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burning in capacitors for phono stages

I'm in the process of auditioning various capacitors within my phono preamp. It seems burn in is a 'real' issue with caps. In exploring various means to burn in these caps I found the KAB PreconLP, this device converts line level signals to phono level signals. This allows one to use a cd player and burn in disc to burn in phono stages.

I only need substitute various caps in circuit I want to audition. This seems like a huge advantage over any other cap burn in method I've encountered. You are getting the actual signal your cap will see playing lps. Other burn in methods I've seen may or may not have sufficient voltage and/or combo of AC and DC.
sns
sns OP
3,406 posts
 
I know break in of caps is a contentious issue. I only know that many hear changes as capacitors age. The upcoming cap rolling will tell the tale for me.

Thanks, I do understand about caps holding charges, and do discharge them prior to working on equipment.
gregm
3,409 posts
 
I suggest you use a variac and charge yr new caps in steps, starting at low voltage to slowly reach their rated level.
flemke
596 posts
 
Liguy,

I am a music lover and actually listen to my system on a regular basis. I have swapped out caps and they do burn in.

Thank you very much.

Tim
johnss
582 posts
 
Sns,To break in all the caps, solder your caps together in series. Put an RCA on on end, and a 10K ohm resistor on the other end. Run a ground wire from the RCA shell to the other end of the resistor to form a complete circuit. plug this assembly into your pre amp out put. Turn on the Tuner, turn up the volume a third of the way, and go to bed. When you get up in the morning all your caps you soldered together will be broken in and you should be ready to try your experiments.

Don't waste your money on Audio salon caps. all you will need are available from Mouser or Digikey.

As long as you are working on the phono stage, why don't you replace the loading resistors with Vishay S102's? as well as any shunt resistors that are usually located at the output of hte phono stage. They will make as big or bigger difference than the caps.

Happy listening.
sns OP
3,406 posts
 
Thanks Johnss, I will try that break in procedure for my speaker crossover caps.

As for the cost of boutique caps, I find it rather inexpensive for amount of change I hear. I consider cabling a high cost item for relatively little change. Besides, it is fun listening to all the different caps, and they can always be resold or auditioned in other equipment.

I've thought about changing out resistors, the problem is they are often buried under tons of parts.

Anyway, one thing at a time, its cap auditioning time right now.
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