Indicators of worn/bad capacitors?

over all the years, SS or Tubes (already broken in): on, 20 minutes, listen, off.

nothing changed, no obvious noise problems when on/no content playing, I suspect visual inspection (above and below) will reveal nothing.

Is it possible something subtle is going on with your hearing? Anyone else familiar with your system agree harsh/bright?

confirmation of problems, and/or confidence in your system, primarily your speakers placed thusly in your room, can be achieved by two inexpensive tools,

sound pressure meter, tripod mount, set at ear level listening position

test cd with specific frequency bands to compare band to band, I acquired several test/demo lps and cds, I find this one, tracks 9-38 easiest and informative

Thanks for the insights! I'll take a look at the capacitors today and I'll try leaving the system on for several hours before listening. I haven't listened to it in >6 weeks so maybe that's part of the problem.

As for other listeners' perspectives, that's just my wife. She thinks the entire enterprise is "nuts" and says, "It sounds fine. Stop worrying about it."

You can get a cap checker quite reasonably on Amazon. Just be sure to discharge the cap manually with a shunt before you use it, or let the amp sit for quite a while (so the caps discharge that way).  I forgot about that once & fried my first cap checker.  (And I did have a shunt handy . . . I just forgot.)

immatthew,

That's a good plan! I've never heard of that device before. Hopefully, it's designed for someone who knows nothing whatsoever about electronics (me).

Thanks,

Keith