[zoboomofo]

Hi. I've got a work in progress with my Creek headphone amp component upgrade. Right now, I've switched out 1/2 of the caps with higher spec'd ones. The results are favorable. Another nice change has resulted from switching out the stock opamp.

The question I've got for you guys is: in the picture below, what type of capacitors are the ones (in pairs) below, and to the left of the "No Name" electrolytics. Also, how would you identify their capacitance?

The ones on my board are clear with silver cans in them. The clear package is also cylindrical but with tapered ends. They look like Christmas crackers. Mr. Nikitin, if you're reading, any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[puppyslugg]

Quote:

Originally posted by zoboomofo The ones on my board are clear with silver cans in them. The clear package is also cylindrical but with tapered ends. They look like Christmas crackers.

Sounds like polystyrenes. They usually come in picofarad values. What were the numbers on the caps?

 

[zoboomofo]

Give me a minute to take a look

.

 

[zoboomofo]

The near pair says 101J and the far pair says something that might resemble 47PJ.

I might also ask about the components whose board space is labelled with LKxx (where xx is some number). The happy components that live here look much like resistors, but these are cream colored, and they have a single black band across the middle.

One more note: I was pleasantly surprised to see the class A biasing that Mr. Nikitin mentioned. It looks like the same CCS that is used in the META 42. Too bad nobody caught on early enough to expand on that idea sooner. This amp is an old stalwart!

 

[puppyslugg]

Quote:

Originally posted by zoboomofo The near pair says 101J and the far pair says something that might resemble 47PJ

101J=100picofarads J= 5% tolerance

47pJ=47 picofarad J= 5% tolerance

From your picture, they look like Phillip's caps.

If they are polystyrenes, I see no reason to change them. Polystyrene caps are one of the best for audio use. The reason they aren't used more often: fragile; not available in large values (.1uf and up)

 

[puppyslugg]

Quote:

Originally posted by zoboomofo I might also ask about the components whose board space is labelled with LKxx (where xx is some number). The happy components that live here look much like resistors, but these are cream colored, and they have a single black band across the middle.

If you didn't mention the LKxx, I would have said they were just jumpers. Now I'm not sure.

Do you have a schematic?

 

[thomas]

Quote:

Re: Creek amp help: Name that capacitor quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by zoboomofo The ones on my board are clear with silver cans in them. The clear package is also cylindrical but with tapered ends. They look like Christmas crackers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sounds like polystyrenes. They usually come in picofarad values. What were the numbers on the caps?

I've also seen some phillips (and other companies) electrolytics in the exact same packaging, so be careful when substituting- maybe find a capacitance meter and measure to be sure....

Lxxx usually represents some form of inductor, but from your description of the part, it sounds like its just a zero-ohm jumper wire...

 

[zoboomofo]

Thanks for the help guys. I think I'll leave the xmas crackers alone.

FYI, 2 of the LKxx components come out from the output pins of the opamp. They come after the class A biasing branch, so I guess they lead to some output stage. That's what tangent suggested when I mentioned there were a bunch of Qxx components there (these look like tablets with donut holes in the middle - I guess for heat sink attachment?). I'm going to switch the caps on this stage next. Man, upgrading C1 (coupling cap?) was a great step forward!

puppyslugg, I haven't gotten off my ass to finish the Creek amp map. I'm a little busy as I'm doing an assignment right now... Err in a minute

.

 

[zoboomofo]

Pupp... The class A bits would probably show up on pinkfloyd's picture (above) as the 4 black thingys on the bottom right (in front of the RCA jacks. The output stage would then be the stuff at the back right, in front of the power jack (looks like a pair of capacitor sandwiches between 2 slices of Qxx bread. I'm not sure what the signal path electrolytics are doing, but someone better tell them they're better off in the power supply. These must be for tuning and/or compensation for the NE5532s naughty tendencies. The big Samwha is fer sher a PS component. The stuff around it I'm not sure. There are also plenty of clear red (zener?) diodes around the board. I'm guessing these are for power regulation. That's what I've come up with so far anyway. I'm guessing though, so please correct me if you can better make sense of this board.

 

[puppyslugg]

Quote:

Originally posted by zoboomofo Pupp... The class A bits would probably show up on pinkfloyd's picture (above) as the 4 black thingys on the bottom right (in front of the RCA jacks. The output stage would then be the stuff at the back right, in front of the power jack (looks like a pair of capacitor sandwiches between 2 slices of Qxx bread. I'm not sure what the signal path electrolytics are doing, but someone better tell them they're better off in the power supply. These must be for tuning and/or compensation for the NE5532s naughty tendencies. The big Samwha is fer sher a PS component. The stuff around it I'm not sure. There are also plenty of clear red (zener?) diodes around the board. I'm guessing these are for power regulation. That's what I've come up with so far anyway. I'm guessing though, so please correct me if you can better make sense of this board.

It's very difficult for me to tell what's really going on without a schematic. Possible, but very tedious. I would strongly suggest you get hold of a schematic, if possible.

If I had a Creek, I'd be modding it, too. Regardless, good luck with your mods!