Advice & thoughts on DIY Recap/Restoration of vintage amp/equipment
I’m curious if many on here have done their own restoration and recaps of any vintage gear they may have now or had in the past. I have a late 80s Adcom GFA-2 that I bought used back in 1991 when in college. It’s been a reliable amp and I like the warm sound but I’ve noticed a loss of signal in the right channel at lower volume levels. It’s not consistent either in that the signal loss doesn’t happen all the time either. So in the process of trying to chase down a loose connection, I thought I’d also do a recap. My reasons for doing this are I hate bricking a functional piece of vintage audio equipment that can be fixed but also the sentimental fact that it was the first "real" hi-fi separate I bought.
Granted, this is not a high-end amp that I’m willing to spend several hundred dollars to restore and I’m in a city that has ZERO audio repair places (especially vintage gear) but I’m willing to buy a restore kit from HiFi Audio and do the recap myself. I’ve reasonable electronics skills but obviously, I’m not going to have all the necessary testing equipment as a professional repair shop would. It would very much be a part swap.
I’m curious if anyone has thoughts on whether it’s worth a DIY recap and if anyone has used the restore kits that HiFi Audio has on offer and what their experience was with the quality of parts in the kit.
@petg60 working with capacitors doesn't scare me. The main thing is checking to make sure they're completely discharged before working on them and of course making sure you're not plugged in! Did you make use of any special equipment on your SS repairs outside of a volt meter and soldering tool? I'm king of at odds about spending a $100 on parts to 'upgrade' the amp vs. finding a new amp altogether and just retiring the Adcom |
Fix the problem first, then recap - otherwise you concatenate possible problems making it even more difficult to fix. Also, I would make sure it is power amp and not the preamp (for instance volume control). Once you are sure (by switching channels), that problem lies in the power amp, then problem is likely bad connection somewhere. Intermittent problems are very hard to troubleshoot and at one point you may need schematics and some basic test equipment. |
@kijanki that's what I was thinking. I know the issue is located in the amp. When I disconnect it from the receiver and connect the speakers to the receiver I have no channel issues. I'm going to check connections first, give it a thorough cleaning and test again before I decide to recap. My first stop will be the speaker cable connections and work inward from there. Thanks! |
