+ 1 on to ask Jeff Rowland for maintenance
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As many have said get it checked out. I would add that it would be best to send to Rowland for the check and possible replacements.
I have an ARC D-111 from 1981 purchased from an ARC engineer who was the original. owner. There were only twenty of them made and he checked it out prior to the 1996 sale to me. I've had it checked in the last few years and it still is right on spec. By the way, the amp runs very conservatively, it is massively over-built with 32 output transistors. Even running it hard for hours the heat sinks only get to about 96 degrees (has three cooling fans).
Regards,
barts
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Slightly different, but I built my Hafler 500 in 1975 from their kit. Took it in to the local service guy who fixes everything and it measured perfectly except for a small bias adjustment. Advised not to mess with it, and it sounds as good as it ever did.
Suggest you take it in and see what the tech says. Components do deteriorate as they age, but so far, so good for me, luckily.
Cheers!
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As some suggested, caps have a limited life span and, yes, heat is a factor. You are sitting on a ticking time bomb. Like a new puppy, I wouldn’t go off and leave this amp with the power engaged for too long. You might find yourself with a new high wattage space heater, or a high voltage DC generator designed to push your speaker’s raw drivers forward with great velocity and hold them in place until the voice coils melt.
Otherwise, happy listening.
Yeh, I’d check into having Rowland recap them.
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I have 2 Model 12's, a model 201 and 102 I bought in 2009. Never even thought of that! I'll contact Jeff...Thx.
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Capacitors can fail suddenly, and spectacularly. That can cause damage to other components, not excluding speakers. These amps run hot and after 30 years the caps will be well cooked, dried out and ready to blow.
Why not take it back to Rowland and have them re-cap it
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I remember those amps well. That was the first really nice amp I heard. I don’t know about recapping, but that is a very high quality amp and worth keeping up with whatever it needs. I totally disagree that you will find any used amp that’s even remotely close to that level of quality in the affordable category. Good luck!
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Yes, they're at or past their expected life (in terms of meeting like new spec) But- I wouldn't sink the money into it. Buy a much newer pre-owned amp instead. There are dozens that are as good or far better and are pretty affordable.
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Yes, they're at or past their expected life (in terms of meeting like new spec) But- I wouldn't sink the money into it. Buy a much newer pre-owned amp instead. There are dozens that are as good or far better and are pretty affordable.
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What rsf507 & onhwy61 said:
+1
IF you're not the DIY type.
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Talk to Rowland, they service all their legacy products. I had a 112 power amp serviced four years ago where they did the caps and also made some circuitry updates. Including shipping it was less than $400. There was s note saying that Jeff R. actually did the work.
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Caps should be replaced as they age, not just all of them especially in fully functional amp. Doing that is a lot cheaper and smarter. Recap jobs are too excessive and made for fools to believe that it’s worth it. Techies that want to make extra buck would gladly do that and even recommend it. Notably, many of those caps are STILL good so they can even re-use them on different equipment for free plus to what they've already charged for recap. Think about that and make conclusions.
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No, don't do it. If you want to tinker try a new amp.
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There are a minimum of 26 aluminum electrolytics (that I know of) in your amp's critical circuitry.
Thirty years is stretching it, regardless of that type capacitor's original build quality, or country of origin.
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I'd send unit to a pro and let them check everything, would not replace anything still within oem specs.
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I'd call Roland and get their thoughts.
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If this is your main system amp, then yes, I would recap for reliability and hopefully better sound. Jerry
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