# Mcintosh Capacitor replacement/upgrade amp repair



## Stereowhore (Aug 29, 2015)

I just picked up a good condition mac mc420 but it has original caps and I want to replace/upgrade them before install.

I also have a zapco c2k 9.0 that won't shut off, keeps killing battery, that i need repaired.

I hit up a few guys on here but nobody hit me back. I'd appreciate any active user that can give me a quote on the mac upgrade and maybe take a look at my c2k. i'm in tampa florida if there's any local guys, but i don't mind shipping.

Thanks in advance


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## robert_wrath (Apr 24, 2011)

Send it to McIntosh.


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## Stereowhore (Aug 29, 2015)

Thanks for the advice but the purpose of a forum like this this to meet knowledgeable talented people so we don't have to pay retail to manufacturers


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## dcfis (Sep 9, 2016)

Stereowhore said:


> Thanks for the advice but the purpose of a forum like this this to meet knowledgeable talented people so we don't have to pay retail to manufacturers


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## Stereowhore (Aug 29, 2015)

Lmfao


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

Send a message to ShawnK. He is reliable, fast and does quality work. I've used him before.


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## Stereowhore (Aug 29, 2015)

Thanks for the info, i'll drop him a line


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## gsxrtin (Nov 28, 2007)

Is ShawnK still active on this forum? I put his name into search but didn't find his profile.


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## gsxrtin (Nov 28, 2007)

Nevermind. Stupid autocorrect on phone.


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## Marky (Nov 15, 2011)

I would also like to get a reference for a good repair guy for McIntosh amps. I have several that need repair and probably should upgrade all the caps too.


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

You can also reach out to Jeff Priddy. His username is jeffp on this forum. Send him a PM.

Jeff just did a repair on my McIntosh MX5000 and disassembled/cleaned the volume knob and replaced some bad/aging caps. 

I would highly recommend his service too.


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## Marky (Nov 15, 2011)

captainobvious said:


> You can also reach out to Jeff Priddy. His username is jeffp on this forum. Send him a PM.
> 
> Jeff just did a repair on my McIntosh MX5000 and disassembled/cleaned the volume knob and replaced some bad/aging caps.
> 
> I would highly recommend his service too.


Thanks Captainobvious, 
I will drop him a P/M and see if he is up to it and if he has worked on these these amps in the past or not. I have talked with a guy named TrickyRicky about doing some repair work along with cap upgrades. Not sure if you have any experience with him on amplifier work.
Just would like to get the ones in Power Guard mode fixed and then upgraded so they sound like they should so I can get the system I'm working on up and going.

Thanks again any further input would be appreciated. 
Mark.....


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

Stereowhore said:


> Thanks for the advice but the purpose of a forum like this this to meet knowledgeable talented people so we don't have to pay retail to manufacturers


Ohhh that`s the purpose.... I see.


I thought the purpose is to learn **** yourself. 
replacing caps in mac is a piece of cake. Do it yourself.

Otherwise you looking at 100-150 vs 30 for parts. don`t buy caps on ebay, digikey or mouser.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

Marky said:


> Thanks Captainobvious,
> I will drop him a P/M and see if he is up to it and if he has worked on these these amps in the past or not. I have talked with a guy named TrickyRicky about doing some repair work along with cap upgrades. Not sure if you have any experience with him on amplifier work.
> Just would like to get the ones in Power Guard mode fixed and then upgraded so they sound like they should so I can get the system I'm working on up and going.
> 
> ...


Ricky knows his ****, good guy.

power guard means small 50uF caps gone. whole lot of them, like 25 or more.
Don`t remember exact number . 

I`d fix it for you but has been busy lately.


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## spydertune (Sep 9, 2005)

I've not had one apart but it doesn't look too bad at all with everything on one side of the PCB. The recap itself looks like ~2 hours with an iron & solder sucker. 

The output devices stay tied down so you don't have to worry about new thermal compound -


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## feeshta (Oct 2, 2011)

I sent my old MC-431 to McIntosh for repairs once many years ago after a freak accident resulted in a burned out output stage. I really don't think you should discount them as an option. 

First, they paid for it to be shipped to them, which I found shocking. Then they told me they wanted going to upgrade my amp because they had come up with a new output transistor arrangement they felt performed better, and it wouldn't cost anything extra. Actually, they asked me if that was okay with me. 

