Testing the SMSL SU-1 DAC with a TEAC VRDS-20 CD player and Squeezebox Touch

Maybe I shouldn't say "testing". It more like a simple listening comparison...

A while back I posted about a video jukebox project that plays music from my media server through a PC connected to my TV and soundbar, and displays trippy visuals synced to the music in 4k resolution at 60 fps. I recently put together a better audio system in the living room and wanted to connect the jukebox to it (and to eventually get rid of the soundbar). The jukebox PC has line outputs that I could connect to the stereo system, but the quality of the audio from the PC is not great, so I bought a USB DAC to connect between the PC and the stereo.

The stereo system currently consists of a 25 year old Krell KAV-300i integrated amp (recently recapped), a 30 year old TEAC VRDS-20 CD player, and a 15 year old Logitech Squeezebox Touch streaming player. Speakers are 20 year old Canton Ergo 22 DC bookshelf type (recently recapped), and there's a new SVS 3000 Micro subwoofer.

The test set-up. The little black box on top center is the SU-1 DAC. The white thing is a wireless router.

The new DAC is an SMSL SU-1, very popular among Youtube reviewers and on audio forums, and cheap, too- $80 via amazon.com. There's a good technical review here. It has USB, TOSLINK optical, and coaxial digital inputs. There is a single button on the front panel to select the input. I plugged the USB cable into the jukebox and analog outputs to the Krell and it started working without any messing around (it's powered by the USB port). It definitely sounded a LOT better than using the computer audio out to connect to the Krell, so I count that as a successful project completion.

This is the SMSL SU-1 DAC guts. 

Then I wondered if the new DAC (and its analog output) would sound any different/better than the DACs (and analog outputs) in the CD player and the Squeezebox.

The TEAC VDRS-20 CD player cost about $2500 new in the early 90s (that's equivalent to $5600 of today's dollars). It might seem ridiculous to compare its DAC/analog output to that of a new, $80 DAC. However, with improvements in technology, I think it's entirely possible that a $80 DAC might get the best of a 30 year old $2500 CD player.

The Squeezebox Touch cost $300 when it was new, in 2010 (that's $433 in today's dollars). It seems more reasonable to compare the new DAC to it, simply based on the similarity of the prices. However, technology has changed a lot- the iPhone was released in 2007 and look how far things have come. Maybe the new DAC will blow the Squeezebox out of the water. Let's see.

Note: I'm not an audio reviewer, and my vocabulary does not include the purple superlatives that audio reviewers often use. I'll tell you if I hear a difference and what I think of it. But that's about it.

Another note: The CD player, DAC, and amplifier are stacked so cables between them are short and identical. I expect no audible differences based on the cables.

First test: CD player balanced analog output vs unbalanced analog output

Balanced I/Os were originally used in stage and recording studio equipment to allow long cable runs without signal degradation. AFAIK they started showing up in hi-fi system components in the 90s, and seem to be becoming more common, even in less expensive gear, at least when the equipment's form factor allows the larger XLR connectors, and the budget allows for their cost. 

I played several CDs and switched between the the balanced and unbalanced outputs. The only difference I noticed was that the balanced output seemed to be at a slightly higher level than the unbalanced outputs. Otherwise I could not hear any difference between them. For the remaining tests, I used the unbalanced analog output from the CD player because the SU-1 DAC only has unbalanced analog outputs.

Second Test: CD player unbalanced analog out vs DAC coax in and unbalanced analog out

The VRDS-20 allows both analog output and digital outputs to be active at the same time, so I connected the unbalanced analog output to the Krell amp and the unbalanced analog output from the SU-1 DAC to another input on the Krell amp. The CD player coax output connected to the SU-1 coax input.

During playback I could instantly switch the inputs on the Krell to compare the sound from the CD player's internal DAC (a Philips TDA1547 bitstream type) and analog stage to the SU-1 (an AKM4493S DAC chip) DAC and analog stage. I could not hear a level difference - they were very closely matched.

After swapping multiple CDs, switching back and forth between the CD player and the DAC,  and careful listening, I could not hear any difference between the two. 

Third Test: CD player unbalanced analog out vs DAC optical input and unbalanced analog out 

I connected a toslink cable between the CD player and SU-1 DAC, switched the DAC input to optical and tried again. Same result. I was unable to hear any difference between the CD player's unbalanced output and the SU-1 DAC. 

Conclusion?

The fact that I couldn't hear any difference between the CD player's analog output and the SU-1 DAC doesn't mean there aren't any differences, only that any differences were too small for me to hear them. My speakers are not especially great, and maybe the room is not set up in an ideal manner for them. The CD player is 30 years old and hasn't been serviced (recapped), so it could be operating at less than ideal performance. Finally, I'm 66 years old and my ears aren't what they used to be (too many ZZ Top concerts and too many hours around high volume dental suction), especially at high frequencies. 

