Using an Accuphase E-202 in today's age. Am I missing something?

[DanielT]

Wow thanks for such a detailed reply.

Note I'm no expert though.

Isn’t that a Harman Kardon vintage receiver?

Yes, a nice little bugger

Not that much power in it though. But with fairly sensitive speakers and or active sub plus LP-HP filter then it can sound quite good, even at higher volumes.
(Best would be stereo bass boxes working up to around 500Hz powered by their own powerful amp. Above 500 Hz speakers plus HK330C)

Regarding sensitive speakers. Your speakers have 91 dB sensitivity. With your amplifier power, you can see that you don't have to worry about whether you have enough amp power.That's good.

 

[aamwgm]

Are your speakers sealed or ported? If ported, where is the port placed?

Sorry my last reply wasn't very detailed.
The speakers are rear ported, which makes the situation worse.

I want the view. Plus I won't put up any thick curtains, even if that would help sound-wise. I prioritize the view.

Yeah, that's my take as well. Not everything can be sacrificed for just better sound.
You have a gorgeous view!

I need to look into EQ-ing as well.

---

On the other hand, just this morning, my E-202 developed a hum in the left channel only. The hum was not input specific: and it remained independent of volume. I turned the amplifier off and back on again and the hum disappeared.

A brief online search says this could be a bad capacitor in the amplifier.

 

[respice finem]

If it's not recapped, and been working countless hours, you might consider recapping, before a capacitor fails, possibly taking out more parts.
BTW: The cooler it runs, the longer the time between failures, hence my hint to put the amp on the lowboard.

 

[aamwgm]

If it's not recapped, and been working countless hours, you might consider recapping, before a capacitor fails, possibly taking out more parts.
BTW: The cooler it runs, the longer the time between failures, hence my hint to put the amp on the lowboard.

Indeed, and based on the other replies, recapping an amplifier of this age isn't trivial (technically and financially).

 

[respice finem]

A good "oldschool" repair shop should be capable of it. There are even repair shops specialized on vintage gear.
That said, nothing is guaranteed except death and taxes.
But what's the altenative? Doing it right, and timely, you retain the value of the amp. Documentation is available:

Elektrotanya for electronics experts

Electronics forum for electronics experts to repair defective appliance.

elektrotanya.com

 

[aamwgm]

A good "oldschool" repair shop should be capable of it. There are even repair shops specialized on vintage gear.
That said, nothing is guaranteed except death and taxes.
But what's the altenative? Doing it right, and timely, you retain the value of the amp. Documentation is available:

Elektrotanya for electronics experts

Electronics forum for electronics experts to repair defective appliance.

elektrotanya.com

Just spoke to my otherwise trusted technician (the only one in my area, unfortunately). His turnaround time is going to be approximately 2 months.

 

[respice finem]

That's fast (seriously). I would get a small classD "chip amp" and later keep it as fallback, problem solved.

 

[Mart68]

Just spoke to my otherwise trusted technician (the only one in my area, unfortunately). His turnaround time is going to be approximately 2 months.

Get it done!

 

[DanielT]

I need to look into EQ-ing as well.

Regarding EQ see #23 about WiiM Mini. I think it's a neat solution for little money.
I didn't know about that so this summer I bought a $7 PEQ app,:

...plus a free app to send out tone sweeps and see FR in a graph. It works but is quite clumsy to insert the EQ bands in the app with the slider it has. On the other hand only $7. Works to get the worst better in the bass area.
I use the LDAC Bluetooth codec for this. Plus listening to music via Spotify via that LDAC.
That solution might work for you too, although I would probably (which I will) buy a WiiM Mini now that they have the PEQ functions.

There are of course many other solutions. This combination is used by many:
Free EQ:

Equalizer APO

Download Equalizer APO for free. A system-wide equalizer for Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 / 11. Equalizer APO is a parametric / graphic equalizer for Windows. It is implemented as an Audio Processing Object (APO) for the system effect infrastructure introduced with Windows Vista.

sourceforge.net

Measurement microphone (which is of course better than the microphone in the mobile phone):

Order miniDSP UMIK-1 Measurement Microphone

Buy the UMIK-1 online at SoundImports ✓ Same day shipping ✓ Low shipping rates

www.soundimports.eu

Plus this free program to measure the whole thing:

REW room acoustics and audio device measurement and analysis software

REW is free software for room acoustic measurement, loudspeaker measurement and audio device measurement and analysis

www.roomeqwizard.com

Advantage if you choose APO, UMIK-1 and REW is that many have that combination so there are many with experience you can ask for help. If needed.

 

[DanielT]

On the other hand, just this morning, my E-202 developed a hum in the left channel only. The hum was not input specific: and it remained independent of volume. I turned the amplifier off and back on again and the hum disappeared.

A brief online search says this could be a bad capacitor in the amplifier.