Finally, they called a couple days later and asked if it would be okay with me if they simply sent me a brand new amp with the new tech, as they were a little busy at the moment and having trouble getting to my amp and didn't want to keep me waiting. I asked what the upgrade price would be, and the gentleman told me they would do it free of charge. I was floored.

At the end of the day, I accidentally blew up my amp, told them this outright and didn't try to claim warranty service, and they replaced my amp with an upgraded model absolutely for free, including shipping both ways. Best company I have ever dealt with BY FAR.


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## MACS (Oct 3, 2007)

What McIntosh was, is no more. They have nothing to do with car audio anymore and will refer you to George Meyer in California for repairs. 

Your best option is to go with one of the highly rated techs here on Diyma.


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## chefhow (Apr 29, 2007)

Have you tried Pyramid Audio in Austin Texas?


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## feeshta (Oct 2, 2011)

MACS said:


> What McIntosh was, is no more. They have nothing to do with car audio anymore and will refer you to George Meyer in California for repairs.
> 
> Your best option is to go with one of the highly rated techs here on Diyma.


Sigh... I guess you can never go home. Seems like all of the good companies either die or become shells of their former selves.


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## Marky (Nov 15, 2011)

feeshta said:


> Sigh... I guess you can never go home. Seems like all of the good companies either die or become shells of their former selves.


Yea that was a mouthful for sure and both of you are spot on. MACS is also correct about George Meyer, he bought up the entire car audio parts from McIntosh a little over a year ago. Since people aren't banging down his doors for repairs he hits the people that do use him with both barrels. My name isn't any fancy reference to McIntosh but I'm a big fan of their equipment and have 14 of their amplifiers. Of coarse 4 of them are in Power Guard and are in need of repairs.
I did send one MC431 to Justin Huston to have it upgraded with new capacitors and film caps as well. He did a lot of work to the amplifier and I definitely give him credit where credit is due. But that amp had a Power Guard issue as well and he fought with it for three months or more. Ended up sending it to a guy named Atomic 65 or something close to have him fix the amp. When I got it back we powered it up and it sounded beautiful, I started bringing up the volume and it kicked off and went back into Power Guard. 
I did talk with Justin about it and he offered to make it right. But being the procrastinator that I am the amp is sitting upstairs in my shop still. 
My biggest issue with these Mac amps is shipping them across the country. Out of all the amps I bought 3 of them arrived with broken glass. Another was lost by the USPS for four months and I've never seen so many pieces of broken glass in one box.
That amp was also in Power Guard too but it was a freebee because PayPal refunded the sale three months before it was thrown on my porch.

I have spoken to Tricky Ricky and also Jeff Priddy thanks to you guys. I'm leaning towards Jeff right now because he's 2 hours away from me and I know good and damn well I can move them from my house to Reno without anything getting destroyed. I am super gun shy to put these in a box anymore.
Plan right now is to bring 5 or 6 of them to Jeff this coming weekend, but I better get in touch with him. I will post up how things go, I did manage to buy two MC427 amps still new in their original boxes and also a new MCC444. 
But I have also been told that means nothing because the caps are still old and likely defective from the start. 

Ill keep this thread up to date at least on my end.
Mark........

One last thing Feeshta....... is who bought McIntosh that hurts me. Fine Sounds who owns ARC Audio bought them to wipe them out as a competitor.
The red headed step child lives on......'ARC Audio' 
I'm going to catch hell for that.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

Atomic62 (Andy) knows and repaired Macs for a long time, perhaps he missed one of those pesky little 50uF caps and power guard went off again. 


I`m a big fan of VU metered macs, still have 440M I will probably never gonna sell. 

Amp is indefinitely repairable,why not. Just have to keep glass in pristine condition.

When you ship mac for repair take glass off and keep it home, repairman don`t need your glass to do the job.


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## feeshta (Oct 2, 2011)

It was uncortunate about the glass tops. I would have shipped without the glass personally, but I'm not sure if the VU equipped models that might not be an option. Mine was a basic MC431 with no meters. I cracked the glass on both my Macs, without ever mishandling them. The tempered glass looked nice, but it never belonged in a car. 

Personally I begrudgingly sold mine when I was afraid it was going to cook itself in a tight install space which offered almost no ventilation due to its size. I replaced it with a smaller, less powerful amp (US Amps TU-600)expecting a step back in sound, and was blown away when the new amp kicked its ass. Never thought about going back. Bought another of the same line and am about to install both 

In both cases, I got a great deal because the store had seen no interest in the amp for ages when I asked about them out of simple curiosity. Got the Mac for $880, and the TU for $430, which was dealer cost both times. 