OK, this time with headphones

My speakers aren't so great, so I repeated the both the coaxial and optical input tests using my Koss ESP/950 electrostatic headphones with their companion E90 amplifier plugged into the tape loop on the Krell amp. These headphones are considerably better at sound reproduction that my (or just about any other) speakers, but they won't reveal anything about the soundstage you might hear with properly set-up speakers.

Result

Unchanged. I was not able to hear any differences between the the CD player's DAC and the SU-1 DAC. Maybe the SU-1 is that good. Maybe my ears are that bad. All I know for sure is that there's no point for me to spend any more on a DAC, except to get more or specific I/Os that might be useful in my system.

Squeezebox Touch vs SMSL SU-1

I repeated the coax and optical tests with the SB's unbalanced analog output connected to one input of the amp and the SU-1 DAC. I tried with speakers and with headphones. The squeezebox doesn't allow analog and digital output at the same time, so I couldn't switch back and forth as readily as I could with the CD player. I did the best I could. Result: same. I was unable to hear any differences between the analog output of the SB and the analog output of the SU-1 DAC.

Final notes

I ran into the Audio Science Review of the SU-1 DAC after I wrote most of this post. I also found their VRDS-20 review, posted on the day after I ordered the SU-1 DAC while I was adding links to this post. Stereophile did measurements on the Squeezebox Touch that can be seen here.

Comparing the measurements in the three reviews it is clear that the technology has indeed improved and the SU-1 DAC is much better than the DACs in both the VRDS-20 and the Squeezebox, and the Squeezebox is a bit better than the CD player.

Some people commented that the SU-1 produces popping noises audible during silent passages and between tracks when used as a USB DAC on a Windows 11 PC. I have not had any problems like that in several hours of listening through my Windows 10 PC. In my long experience, problems of any sort on Windows PCs are frequently OS or configuration problems. Maybe my windows configuration is somehow different from others. Maybe SMSL changed the firmware in the DACs coming out of the factory. We'll probably never know. If I start to have any problems with the SU-1 I'll update this post.

For me, the only reason to spend more on a DAC would be to get functions and I/O that the SU-1 doesn't have.

1982 Luxman RX103 Stereo Receiver

Update 24/10/2:

I'm going to try to recap this thing. It's going to be quite a project. I'll post photos as I go along, probably one PCB at a time, but it will depend on how hard it is to get at them and put them back. 

I went through the service manual and made a spreadsheet listing all the electrolytic caps, then went to Mouser Electronics and selected replacements and placed an order.

The cap spreadsheet is here.

I'll attempt to get the suckface working again, too.

Update 24/08/31:

I just realized that the blogger program didn't provide links to large images. I'll try to fix it.

Original post:

I recently acquired a 1982 vintage Luxman RX103 "suck-face" stereo receiver. Luxman is a high end Japanese brand that you don't see much of in the US. More info here. This thing puts out 90 W/channel, can drive 2 Ohm loads, and has a built in phono preamp for MM and MC cartridges. 

The unit is working now, but for how much longer? I got it thinking I might recap it and keep using it for a long time. Then I opened it up and what I saw made my blood run cold! There are at least 24 circuit boards with 157 electrolytic caps that will need replacement. They don't make 'em like this any more (thank God!).

If I can work up the courage to start taking it apart, I may try a recap job on it. I'm not sure when, so I thought I'd post some photos now because I didn't see many quality photos of the insides anywhere online. You can download the service manual here.

Enjoy!

The front panel. Very 80s weird, isn't it?

Rear panel. Antenna connectors on the upper left, speakers on upper right- weird connector type for plain wire. That was before the audio marketing Gods decided that we need $1000 speaker cables that look like you could use them to jump start a bulldozer.

Top view. Look at that heatsink! Look at those cables! Look at all those PCBs!

Bottom view. Look at those crazy output transistor packages! Look at the cables! I count 10 PCBs in this picture.

Power supply board. I count 32 electrolytic caps in this photo. It's actually pretty nice that they kept the input switches at the back, close to the jacks.

Power amplifier board, bottom side.

Filter switches. Notice all the cable plugs are labeled and each wire has a distinctive mark or color- nice!

I'm not sure what this board is, but there's the headphone jack.

AM/FM tuner board. I count 36 electrolytic caps in this photo.

Power transformer and a few relays.

Nope, not sure what this board is for.

Nope, not this one either. You can see a little of the suck-face mechanism under the green PCB.

Original Elna power amp power supply filter caps, still looking healthy after 42 years.

I'm not sure what this board is for. Do you think they used enough cables?

Restoring a 40 year old Soundcraftsmen PM860 amplifier

Back in the mid 80s I was experimenting with DIY loudspeakers a lot. I wanted an amplifier that produced a lot of power and was indestructible, so I bought a Soundcraftsmen PM860 for about $400. It served me well, and never complained about anything I connected to it, including DIY electrostatic speakers and woofers. It sounded great, too!

