«Why does a dog lick his balls? — Because he can»
After seeing a teardown of the Neumann KH80 and negative reviews regarding the lifespan of CapXon electrolytic capacitors, I wondered: who manufactures the capacitors in my MM Pros?
So, armed with a hot glue gun (to carefully remove the plugs) and a long Phillips screwdriver, I disassembled one of the speakers by removing four screws. The two halves looked like this:
Right then, I noticed that "Cap-top" capacitors were being used—a completely obscure manufacturer. Please do not confuse them with the Italian supercapacitor manufacturer CAPTOP S.R.L.
I became interested in taking a closer look at the board containing both the power supply and the amplifier section; I also needed to note down the rated capacitance and voltage of the capacitors. After removing seven (UPD: +3 locking XLR & RCA connectors on the rear of the speaker) screws, I very carefully extracted the board:
Here is a list of the "Cap-top" electrolytic capacitors originally used in one of the speakers:
qty V-uF LxD
1 400-68 30*12
1 400-33 30*10
1 35-680 16*10
2 35-470 16*10
After giving it some thought, I decided to replace those no-name capacitors with something more reliable
Reviewing the available options—Rubycon, Nichicon/Nippon-Chemicon—and checking delivery times from the local Mouser reseller, I placed an order for these Nichicon capacitors (they turned out to be slightly larger, but that didn't cause any issues):
2 UCP2W680MHD 450-68 40*12
2 UCP2G330MPD 400-33 31.5*10
2 UHW1V681MPD6 35-680 20*10
4 UHW1V471MPD 35-470 16*10
After about six weeks, I received the capacitors
I waited for a free weekend to solder them in, a carefully process that took about eight hours. Here is the result:
As you can see in the last photo, I decided to add some sound-absorbing material—partly to eliminate resonance in the cables running from the amplifier to the speakers, especially since they have ferrite rings attached.
By the way, I used a neutral, high-temperature-resistant silicone sealant to secure the capacitors.
That’s all. Peace out.
After seeing a teardown of the Neumann KH80 and negative reviews regarding the lifespan of CapXon electrolytic capacitors, I wondered: who manufactures the capacitors in my MM Pros?
So, armed with a hot glue gun (to carefully remove the plugs) and a long Phillips screwdriver, I disassembled one of the speakers by removing four screws. The two halves looked like this:
I became interested in taking a closer look at the board containing both the power supply and the amplifier section; I also needed to note down the rated capacitance and voltage of the capacitors. After removing seven (UPD: +3 locking XLR & RCA connectors on the rear of the speaker) screws, I very carefully extracted the board:
qty V-uF LxD
1 400-68 30*12
1 400-33 30*10
1 35-680 16*10
2 35-470 16*10
After giving it some thought, I decided to replace those no-name capacitors with something more reliable
Reviewing the available options—Rubycon, Nichicon/Nippon-Chemicon—and checking delivery times from the local Mouser reseller, I placed an order for these Nichicon capacitors (they turned out to be slightly larger, but that didn't cause any issues):
2 UCP2W680MHD 450-68 40*12
2 UCP2G330MPD 400-33 31.5*10
2 UHW1V681MPD6 35-680 20*10
4 UHW1V471MPD 35-470 16*10
After about six weeks, I received the capacitors
I waited for a free weekend to solder them in, a carefully process that took about eight hours. Here is the result:
As you can see in the last photo, I decided to add some sound-absorbing material—partly to eliminate resonance in the cables running from the amplifier to the speakers, especially since they have ferrite rings attached.
By the way, I used a neutral, high-temperature-resistant silicone sealant to secure the capacitors.
That’s all. Peace out.
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