Then you have no choice. Or rather, if I were you, I wouldn't even use the E-202 anymore, but would look for a good repairman who had done an overhaul.
You can ask here on ASR if anyone knows of a good repairman in France.Maybe @daniboun or @VintageFlanker can give you some tips?

It must be possible to find someone good who has time now to overhaul your amp:

https://www.jesuisreparateur.fr/reparation/materiel-hifi

 

[aamwgm]

Look what the cat brought in.

 

[respice finem]

Nice cat

But still, it will run too hot IMHO with so little room over it (the amp, not the cat LOL).

 

[DanielT]

View attachment 475684

Look what the cat brought in.

Have you bought an Accuphase E-350? It looks like it. If so, congratulations!

Damn, those Accuphase machines look and are stylish. The Ferraris of the Hifi world.

 

[respice finem]

E-250 according to signature

 

[DanielT]

E-250 according to signature

@aamwgm should clarify for us. He said in #54
I did find an E-350 in my area at an asking price of €3000.
I've not found the courage to drive to the location to pick up the amplifier, and to cough up the amount.

Check out the pictures, here Aamwgm's Accuphase:


This is what an Accuphase E-350 looks like:

And this is what an Accuphase E-250 looks like:

 

[aamwgm]

This is indeed the 350.

But still, it will run too hot IMHO with so little room over it (the amp, not the cat LOL).

The wood on top is a border; reaching inside, there's a lot of room on top of the amplifier.
It seems to be running cooler than my older E-202; which was running quite cool as well.

E-250 according to signature

The 250 in my display picture and (outdated) signature is from my office (one of the two hifi setups in my home).

As @DanielT spotted, this is the E-350 that I drove up to Rotterdam (from my tiny Belgian town, Waregem) to pick up. It is barely used and in mint condition: not a single sign of wear on the amplifier. I'll now update my signature

I've been listening to it all day today; and at the outset, I can say that it "sounds" more transparent. I had to lower the Bass gain on the E-202, but with this unit I'm satisfied with the defaults (so far).

Tomorrow, my XLR cables are arriving: male to female for the Lyngdorf CD-2 and the Jack to XLR for the Scarlett Solo DAC. These will go into the two balanced inputs of the Accuphase which should help with the already little hum I'm noticing on this amplifier (at obscenely high gain levels).

I must also say, that this is my endgame setup. I am content.
Now, as per the very useful advice I got on this forum, I'll start working on getting my room acoustics right.

 

[aamwgm]

Have you bought an Accuphase E-350? It looks like it. If so, congratulations!

Damn, those Accuphase machines look and are stylish. The Ferraris of the Hifi world.

Thank you!
I am on cloud #9, honestly.
I know all competent amplifiers are supposed to be neutral; but yeah, I do enjoy the downright superb build quality and the drop dead gorgeous looks. My E-250 already looks gorgeous; but the minimal fascia of the E-350 is even nicer. Its a big machine: quite a bit more imposing than the E-250 and makes the latter look like a baby amplifier.

 

[aamwgm]

Connected the CD player and Scarlett Solo using the balanced XLR inputs and my mind is blown. The humming/buzzing, which was already reduced with the E-350, is GONE. Yeah, it’s simply not there.

This alone makes it 100% worth the money.

 

[nanook]

If it's not recapped, and been working countless hours, you might consider recapping, before a capacitor fails, possibly taking out more parts.
BTW: The cooler it runs, the longer the time between failures, hence my hint to put the amp on the lowboard.

The Accuphase integrated amps (except the class-A gear of course) did run on a fairly low bias current and thus didn't get hot at moderate volume. In contrast many Harman-Kardon amplifiers got really hot even at low volume - the smaller caps near the heat-sink often were dry.

A repair shop should be able to do a recapping properly. I wouldn't spend the amount of money it'll cost when you send it to Accuphase service.
At that time lead based solder was used, so around 320°C should be sufficient for soldering; it likely is a single-sided PCB, so desoldering is easy anyways.
New caps should be from a well known manufacturer and rated a couple of thousand hours @ 105°C (e.g. Panasonic FC or FM series) and the amp will very likely not need another recap in your life.
Usually you can leave the big reservoir caps in the power supply untouched - except they run close to their voltage rating, the top is bulging or they smell like fish....

Some people do run their gear 24/7 because "it sounds better". I wouldn't recommend that - the caps wear out and you'd waste a lot of energy. The only reasonable argument might be the stabilization of the bias current in the power-amplifier, but that's pretty much on target after maybe 10 minutes.

 

[aamwgm]

Some people do run their gear 24/7 because "it sounds better". I wouldn't recommend that - the caps wear out and you'd waste a lot of energy.

Yeah, I've heard this before. I did smell fish the moment I heard it from Paul of PS audio. Needless to say, since then, I started turning my equipment off even more promptly :-D