Basic specs: The PM860 is a two-channel, 205 watt amplifier (each channel, 8 Ohms) with a power bandwidth of 20 Hz-20 kHz. IM and THD is 0.05% at 1/4 watt and full rated power. Frequency response is 20 Hz-20 kHz, ±0.1 dB; s/n ratio is 105 dB, and high level sensitivity is 1.5V. Features include a 2-speed fan and clip indicators for each channel. The output stage has 6 power MOSFETs in each channel. Dimensions are 5 x 8.5 x 14- weight is 22 lbs.

Amplifier front before cleaning and recapping.

I used this amp all through the 90s, even after I stopped building speakers, and then it ended up in a storage box. I recently pulled it out to see if it was still working and ran into those darned 1/4" TRS input jacks (why'd they do that?) and couldn't find the adapters that I used to use, so I replaced them with some gold plated phono sockets. I measured the DC offset at the outputs and found -7 mV on channel A and +11 mV on channel B - no problems there, so safe to connect speakers. It worked perfectly and sounded great, however, I don't trust 40 year old electrolytic caps, so it's time for another recap job..,

Rear of the amp after replacing the TRS jacks with phono connectors, but before cleaning and recapping. Normally the fan turns slowly and almost (you can't hear it from more than about 6" away) silently, but if the heatsink or power transformer heat up, the fan speeds up. 

Here's the deal with electrolytic caps: they have a limited lifetime based on operating temperature, voltage, and current. If you operate the cap below any of those specified values, the lifespan increases. As with almost all things electronic, temperature is a huge factor in the lifetime. A basic rule of thumb is that for every 10C drop in operating temperature, you double the life of the capacitor. So a capacitor that is rated for 3000 hours at 100V @ 5A @ 85C should last 6000 hours at 75C, 12000 hours at 65C, 24000 hours at 55C, etc. So when you see capacitor specs with a lifetime of 2000 hours, don't be alarmed (unless you intend to abuse that capacitor).

When electrolytic caps sit unused for a long time (like those in this amplifier had done when it was in storage) it is best to power the device up slowly using a variable transformer to ramp the voltage up and allow the caps some time to "form" the dielectric. I didn't have a variable transformer so I just powered it up. Fortunately, there were no problems.

I hunted down a set of schematics online (that you can DL here). Pages 3 and 6 apply to this amplifier. This amp uses something called phase control regulation to limit inrush current to the power supply and to keep the DC rails at +/-70V. This video has a good explanation of the power circuit at about 13 minutes in:

When you first turn the power on, you can hear the PCR circuit working- it charges up the main filter caps by turning the rectifiers on and off so you hear a quiet thump thump thump sound coming from the power transformer until the caps are fully charged.

PM860 power supply schematic with electrolytic caps highlighted in yellow. The lower right quarter of the schematic is just controlling the fan speed based on the temperatures at three sensors (mounted on the two heatsinks and transformer) at the middle of the page. 

One channel of the PM860 amplifier schematic with electrolytic caps highlighted in yellow. The other channel is identical. Note the input capacitor C1 (far left side of schematic) is a nonpolar electrolytic.

I started the usual way, by making a list of all the electrolytic capacitors in the amp, then checked against the schematic, measured the sizes of existing caps to ensure the new ones are going to fit, and ordered from Mouser. I used Nichicon UKW series parts where I could, but a few weren't available in that series so I selected others that were good, low ESR, long-life subs for the originals. 

For most of them I ordered higher voltage caps than the originals. The main filter caps were 11,000 uF at 75v with amplifier rails that sit at about 72V. That's not a lot of headroom. One thing that kills electrolytic caps quickly is operating at too high voltage, even for a few seconds. I ordered 13,000 uF caps rated for 100V that are rated for 18,000 hour lifetime at >7A ripple current at 85C. This amp normally runs cool, so I expect those caps will last a many years longer than I will. Assuming the operating temperature is 55C (it's actually probably closer to room temperature most of the time), those caps should last 8x18,000= 144,000 hours. That's 24 hours per day for 16.4 years (at rated voltage and current). At a more typical 500 hours per year, that's 288 years! Of course I wouldn't really trust them to last that long, so I'm planning on replacing them again in a hundred years or so. The rest of the caps will have to be replaced again much sooner. Here are the parts I ordered, a little over $70 with tax and shipping:

The capacitors ordered from Mouser Electronics

Step 1: Clean it up!

Inside the amp before disassembly and cleaning. Most of the amp board is under the fan shroud. The power supply board is on the lower right. I don't think they prioritized serviceability when they designed this thing.

The circuit boards and the chassis had quite a bit of dust and flux residue on them, so I decided the best way to proceed would be to take it all apart, clean it up, recap the PCBs, then put it back together. There were a lot of wires running between the boards, and no markings on the wires or boards, so before disassembly I took a lot of photos and made drawings and notes so I'd have a good chance of getting the whole thing back together in working order.

