[arcorob]

  I never compared weight in my hands. Not my first time trying to identify fake caps, so I got my scale out. Which is the exact same one you have.
 
I will take pics of the ones that came out of the Aune on the scale, and the exact same rating/size/brand ones I put in on the scale. It was not a small difference. You also have to account for the full leads on the new cap when measured. When you install them, weigh the clipped leads then subtract that weight.
 
 
I even have a capacitor tester I can test these with. Let me drag it out.
 
 
Rob, if you have extra caps laying around, and have the exp, why not swap them real quick and give your thoughts on the sound after?

lwrs..wish I had a capacitor tester...I only saw one, once, when a friend checked mine on my Velleman...
 
If I get a chance this weekend I might take you up on that recap...LOL...Although my PROJECT luck lately is not great...I have to dig through the pile...I do have some new ones but wish I could reuse the Rubycon Black Gates (they were not bad, they were just taken out of my Yamaha M65). Probably not a good idea to use 20 year old caps..lol...or older !
 
But I do have some low ESR 105* type...I''l look..
 
BTW..thanks for understanding...

 

[CoiL]

Here are stock capacitor pics from my Aune T1:
 

Spoiler: Aune T1 capacitor pics

 

 


 


 

 
 
Fakes?
 
Edit:
1st pic caps (purple ones) - secondary regulated power supply caps? Those seem to be different from lwrs10 caps but this is probably because my unit being 220V?
 
And what about all those "wima" style pink/red caps? They are fakes too?

 

[lwrs10]

Not sure why your caps are different values in the power supply. Only difference should be the transformer. Does your transformer say 15-0-15 on the back?
 
 
 
Those caps will work fine you linked. I would try to find a different 47u 50v one though.

 

[arcorob]

Okay, its settled - TOP RECOMMEND BY ME
~~6GM8 ECC86 Tube (GE Label marking) made in HOLLAND - Vintage 1963 - 4.25 Stars **** TOP RATING
 
I have played with 5 other tubes and this one. This is the winner hands down. The Sylvania was nice, close, but there is just no doubt about this lovely GE Made in Holland but really made in Germany (must have been a Blitzkrieg)
 
From top to bottom, clear present detail. Lovely bass, mids and vocals where you can literally feel the vocalist breathe, highs so sweet..you could never be fatigued. The sound stage is wide without being false wide and more important, excellent depth. Drums are in the rear, vocalist up front. instruments easy to determine position. Piano decay is perfect - no warble...pure.
 
I have two more tubes coming but I think I found the one. And here is the ultimate compliment - It is as close to my vinyl rig as I have heard.
 
Such a simple tube and yet, so beautiful....there is only 1 just like it on the Bay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-GE-6GM8-ECC86-Grey-Plates-Round-Getter-Date-Code-KC-Tube-TV7-Tested-/201016262023?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item2ecd80bd87
 

 

[lwrs10]

Think I can make these work?
 

 

[arcorob]

I wouldn't doubt it at all.,..but they might tip over the AUNE..LOL
 
That's like "Would you like a DAC to go with that tube..."

 

[CoiL]

  Okay, its settled - TOP RECOMMEND BY ME
~~6GM8 ECC86 Tube (GE Label marking) made in HOLLAND - Vintage 1963 - 4.25 Stars **** TOP RATING
 
I have played with 5 other tubes and this one. This is the winner hands down. The Sylvania was nice, close, but there is just no doubt about this lovely GE Made in Holland but really made in Germany (must have been a Blitzkrieg)
 
From top to bottom, clear present detail. Lovely bass, mids and vocals where you can literally feel the vocalist breathe, highs so sweet..you could never be fatigued. The sound stage is wide without being false wide and more important, excellent depth. Drums are in the rear, vocalist up front. instruments easy to determine position. Piano decay is perfect - no warble...pure.
 
I have two more tubes coming but I think I found the one. And here is the ultimate compliment - It is as close to my vinyl rig as I have heard.
 
Such a simple tube and yet, so beautiful....there is only 1 just like it on the Bay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-GE-6GM8-ECC86-Grey-Plates-Round-Getter-Date-Code-KC-Tube-TV7-Tested-/201016262023?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item2ecd80bd87

Pity it`s US seller. Too much trouble for me to get into EU ;( Otherwise would take it.
 
Atm I`m scanning through capacitors and I found a lot of different offers and it`s hard to choose from (Panasonic, saxon, vishay, rubycon). Also is the capacitor "AC ripple current" value (mA) important in case of Aune? It ranges from ~100mA to ~1000mA. Which is better? higher or lower value?

 

[lwrs10]

higher
 
 
Head-fi needs a chat room...

 

[CoiL]

Thanks!

 

[spacequeen7]

  I think I'm going to attempt to replace some caps in the very near future. I'll keep everyone posted when I do the swap and see what I find. I'll need to put some more hours on my he-400 and pick a tube a like to have a baseline before I do this.

received my 400's today and after listening for only 30min I pretty sure they need 10DB ,they sound way better then 0DB em I right ?
P.S. got to have velour pads 

 

[lwrs10]

Built a tube rolling caddy. Having all these tubes just rolling around on my desk was driving me nuts.
 

 

[Salvatore]

  Built a tube rolling caddy. Having all these tubes just rolling around on my desk was driving me nuts.
 

 
Awesome. This is my solution if you haven't seen it yet:
 

 

[icecap]

I've got to agree 100% with lwrs10 on this regarding the prominence of fake caps (and many other parts out there) coming out of China.

He is also correct that Elna caps will have the series name printed on them.

Rob - the top two photos you're using to represent "real" Elna caps are from Web shops in China.   Compare the caps against Elna's own spec sheets.

