Recapping ?

Posted by: Ade Archer on 31 May 2001

Hi all
Could anyone give me their own experiences of having had their power amp recapped. I'm looking to find out what exactly people noticed as the sonic benefits were of having it done.
My 140 is 10 years old and would probably benefit from a service, but I want to know that the cost is worthwhile, as I hope in the future to upgrade to a 250, but that is probably some time away yet, and if there is a noticeable improvement in the performance of my 140 the wait to upgrade won't be so hard.

Cheers
Ade

Posted on: 31 May 2001 by Mike Hanson

Before the re-cap, components sound fuzzy and spitty. After the re-cap, there is better focus, the signal sounds more defined, and control is improved.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Posted on: 31 May 2001 by ken c

i agree with mike h. in addition there is gradual deterioration in precision, most noticeable with treble in my experience.

i would not hesitate to get your amp serviced by naim audio.

enjoy

ken

Posted on: 01 June 2001 by John Schmidt

Here's what I wrote in the forum back in August after recapping my ca. 1982 250 and 1986 Hicap:

"Although the distributor advised that it would take about 100 hours of break-in before the system settled in, I found an immediate and astonishing improvement in the sound straight off - cleaner highs, richer tonal colours in the mid range and bass, better resolution of ensemble textures."

Nine months on,I would add that there is a greater sense of ease when listening - one is not straining to hear fine details that before the recapping were only hinted at.

Cheers,

John Schmidt
"90% of everything is crud" - Theodore Sturgeon

Posted on: 01 June 2001 by Ade Archer

Thanks for the replies.
Were there obviously problems with the amp prior to recapping, or did these improvements only become apparent in hindsight when comparing before and after. In other words had you become accustomed to any deterioration in performance and only realised this after.

Cheers
Ade

Posted on: 03 June 2001 by Andrew L. Weekes

The deterioration as a result of the caps aging is very slow and subtle. You may not realise there is anything wrong (even old Naim beats most other stuff!).

The effect of the recap will be immediately obvious to you though, I promise

Andy.

Andrew L. Weekes
alweekes@audiophile.com