Once I had the PCBs out, I cleaned them with IPA, a toothbrush, and skinny bottle brush. I put IPA in a spray bottle and sprayed, and scrubbed, and sprayed some more. In the end, I got the boards looking better than they did (probably) when the amp was new.

Amplifier board before cleaning. This is the part of the board that sits under the fan. Having a fan blowing air through the amp all the time leads to accumulation of dust.

Amplifier board after cleaning.

This is the side of the amp board closer to the power supply. This is where most of the connections to the power supply board are made. The power supply board overlaps this area so you can't see much of it in the photo of the assembled amp with the cover off.

Power supply board before cleaning. Not too bad, really, but this board was easy to reach with a vacuum cleaner brush during the years I was using the amplifier.

Power supply board after cleaning, before recapping.

Step 2: Recap

I tested most of the new caps before I soldered them down, and didn't find any out of spec. I was not able to test the bigger electrolytics that were outside the limits of my LCR meter.

Ordinarily I would prefer to recap one section of the circuit at a time, test, then move on, but the complexity of the wiring and mechanical layout in this amp made that impractical, so I just shot-gunned it, replacing all caps in one go, starting with the power supply board, and kept my fingers crossed for luck. I was more worried about reconnecting all those wires than I was about getting the caps right.

At each cap, I verified the capacitance and voltage, and used a sharpie to put a dot on the PCB at the negative terminal before removing the original cap. Then I desoldered each cap using a manual solder sucker to remove the solder from the board and installed the new ones, one by one, until all the caps were replaced. The solder sucker is made in Japan and has a soft silicone tip that seals well and almost never fails to suck out all the solder on the first attempt. The silicone tipped tool works much better than the old PTFE tipped tools I used to use.

Power supply board after recapping. Note the dots on the PCB near each cap to indicate where the negative lead of the original caps were placed. Note: all the new caps have pressure relief folds in the tops of the cans- if they ever fail they won't spray corrosive electrolyte all over the PCB. The cement resistor on the left is what keeps the fan running slow and quiet most of the time. That resistor runs HOT and is stood a few mm off the PCB.

Old power supply filter cap, left, and new one, right. There are two important size differences- the overall height of the caps and the height of the terminals over the tops of the caps. The first requires a spacer under the new caps to bring them up to the height of the old caps, and the second requires adding some spacers (washers) between the new caps and the bottom of the PCB to make room for the hardware that holds the caps down in the chassis.

This is how the original caps were held in place in the amp. Who thought this was a good idea? The new cap terminal posts are short, and if I mount the power supply PCB on them as-is the cap hold-down nut will contact the bottom of the PCB. I fixed that problem by soldering stacked copper washers to the bottom of the power supply PCB.

The PCB really needs to be where it was, vertically, with the original caps- any higher and it will bump against the top cover of the chassis and much lower and the PCB will hit the coils of the power transformer. I designed and 3D printed a spacer for the bottom of the caps that lifts them close to their original height so the power supply PCB will clear the top of the power transformer. Then I added three copper washers as spacers on the caps' screw terminals so the PCB would clear the bolt holding the caps down. Sheesh!

If I didn't care about maintaining the original form-factor of this amp, I'd rebuild it in a new chassis with a more reasonable layout (the fan would blow air down the middle of the heat sink, the power supply board would be located a little further from the power transformer so the board wouldn't overlap the coils, etc. 

This is the spacer I designed and printed to lift the power supply filter caps to their original height. It has the added benefit of preventing the caps from sliding on the bottom of the amp chassis.

Here you can see the new filter caps, the 3D printed yellow standoff for them and you can see the copper washers on top of the cap terminals to ensure that the PCB clears the cap hold-down nut.

The Chassis

I didn't bother to do anything but clean the chassis- there was only a minor ding at one small spot on the top edge- hardly worth the trouble to try to refinish the whole thing.

All Done!

Once I finished recapping, I crossed my fingers for luck and powered it up. One small 10uF 100V cap on the amp board instantly exploded! I took it all back apart and discovered that I had put that cap in backwards. Electrolytics don't like being connected with reverse polarity! Fortunately, no other harm was done and after triple checking the part location against the schematic, replacing that cap and reassembling, the amp worked perfectly. It should be good for at least another 20-40 years and will probably outlive me. Now I have to decide if I'm going to keep it or sell it. Hmmmm.

A Stand for the SVS 3000 Micro Subwoofer

I recently got an SVS 3000 Micro subwoofer to add some low bass to my stereo system. It's amazing what 265 mm cube box can do. It's available in shiny "piano" white or black finish. I went with white so it wouldn't show cat hair.

Ms. Kitty's fur gets everywhere, so I have a robot vacuum cleaner that scoots around and cleans most of it up between vacuuming jobs with a real vacuum cleaner. I didn't like the idea of the robot vacuum cleaner bumping into the subwoofer over and over (or even once), so I decided to make a small stand for it. I measured the vacuum cleaner and found that 100 mm of lift was all the sub needed.