Marky said:


> feeshta said:
> 
> 
> > Sigh... I guess you can never go home. Seems like all of the good companies either die or become shells of their former selves.
> ...


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## Marky (Nov 15, 2011)

Victor_inox said:


> Atomic62 (Andy) knows and repaired Macs for a long time, perhaps he missed one of those pesky little 50uF caps and power guard went off again.
> 
> 
> I`m a big fan of VU metered macs, still have 440M I will probably never gonna sell.
> ...


The amps that had the glass broken from the shippers was when I purchased the amps. I bought a MC440M from a nice guy that had it in his Viper. He paid UPS to pack and ship the amp to me and the putz that packed it had one wrap of bubble wrap around the amp. 
The UPS guy handed it to me and I heard broken glass moving around in the box soon as it was in my hand. I made him stand there as I opened the box. 
That one made me really mad because a guy in the shipping business should know better. 
I chewed his ASS on the phone and he did refund me my $800.00 but he sent the check on the 29th day because I think he wanted to slug me for speech I gave to him. He had 30 days to refund the purchase and he made me wait.
Anyway I returned that amp but did buy a MC431M and my buddy fell in love with it. He kept after me until I sold it to him lol. I guess I'm not a purist or whatever you call the guy that wants the McIntosh trademark meters in the amp. I am running six of these in my truck and they are all behind my back seat. So you cannot see them swinging meters as the music plays. So honestly I saw no point in buying metered amps I bought them for their sound quality. That said I refused any with broken glass because resale is very poor without their glass top.
Feeshta I have said the same thing 100 times there is no good reason to have glass a part of ANY car audio equipment. Its not if but when is it going to get broken.

I bought a MCC404 from a guy in Chicago off of Craigslist and I STRESSED to him the importance of packing to withstand gorillas throwing it......... Yea its glass was also busted. But that amp I was able to buy a new top from McIntosh for $135.00. Ended up splitting the cost of it because that thing was pristine with manual and birth sheet. And he was devastated when we sent the pic of the window broken and he did a great job packing it so it didn't get damaged but the gorillas got it. 

Atomic62 that's the guy I believe his name is Randy. I had several conversations with him regarding fixing that amp. He was stressed at the time due to his daughter having pregnancy complications and work is most likely why it didn't get fixed right.
I will say that it sounded fabulous me and my buddies face was all smiles. Until it shut off lol

I didn't ship any glass when I shipped my MC431. I sent the amp board only and packed it well. Was shipped back to me in a USPS white box with a bit of bubble wrap and the light bar for power and power guard was crushed. And I mean crushed the plastic tits that come through holes in the amp were gone. 
Randy shipped me a new one that was easy enough to replace. But again was just another chop from the hatchet. 

I just don't have any faith that it will get there and back without something going to hell. Seen it too many different times. 
Bought a 2013 tailgate for my 2006 F250 off eBay..........yup it was smashed.

It may be the Shipping Gods just have it in for me, but its sure put the brakes on my install.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

Buy expanding foam in homedepot.fill trashbag losely.place on rhe bottom of th Ed box. Wait 30 minutes.place your amp on top . cover with secondtrashbag filled with expanding foam. Wait 24 hours,cut off foam to close the box.ship away.no damage.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

MACS said:


> What McIntosh was, is no more. They have nothing to do with car audio anymore and will refer you to George Meyer in California for repairs.
> 
> Your best option is to go with one of the highly rated techs here on Diyma.


Amen.


I have just recently gone through having George Meyer repair my mc4000m. I contacted a couple guys here and one got back to me within a couple days. I was going to go with him because I knew GM was going to be stupid expensive but when I talked to the folks at GM I was quoted a "7-10 day turnaround". Plus, they have the parts on hand since (as someone mentioned above) they bought all Mcintosh's stock a while back. 

Being that I was _really_ in a time crunch for a meet coming up next month I decided to go that route. GM received the amp on February 14th (yep, Valentine's Day). I got a call on Feb 15th regarding the $75 evaluation fee which I was charged at that point. Two weeks later, after having heard _nothing_ from GM regarding the repair I contacted them via email and mentioned the previously told-to-me 7-10 day repair. No reply. I called two days later (March 1st). I got a fellow who explained to me their car amp tech had been on vacation... ok. Why wasn't I told this before? Anyway, I was told he would be back and look at the amp the next week. Thirty minutes after I hung up the phone I got a reply to my email. 

