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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
ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
Just make that capacitor bundle with a male RCA on one end and a female RCA on the other. Plug it into the back of your CD player and run an interconnect between the other end and your preamp. Run the CD player for 100 hours and you've got burn in (200 hours for teflon's). You don't even need the preamp to be turned on at all.

Enjoy,
Bob
sns OP
653 posts
 
Bob, I would think it would take longer to burn in the cap with that scheme. Wouldn't the cd player be sending out a lower level signal than the preamp?
ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
A typical CD player sends out 2 volts. If you had a passive preamp you would immediately see that the volume full open would be way too loud. Typically a preamp will send out a lower voltage since the volume would be turned down to a "reasonable" level.

Plus, my way you don't need the preamp or amp turned on at all. Just change out the disk 1-2x a day and you've got a pretty easy burn in device. You can even turn the system on once in a while and hear the changes in the caps over time.

Enjoy,
Bob
sns OP
653 posts
 
I have the preamp volume turned up full.

I like the idea of being able to hear the caps as they burn in using the cd player, think I'll give it a try.
Thanks, Scott
johnss
291 posts
 
Yes, Bob has a good point, The main thing you want to do is get some time on the new caps, before you install them if your wish is to avoid in system break in.
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