I made a CAD model of the sub for this project and maybe others in the future, then designed the stand. The sub's feet are set at the corners of a 196 mm square.

This is a CAD rendering of the sub sitting on the stand. This is how I often make CAD drawings- just enough detail so see what I need and to design 3D printed parts like the end caps for the verticals. Eight 1/4-20 button head cap screws hold the whole thing together.

I dug out some left over 1" t-slot aluminum and took it to the makerspace and cut and milled it to size (4x 170.6mm and 4x 100 mm), then drilled some tool access holes and threaded the center holes with a 1/4-20 tap. Finally, adding some 3D printed TPU end caps for the vertical t-slot pieces prevent the sharp edges of the t-slot from damaging the sub's feet or the floor.

Printing end caps on UMMD using white TPU to match the sub. With the 1 mm nozzle printing in 0.5mm layers, prints are a little sloppy but finish in about 20 minutes. A diagonal cutter quickly cleans off the blebs and hairs.

I assembled the pieces on a granite counter top that is pretty flat and everything came out square and very solid. The TPU end caps fit tightly and stay put without any screws or glue.

The sub on the stand. Vertical t-slot pieces are 100 mm long and horizontal pieces are 170.6 mm long. I used white TPU to print jam-fit end caps for the verticals.

Now it's safe from the robot vacuum cleaner!

Update 8/3/24: I forgot that I had ordered some screw-in rubber feet for this project and they were delivered today. I installed them and now the sub sits just a little higher off the floor. The screw -in feet are nice because the floors in the old building I live in are neither flat nor level, so now I can make adjustments as needed.

It's hard to see them, but they are there- black rubber screw-in feet. They have 1/4-20 threads and I tapped the frame parts before I assembled them, so they were ready for the feet.

Recapping a "New" Stereo Amplifier: a 25 YO Krell KAV-300i

 I recently bought a "new" stereo amplifier via ebay. It's a Krell KAV-300i made in 1999, based on date codes on output transistors and capacitors. Back when it came out it was often referred to as "the baby Krell". It looks and sounds like new. Like other Krell amplifiers, it's appearance is "brutal" - gray and black aluminum and steel, with lots of sharp edges to remind you that you should tread carefully when you walk by. 

Why would one buy an old amplifier instead of a new one? There can be many reasons- for some it's a nostalgia thing, maybe you like the way it looks, it can be a good way to save some money, assuming one has the ability to fix or maintain an old amp. 

Most audio amps, old and new, are class AB designs, including this Krell. The technology hasn't changed (though some more modern amps are class D). A new class AB amp really shouldn't perform any better than an old class AB amp. The main difference between class AB amps is the quality of construction, ease of service including availability of parts, and the circuits immediately before the amp stage -preamp/input switching.

The Krell KAV-300i front panel. Watch out for the sharp corners and edges! Very simple controls and no pots to wear out or get scratchy. There are buttons for power on/standby, input selection/mute, tape monitor, and volume up and down. LEDs indicate power on (blue, of course!), standby, selected input, tape monitor status, balance status, volume level, and mute status.

The rear panel, also very simple. There's a line fuse in the IEC line connector, and two power supply rail fuses, one at each speaker output terminal. There are connectors for a tape loop, these days mostly useful for adding tone controls of some sort, a preamp output that can be used to drive a subwoofer, and three inputs, the first of which can be balanced or unbalanced. Back in the day, balanced inputs were mostly used when the signal source had to be located far from the amplifier, but these days people are using them for short cable runs because they sound "better".

Also, like other Krell amplifiers, the inside is a real work of engineering art. There are only a few wires inside the chassis and all connections and components are clearly marked on the two metal layer, glass-epoxy, plated-through holes, PCB's silk screen layers. I believe this may be one of their last amplifiers that were built with through-hole components, making them particularly easy to service. Their newer stuff uses surface-mount parts.

First opening of the amplifier shortly after unpacking it. This is what you pay for when you buy Krell!  I wanted to look for anything damaged by heat or age. When I separated the power amp and preamp boards I found some heat damage. To my pleasant surprise, there was almost no dust inside or outside the amp. There are four circuit boards- one on the far left with the transformer input voltage taps, the front panel board you can't see, the preamp board on top in the back, and the main amplifier under the preamp board. You might be able to tell that two of the main power supply filter capacitors (4 black cylinders) are bulging slightly on the tops of the cans. There were no signs of anyone ever having worked on the amp.

The connections between the preamp board and the power amp board under it are made using header pins, not wires, so you can't mess up the connections unless you bend the pins which is easy to do, when putting the two boards back together. Be careful!

For contrast, here's the inside of my Soundcraftsmen PM860 amplifier that I bought new in the mid 80s. This is more typical of consumer audio stuff: a rat's nest of unlabeled wires and hard to reach circuits on unmarked PCBs- as awesome as it was/is, it was clearly designed to be inexpensive (really, how much does it cost to put a silk screen layer on a PCB?) and not designed to be serviced.