To make this long story short I called them a couple more times after not hearing back over the following weeks. They were nice to deal with but they really annoyed me by not holding to their own repair timelines (which continually changed, not due to the work being complicated, but simply because no one had touched it yet; tech was on vacation, then got sick I was told). 

The repair bill for replacement of all the caps and numerous FETs along with some other miscellaneous parts and repair of the board itself (had to be fiberglassed) was just around $1k plus return shipping back to me. 

I'm sure had I gone with one of the fellows mentioned in this thread I would have paid less and likely have gotten the work done sooner. But my rush and their lack of communication and ability to stick to their own prescribed schedule left me a so-so customer. I'm sure the amp will be rocking for many more years to come and they do warranty their work but still, I'm not entirely happy with how everything went down. So if you don't mind paying out the wazoo and you're not in a rush then GM is the pinnacle of mcintosh repair, most likely. But that's not to say the other fellows here probably couldn't do as good a job. Just my $0.02. 


Oh, and I shipped the amp to them without the glass in place. I wasn't about to ship that monster across the country with the glass in place. 

- Erin


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## Marky (Nov 15, 2011)

ErinH said:


> Amen.
> 
> 
> I have just recently gone through having George Meyer repair my mc4000m. I contacted a couple guys here and one got back to me within a couple days. I was going to go with him because I knew GM was going to be stupid expensive but when I talked to the folks at GM I was quoted a "7-10 day turnaround". Plus, they have the parts on hand since (as someone mentioned above) they bought all Mcintosh's stock a while back.
> ...


I'm glad to hear they did take care of it for you in the end. Audio repairs are a tough business because its not a large industry. I don't think there's ant apprenticeship program running in the states training the future audio wizards. So when a guy that knows this stuff like the back of his hand hangs up working on these things knowledge is lost forever more often then not.
I had a few people work on the one amp I sent out and I completely take the responsibility for it not being finished today. I know that these amps are complex and they need to be in the right hands to be properly repaired and upgraded.
I spent $380.00 on a soldering station that's for working on these amps. All the goodies vacuum and digital soldering gun as well as blow dryers lol whatever they call the little heat guns that will de-solder components off of circuit boards. I even have probably most of the new capacitors to do most of my amps. But the more I looked at these things and to compound things was when I looked at the bag of old Parts that came back from Jeremy Huston after he worked on my amp. Yea my head started spinning and is probably spinning still. 
I don't see like I used to and I just don't have the patience for that much fine work today. Getting old Blows

I have always looked at the MC4000M with awe. Its nothing short of a big dose of pure Testosderone. I'm jealous I will admit.


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## MACS (Oct 3, 2007)

Damn Erin!! When you told me your MC4000M had a hiccup, I had no idea it went so horribly wrong. Your story about how George Meyer treated you sounds like a broken record. I know several people that were handled the same way. (promises, delays, no contact, expensive repair bill). They will never touch any of my McIntosh amps. I have two MC4000M I am going to have upgraded at some point, just haven't had the time.

The MC4000M is a great amp, but does not like being pushed too hard. The power supply cannot handle the amount of current it can draw, at least not on a long term basis. Low and slow........they will live forever.


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## Marky (Nov 15, 2011)

Victor_inox said:


> Buy expanding foam in homedepot.fill trashbag losely.place on rhe bottom of th Ed box. Wait 30 minutes.place your amp on top . cover with secondtrashbag filled with expanding foam. Wait 24 hours,cut off foam to close the box.ship away.no damage.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk


I like that idea.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

Marky said:


> I like that idea.


 It`s like instapak without instapak price. I shipped heavy things like subwoofers that way. It`s better than factory foam inserts.


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## kurtisk (Apr 25, 2017)

I have an original MC420 that I recently installed in my son's New Beetle. I haven't had it installed for several years, it has been in a closet in my house.

Originally the installation worked fine. But after a few weeks it started having problems starting up. The PowerGuard light would turn on at startup and not go out. If I would restart the system, then it would turn on. After a few more weeks it might take several attempts to restart before success. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for when it works and when it doesn't. If it is working and I have to restart the car, it may not work the next time. I think I have caught it start up during a trip (that is the amp would not work but was on, 20 min into a trip it suddenly turned on) and I think it has shut off during a trip at least once as well.

I am not fully confident in my ground connection--either the direct connection to the body near the amp, nor the body ground to the battery. They obviously work, but maybe that is what is setting off the PowerGuard.

