinely equivalent for the applications that item was specified for.
 
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Not fishy at all.

Pre retirement I worked in an electronics manufacturing organisation. For many (internal) part numbers we might have more than 1 equivalent part from a number of manufacturers. Purchasing were free to optimise the supply chain by purchasing from any of the approved suppliers for a given part. A lot of work went into ensuring every approved part for a given item were genuinely equivalent for the applications that item was specified for.
Yeah, sourcing from different suppliers is what everyone does. But usually it is changed batch-wise, so it is kind of weird that a single component (the amplifier in question) should have different sourced components. It could be that this specific amp was produced in between batches and they cleared out stock components.

Another explanation can be that there had been a faulty board or two and the seller had got his hands on another board from another amp which was from a different production batch hence the different components.
 

Roland68

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Take a look at the old brochures online, they also have black capacitors installed, no brown KME...
 
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Ssmokeyy

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Just got off the phone with George Meyer AV and there saying the brown caps should not be in this amp. They used all black caps from the factory on the mca 30. They said they would change them to muse caps and its going to be deep on cost.
 

sergeauckland

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My take on all this capacitor angst is to switch the thing on and use it. Does it hum? No, then be happy. Yes, get it fixed.

What I do with anything I buy used is to put it on the bench and measure it. If it meets spec, then what is there to worry about? If all caps pass a visual inspection, i.e. no bulging or leakage, then it's fine. If you don't have the means of measuring it, then again, if it passes a visual inspection and it works satisfactorily, what is the point of worrying about it?

S.
 

fpitas

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My take on all this capacitor angst is to switch the thing on and use it. Does it hum? No, then be happy. Yes, get it fixed.

What I do with anything I buy used is to put it on the bench and measure it. If it meets spec, then what is there to worry about? If all caps pass a visual inspection, i.e. no bulging or leakage, then it's fine. If you don't have the means of measuring it, then again, if it passes a visual inspection and it works satisfactorily, what is the point of worrying about it?

S.
I'm with you. I'd also make sure the caps weren't being over-voltaged in this case.
 

Johnplayerson

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The bigger black c aps shown in the video have the UCC nippen chemi con logo. The brown caps used are a replacement, and actually an upgrade over the original. Personally I would use the UCC KYB, or UCC KZN, and replace all the caps on the boards, DIY> IT actually it not that hard to learn. The main filter caps at 15000 uf, I also see the UCC chemicon logo. These should be fine. I cannot identify some of the smaller black caps, but it seems the amplifier was produced mostly with UCC, so may as well keep them the same. This is a project that could be done for 100 bucks, or less
 

Slayer

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Just got off the phone with George Meyer AV and there saying the brown caps should not be in this amp. They used all black caps from the factory on the mca 30. They said they would change them to muse caps and its going to be deep on cost.
If you are worried about cost, just send the amp in to ANTHEM.
Last year or maybe the year before (memory lapse today) I started having dropouts in my right channel on my MCA30 after 21 years of hard work. With all the family things I was dealing with, there was no time or patience for that matter for me to even take the time to diagnose the problem causing the issue.

So I called Anthem to discuss repair. I'll just say up front, really great guys to work with. After a long discussion, I decided to have it recapped fully restored, replace anything and everything that could or might need replacing in the near future. With shipping from the midwest to canada (plus insurance) and amp repair, I was all in for about $250 U.S. dollars. From the time I shipped it, to receiving it back, was a total of 2 weeks.

Once i received the amp back and fired it up, i was shocked i was still having those drop-outs. After various trouble shooting and checking with another amp, i was disappointed the MCA30 was still having a problem.
Contacted Anthem, they were very apologetic and somewhat surprised there was still this issue. So, they immediately faxed me a shipping label.
Exactly one week later I received the amp back, along with work sheet showing what was done. I don't recall all that was done, but the problem was with a soldering joint on the board, or cracked board to do with an xlr connector, so they replaced all the connectors and board.
I was shocked when I inspected the amp, it looked like a brand-new amp, just like when I bought it new. The only things that appeared not to be replaced was the heat sinks and power supply. Plugged it in, fired it up and all was good. Next day, they called me to make sure everything was good and apologized again for not being done correctly the first time and because of that, they made sure everything possible was replaced and working properly.
So, I see no reason why this won't last another 20 years.

In short, what I am saying is, unless you paid a lot for the amp already, send it to get it repaired, it's worth in my opinion. I knew, there was no one locally (and I didn't have the time) who could come close to the cost of what Anthem had quoted me. Plus having it done by the actual company itself, helped in giving me piece of mind. Glad I did, it all worked out great in the end. To me, this repaired amp is no different than a brand-new amp.
Since then, the amp is used almost every day, from about 6:00am to 8:00pm. No issues as of yet.

Good luck, and good listening.
 

Johnplayerson

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Seriously , with todays shipping costs one is looking at 250 just for shipping both ways. A total recap for 250 I also see very unlikely. Many hours just to assemble and disassemble. You must have had some magic fairy dust on your side.
 

solderdude

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Have a look at the solder joints !!!

When the caps have indeed been replaced in the last 10 years or so this is likely to be visible unless some really experienced solder-nut has been doing the rework and cleaned the PCB afterwards with extreme care. When the tech was this good he would have used 'better' caps anyway.
When there is a different 'shine' on the solder it may have been replaced over the years.

When the solder joints all look exactly the same it is extremely unlikely the parts have been changed.
 

Slayer

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Seriously , with todays shipping costs one is looking at 250 just for shipping both ways. A total recap for 250 I also see very unlikely. Many hours just to assemble and disassemble. You must have had some magic fairy dust on your side.
Yes, seriously. You only pay shipping one way (to get it there), they pay return shipping. Today's shipping cost from the U.S. is about $70 insured. give or take a few bucks.
As for the price, yes, i was somewhat shocked, which is why I chose to send it to them for repair vs doing it locally.

"magic fairy dust on my side" LOL, not hardly. Just an honest company taking care of it's customers, having pride in their products, offering long term repair service without the hassles many companies operating today seems to have forgotten all about. No, I won't mention those companies which are severely lacking in customer and warranty support, it would only derail this thread and turn into a bashing. Most members of ASR already know which companies these are.

My intention of my original reply post to the OP, was only to give him an option (a very good option in my opinion) for a very reasonable warrantied repair done by the manufacture. Which by your own response, your post would indicate, I got a very good deal. Therefore, one might say, it would be a Good idea for the OP to contact Anthem to inquire about service. Can't hurt to inquire, can it?
 
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Ssmokeyy

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Yea i just got an email back from anthem and they said no. The won't repair it.
 
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Ssmokeyy

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If i can't get this guy from ebay to take it back i will once i order the new caps.
 
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