80's vintage PM860 amplifier- 205 W/ch at 8 Ohms, 400W at 4 Ohms, and 600W at 2 Ohms. Look at the mess of wires, placement of PCBs, etc. Not pretty. Think about how much harder it is to service this compared to the Krell amp.

What the Krell?!

The KAV300i, first manufactured in 1996, is an integrated amplifier, meaning it has input switching, volume control, and power amplifier in one box. Volume control is managed digitally using buttons on the front panel or remote control. There are a series of LEDs on the front panel that vaguely indicate the volume setting. You can also adjust balance by 6 dB or so, but only from the remote control. There are no tone controls of any kind.

This amp sold for $2300 in 1999. Adjusted for inflation, that's equivalent of $4,337.35 in 2024 dollars. If you buy a $4k amp today is it any better than the old Krell? Is it built as well as the Krell? Maybe, but you can get the Krell for a lot less than $4k, if you're willing and able to change the caps.

Owner's manual here.

Note: Krell's use of the "i" appended to the model name predates Apple's use on the iPod that came out in 2001 (and almost every other low-end piece of electronic junk since). An example of Krell's advanced technology? Oh wait, Krell appended the "i", and Apple prepended it. Such innovation! If Apple had appended instead of prepended they would have had the Podi, Padi, and Phonei (pronounced like phoney). Kudos to the folks at Apple for preventing that marketing disaster!

Input selection is done using relays that produce a gentle "click" each time they are activated, controlled from front panel buttons and the remote control. There are four inputs- one balanced (with the right cables and signal source - my TEAC VRDS-20 CD player for example), and three unbalanced. If you touch a selected input button a second time, the amp mutes. Touching the same input button again unmutes the amp. There is also a tape loop (people still used tape in 1999), and a preamp output that's mostly useful for driving a subwoofer.

The power switch doesn't fully cut power- it puts the amp in standby mode which draws about 50W from the power line even when the amp is "off". True audiophiles expect their electric bills to go up when they buy Krell amps! I calculate it will add about $60 per year to my electric bill. 

The power amplifier is an all-discrete transistor, direct coupled, class AB design with apparently high bias as the amp sits about 10F above room temperature even in standby (in standby the bias is reduced). As far as I can tell, standby mode just shuts off the inputs, mutes the output, reduces the output stage bias, and turns off the input and volume LEDs. Standby mode keeps the heatsinks warm so the amp is ready to deliver full specced performance from the moment it is switched fully on.

Blue LEDs first hit the market in the late 90s, and were initially expensive, so naturally, all high-end audio gear of that era had to use blue LED power-on indicators. This amp is one of those. As time passed and the price of blue LEDs came down, manufacturers of cheaper audio stuff started using them, too (to make people feel like they were buying a piece of high-end stuff?). 

Basic specs of this amp: 150W/ch at 8 Ohms, 300 W/ch at 4 Ohms, -3 dB frequency response from 0.6 Hz to 90 kHz. Weight: 10.9 kg (that's 24 lbs outside the civilized world). Note the wide bandwidth- that's unusual, even compared to modern amps.

Here's a review from Stereophile from 1996.  

Here's a review of the amp from 2009 (?).  

More here.  

And here.

When the amp arrived, I checked for DC on the speaker outputs and measured -7 mV on the left channel and -12 mV on the right, both easily within +/20mV spec. Of course I hooked it up and it played perfectly. I tested all the inputs and outputs, and all the controls and found no issues.

Recap or leave it be?

If you buy any electronics that is 20 or more years old, including speakers, it's always a good idea to consider replacing ALL the electrolytic capacitors. Electrolytic caps have a liquid electrolyte that slowly dries out causing the capacitance to drop and ESR to rise. As ESR rises, the cap runs warm, speeding up the drying process. If it gets warm enough, some of the remaining electrolyte vaporizes and pressure builds inside the capacitor. Eventually it can cause the cap to burst (that's why the cans have grooves stamped into the tops- they weaken the cans so that's where the caps will open), sometimes splattering whatever is left of the caustic electrolyte all over the circuit board or interior of the chassis. Depending on the circuit, degrading caps may or may not noticeably affect the sound quality produced, but eventually, those caps may burst or short and destroy other components that might be a lot harder and more expensive to replace.

I opened the amp up and found almost no dust inside, despite ventilation holes in the cover, and slightly bulging power supply filter capacitors. The bulging caps indicate that they are on their last legs and really should be replaced before any of them blows.

One of the old main power supply filter caps with the bulging top. I peeled the plastic cover off so it would be easier to see. The bulge indicates that the cap was running hot and building up pressure in the aluminum can. This is a ticking time bomb, waiting for the most inappropriate moment to blow.