In many cases, fake caps do indeed weigh less than their real counterparts, due to cheaper and/or less internal materials used.   Not related to the T1, but some large faked electrolytic caps actually have cheap smaller caps soldered inside of the cans that are then imprinted with fake labels.  

There's a Web forum dedicated to helping identify and root some of them them out.   badcaps.net   

I've gotten to the point over the years after seeing so much of it that I just about assume any inexpensive audio product coming out of China is using fake parts.  Caps, resistors, Alps pots, tubes, resistors, op amps, transistors... the list goes on.  DIY forums have posts all the time about people finding fake parts.   I no longer trust any electronic parts on eBay with prices that seem to be bargains whether or not they come out of China, because it's also easy to buy them in bulk and re-sell.  There's plenty of info out there to read about this, it's neither rare nor a false accusation.   In some cases, it can even be dangerous, when parts specified for high voltages or current are faked without appropriate QC/testing.

   -Mike

Sorry Mike, I very much disagree. Personally I am tired of all the beratings on things Made in China (MIC). The expansion and massive industrialisation that country has done has contributed to the world economy positively in some ways more than the bad rep she deserved. I don't deny the fact there were always cases of counterfeiting and poor human rights management. But come on, those attentions were put up too glaringly in today's media. That's only the tip of the iceberg comparing to what the rest of the population has done things morally that so few even bother commenting.

Buying in bulk and resell is the distriubutors' role. I personally see no wrong in that. If you like the world business to be conducted in wholesale manner, I think you may be missing the point in global economy and consumerism. And most, if not all, electronics have always been a low-cost component which I know you understand. 

I appreciate you do state "and other countries" as well in relating to fakes, but I feel your attempt in trying to put these negativities constructively as not just a China issue, a weak one. Your "just about" assumption of  "any inexpensive audio product coming out of China is using fake parts" is already an accusation of your own. Actually it is not even difficult to find high end quality electronic components from China. If you know Mandarin for communication, it is not surprising how much more that same component is being paid in other countries. Your argument too seemingly had the implication that expensive products from China will be a genuine one. That was rather a contradiction to your earlier posts when you were trying to educate that more expensive products are no means good sounds. 

Please cut eBay some slack. eBay can thrive due to the directness of business dealing AND possibly low cost. There are tonnes of honest eBay sellers.

I hope to sound reasonable as by no means I am targetting you personally as everyone is entitled to their own opinions. However, in such a reputational forum like Head-fi, I think it will be beneficial to keep certain personal and possibly unfair judgements aside which can affect the sales integrity of certain demographies and locations. That can only cloud viewers in decisions makings with a bias.

Still, it is worth applauding for pointing out sites that can aid all of us here to make informed choices on authenticity of electronic components. Thanks for that though!

Well done to those that offers so much time and efforts in sharing the info here too!

 

[CoiL]

Yeah, lets just end this fake capacitor subject and let everyone to decide by themselves. Even if those are fake caps - who cares when Aune T1 still sounds awesome!?! 
After ~260 pages appreciation of Aune T1, I think this fake caps subject is actually irrelevant. But like I said, there are never something wrong with changing components to higher-grade ones. I will leave that fake caps post up and add some more quotes there later.
 
Now... any new tubes tried? What about those "pending" tube types I posted? Somebody tried those?

 

[lwrs10]

I forgot to post the capacitor test.

1. Main supply caps.
These are labelled Elna and rated at 3300uf at 25v. They passed capacitence and esr test with flying colors.

2. Secondary supply caps.
These had no name and were rated at 330uf at 35v. One measured 198uf, and the other 312. They both failed esr.

3. Headphone amp rail voltage caps.
These are labelled Nichicon, and rated 470uf at 25v. They passed capacitance, one failed esr.

4. Headphone coupling caps.
These are labelled Elna RFO series and rated 47uf at 50v. They passed capacitance, both were very marginal on esr, but passed.



*EDIT*

I swapped all the caps that came in my Aune back in, and changed them one pair at a time to note sound differences. The new caps I had installed would be considered "broken in" with about 24 hours of run time on them, so that takes that whole argument out of the picture I hope.

1. Secondary supply caps. (330uf 35v).
Since these were no name and failed ESR and capacitance test, I swapped these first. With the no name ones, the sound leaned towards the "cold" side, especially when using headphones. Changing just these caps to a Nichicon 330uf 50V general purpose 105* rated cap significantly changed the sound. It became much much warmer, and the slight harshness in the treble and the little bit too cold sound went away. Both the headphone and line out sounded much smoother and more balanced. Soundstage opened up, as did midrange detail. The bass quality improved 10 fold. This is exactly what I expected to happen after recapping many vintage receivers with power supply capacitors that measured bad. Cleaner power into the circuit, cleaner sound out.

2. Headphone amp rail voltage caps. (470uf 25V).
I could not discern a change in sound replacing these with the exact same size/rating/brand capacitor.

3. Headphone amp coupling caps. (47uf 50V).
I changed these out to Nichicon Muse with the same rating, slightly bigger physical size. This ever so slightly made everything smoother, but other than that I could not pinpoint any other changes. As a rule of thumb, the bigger physical size of a capacitor the better specs it has at the same uf/voltage rating. You can see this just by looking through any spec sheet like this: http://www.mouser.com/catalog/specsheets/RFO_Series.pdf



So, if anything, change out those secondary supply caps. It was not a slight difference in sound.....it was a HUGE difference. This probably only applies if your Aune has the no name caps like mine did. I have seen 3 different capacitors so far used in this spot from online pics, Coils pics, and mine.