Speaker connections are two-way focal 165's front and rear, with the original tweeter still wired in and present (I have some focal tweeters to replace the originals). The front and rear are wired together as a 2ohm load. Maybe this is my problem, or maybe the tweeters make an even lower ohm load. Ch 3 & 4 are bridged to run a 10" kicker sub. 

I am still running the stock Environmental EQ, which I like to use. I have noted that the PG light sometimes flickers when changing the settings. Maybe I need to bypass it. I saw ATOMICTECH62 post instructions to bypass putting hard drive pin connectors on 1,3,5,& 7.

In this thread I have seen references to cap problems for the mains and the separate PG circuit. Is this sounding like the problematic PG circuit cap failure, or should I just rework my connections, ditch the 2ohm speaker load, and bypass the EQ?

I did partially disassemble the amp to check the connections inside. All looks good. I took pictures of both sides of the main board. It all looked good to me, but I don't really know what I am looking for except black barrel caps with the tops ruptured.

Any suggestions or advise is welcome...about the amp that is--I already buy my car insurance from you know who. Thanks.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

kurtisk said:


> I have an original MC420 that I recently installed in my son's New Beetle. I haven't had it installed for several years, it has been in a closet in my house.
> 
> Originally the installation worked fine. But after a few weeks it started having problems starting up. The PowerGuard light would turn on at startup and not go out. If I would restart the system, then it would turn on. After a few more weeks it might take several attempts to restart before success. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for when it works and when it doesn't. If it is working and I have to restart the car, it may not work the next time. I think I have caught it start up during a trip (that is the amp would not work but was on, 20 min into a trip it suddenly turned on) and I think it has shut off during a trip at least once as well.
> 
> ...


 Blown top off caps in your books "all look good" Just wondering what damage you was ready to see? :laugh:
Seriously though replace all caps and your power guard will go away.

Or send it to me and I`ll do it for you For the price of caps and $100/hour labor rate.


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## kurtisk (Apr 25, 2017)

Victor_inox said:


> Blown top off caps in your books "all look good" Just wondering what damage you was ready to see? :laugh:
> Seriously though replace all caps and your power guard will go away.
> 
> Or send it to me and I`ll do it for you For the price of caps and $100/hour labor rate.


"all look good" means I don't see any obvious damage. I have seen caps rupture on computer mother boards, so I know that is obvious damage. I have also seen threads on this issues refer to 'leaking electrolytes' that may also damage neighboring components. I saw no evidence of this. I don't know that I was expecting to see any damage, only that if I did then I would be a lot closer to knowing what the problem was.

So it sounds like a PG circuit failure then. Caps plus $100/hr should add up to how much? What brand of caps?


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

kurtisk said:


> "all look good" means I don't see any obvious damage. I have seen caps rupture on computer mother boards, so I know that is obvious damage. I have also seen threads on this issues refer to 'leaking electrolytes' that may also damage neighboring components. I saw no evidence of this. I don't know that I was expecting to see any damage, only that if I did then I would be a lot closer to knowing what the problem was.
> 
> So it sounds like a PG circuit failure then. Caps plus $100/hr should add up to how much? What brand of caps?


 What brand of caps do you prefer? depending on that and if you want all caps replaced, only electrolytics or all of them. 
Rubycon.
United Chemi-Con (or Nippon Chemi-Con)
Nichicon.
Sanyo/Suncon.
Panasonic.
Hitachi.
FPCAP or Functional Polymer Capacitor (ex-Fujitsu caps segment, which was bought by Nichicon)
ELNA.

You can pick what caps you think the best, or you can leave that choice to me. Most expensive caps not always the best choice. Original nichicons were crappy back in 1990th.. As condition of your amp clearly demonstrate. 

Such job takes 2 to 3 hours if not anything else needed to be done. 
Either way you looking at more money than MC420 is pristine condition will bring on open market. And when it`s going to be in better condition than it left Mcintosh factory because honestly their choice of components for these units were questionable. 
Or you can do that job yourself if determined enough Or you easily looking at 400-500 bucks investment in not the best car amp mcintosh made. 
If you want to discuss further email me [email protected]


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## MACS (Oct 3, 2007)

99.9% of the time the small 50v caps are leaking on these amps and the symptoms are exactly what you have described. Look closely at the base of each one. It will appear as a damp spot or dust will have collected around the base. 

Eventually, one of them will short out and you will end up with a cloud of smoke and hole in the circuit board.


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