Speaking of ventilation holes... The heatsinks for the output transistors are bolted to the steel bottom cover of the amp which has no ventilation holes. The top cover has some small ventilation slots located directly over the heatsinks. Hmmm. If I were building an amp with internal heatsinks, I would probably put ventilation holes directly above and below the heatsinks to get some convection to cool the amp. Apparently Krell didn't think it was necessary. Back to the recap...

It was clear that the main power supply filter caps needed replacement, but should I bother with the others? Hmmm. The circuit is direct coupled from input to output, meaning that there are no capacitors in the signal path. That's why the low frequency response goes all the way down to 0.6 Hz. The audio performance of direct coupled amplifiers tends to be stable over time because there aren't any slowly degrading caps in the signal path. There are a pair of 3300 uF electrolytic caps connected back to back to act as a nonpolarized cap in each power amplifier channel (to roll off low frequency response?- not sure). 

If I just replace the main power supply filter caps and put the whole thing back together, how long will the other 25 year old caps last, and will one of them short and kill some hard to replace semiconductors in the process, or leak and corrode a circuit board, and how long will it be before the amp has to be repaired? Caps are cheap, so I decided the sensible thing to do is to replace ALL the electrolytic caps. Then, maybe, I can count on another 25 years of trouble-free service. More on capacitor lifetime below...

Alrighty then, recap it is!

I'm no stranger to recapping jobs, having restored a bunch of antique radios, and bringing my M Audio computer speakers back to life, and recapping the crossovers in my speakers, so I dove right in. First, I found the service manual for the amplifier online, then proceeded to mark out all the electrolytic caps on the schematic, then verified their locations on the PCBs, and parts list. I also measured the physical size of each cap used to ensure that the replacements would fit.

The original capacitors were all made by Nichicon, a Japanese company that makes caps specifically for audio use. The data sheet says they use some special electrolyte for the audio specific caps, and audiophiles worship Nichicon, so I used Nichicon's latest, high performance, audio-specific caps- the UKW series, most of which are stocked by Mouser Electronics. The main power supply filter caps are from the LLS series because the UKWs don't come in 60V power supply filter cap sizes.

The original main filter caps, 6800 uF @ 80V, were 35 mm dia x 40 mm tall. I checked the dimensions of the amplifier case and found that I could install caps up to 56 mm tall, still leaving 3mm of clearance with the top cover, so I ordered 8200 uF caps that are 45mm tall to replace the 40 mm tall original caps. It's about a 20% increase in capacitance that may help the amp deliver even more solid low frequency performance than it did with the original caps.

Note- there's a LOT of empty space at the front of the chassis that could be crammed full of power supply filter caps if one really wanted to increase the energy storage. The amp specs and sounds good with the caps that are on the PCB, so I decided to just place new caps on the board.

Note: the amp has a NTC thermistor that functions as a soft-start device preventing huge current surge from the power line when power is first applied to the amp (by plugging it in). If you were going to modify the amp for much larger power supply energy storage you might need to change that part.

There are a bunch of 10 uF, 50V capacitors scattered around the amp, used mainly for low voltage power supply bypass at different ICs on the circuit boards. For those replacements I chose some super high reliability, low ESR Kemet caps that will probably outlast all the others. 

Electrolytic capacitor specs include projected lifetime based on maximum ripple current at rated voltage and maximum temperature (usually 85 or 105C). As the operating current, voltage, and temperature are usually less than the rated values, projected operating life increases. Here's a detailed article on estimating capacitor operating life. The simple rule of thumb to take from the analysis is that if you keep voltage  and ripple current less than rated values, for every 10C drop in temperature, you'll see a doubling of capacitor's rated lifetime. So a cap rated for 85C that is operating at 55C (like maybe in this amp that tends to run warm), should last 8x its rated lifetime. 

Lets assume you listen to music two hours per day, every day. The UKW Nichicon caps I selected are rated at 2k hours at 85C, so we can expect them to last 16k hours. That's 8000 days, or 22 years. The Kemet ESL caps are rated for 8k hours at 105C. They should last an astounding 256k hours, or 350 years (ya, sure, youbetcha!). Finally, the Nichicon LLS main filter caps are rated for 3k hours at 85C, so expect 32 years from them. Since it is unlikely that I'll be listening to music two hours per day, every day for the next 22 years, the amp should be fine even longer than that, and will outlive me. I will put a note inside the amp that it was recapped in 2024 so that the next owner will know whether they should recap it. Even though the projected lifetimes are measured in decades, I'd still replace electrolytic caps after 20-25 years (as I have done with this amp), even if they test good.

I ordered the new parts from Mouser for about $72 including taxes and shipping:

Oops! I ordered 2 sets of the 3300 uF caps and missed a couple others. Always double check your order!

Second order that included some parts I missed in the first order and others that I discovered needed replacing after I took the amp apart. This brings the total parts cost to about $100.

Recapping the Front Panel Board

Removing the front panel is pretty easy- first take the top cover off the amp- that's 12 x T-10 screws, then remove three more screws from the bottom front and the whole front panel and its PCB will be free to move.

Red circles indicate the screws to remove to free up the faceplate PCB once the whole faceplate is free. 

The front side of the faceplate board. Note- the LEDs all stand off the board and have to fit into holes in the front panel of the amp, so be careful not to bend any of them! The new caps will be soldered on this side of the board. They must have used one of the front panels as a soldering jig in the factory.

Faceplate board caps to be replaced, five total. 1x 1000 uF @ 50V, and 4x 10 uF @ 50V.

I replaced the caps, bolted faceplate back together and tested to make sure all the buttons, LEDs, and the remote control were working. No problems!

Recapping the Preamp Board

Next it was time to replace caps on the preamp board. There are some tight fitting parts at the back panel that fit between the preamp and power amp boards, so the best way to remove and replace the preamp board is to remove the back panel first. 

Removing the back panel to get to the preamp and power amp boards. Take out all of these plus 3x T-10 screws on the bottom. The binding posts will still be soldered to the output wires on the power amp board. There is no need to desolder them.

You have to remove these four screws to separate the preamp board from the power amp board. They go into 1.5" standoffs that set the spacing between the two PCBs to 38.1 mm.

Top of the preamp board with caps to be replaced circled. There are 5x 10uF @ 50V caps and 1x 47 uF @10V. Note- the parts list says the 47 uF cap (the black one in the photo above) is a tantalum type, but there was an electrolytic cap on the board. I replaced it with an electrolytic cap since that was what was in there.

These long header pins connect the preamp board to the power amp. They make it a little tricky to get the two boards back together because it is very hard to see them when you're attempting to mate them with the header sockets on the power amp board. 

Once the preamp board was recapped, I decided to move on to the power amp board without testing because getting the two boards back together is tricky. The pins and their sockets are between the two boards and it's really hard to see them when you're trying to put them back together. The trick is to get the two horizontal groups of pins aligned with their sockets first then carefully check the vertical row of pins before pushing the board down to seat it.

Recapping the Power Amp Board

There are twelve screws on the bottom of the amp that bolt the two heatsinks to the chassis. There are also two bolts that pass through the bridge rectifiers that hold the board down, and finally another screw that goes into a spacer near the back of the amp. I found it easiest to work by also removing the screws holding the line voltage selector board so it could move around a bit. I did, but you don't really need to disconnect the wires from the transformer to the power amp board.

These are where the screws that hold the power amp board down are located. There are also 6 screws in each heatsink holding them to the bottom of the chassis. I also circled the place where the power transformer wires attach to the board.

These are all the caps on the top side of the board that need to be replaced. At the top of the picture, you see the four main power supply filter caps- 6800 uF at 80V. I replaced them with 8200 uF @80V parts. That row of 10 pieces near the top of the photo are all 330 uF @ 100V. I replaced them with 470 uF @ 100V parts. The group of four at the center are all 3300 uF @ 16V wired as two nonpolar caps. I replaced those with same spec parts.

The circles near the corners are four more caps that need to be replaced- 47uF @100V. I replaced them with parts rated for 125C. The central area that is circled is a place where the PCB has been slightly toasted by some parts operating at high temperatures.

Close up of the toasted area of the board on the bottom side. The darkened area is centered on the two power transistors, so I suspect they are the primary source of heat.

This is the toasted area on the top side of the PCB. Note the discoloration and cracking in the surface of the two circled resistors. There are two transistors right below them in the photo. I suspect the transistors are running hot. Those resistors had to be replaced. 6.19 kOhm 1% 1W metal film type.

New caps, Zener diodes, transistors, resistors, and heatsinks in place. The transistors, resistors and Zeners are stood up off the board for better air circulation around them. Heatsinks are made from perforated aluminum as I was unable to find commercial parts that would fit in the available space. Note- some folks who saw this photo on the DIY audio forums commented that the solder joints didn't look very good- I went through and cleaned them up after this photo was made.

The seven relays that switch inputs, etc. are all one type: Zettler AZ847-5. They are specced for minimum operating life of 1x10^8 operations, so I don't think there are any concerns about them. The Zetttler parts are no longer made, but small signal switching relays are used in a lot of equipment, and there are equivalent parts available with essentially the same specs and pinout- one is the Panasonic TQ2-L-5V. They cost <$3 each.

Note: The DC rails have 12A fast-blow fuses for each channel. The fuses that were in the amp were 32V rated parts. The DC rails sit at 75V, so using 32V fuses isn't really a good idea. I replaced all four with 250V rated parts. Some golden ear out there is going to tell me that Krell selected the 32V fuses for their "sound". Hah!

I replaced all the parts, checked and adjusted bias, then DC offset per the instructions in the service manual, closed it back up, and it's all working and sounding great and hopefully will be for another 25 years. Woohoo!