Nakamichi LX-3 contracted Orange Cap Disease

What innocently started as OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) of me not being able to live with a beautiful and fully restored TEAC A-100 resulted last week in OCD as in Orange Caps Disease.



Fully restored and up-to-specs LX3, with brand-new belts/tyres and rollers from BlackReel-Audio had suddenly stopped recording. Record button always engaged Mute option which could not be disengaged, playback got noisy: infamous NAK polypropylene ("orange") caps failed. Yesterday my order of 21 PP caps arrived from DigiKey: four PP caps for the Logic&Power PCB, ten for Dolby-NR PCB, and seven more for the Main board.
I started with Logic&Power board. All you have to do is remove top and bottom plates (4+6 screws). No need to remove the board itself, when LX-3 is placed on its side it is possible to recap with minimal contortions and joint pains.
Logic&Power board with four suspect Orange Caps:


One cap, C502, was bad:


To get to Dolby and Main boards LX-3 has to be seriously dismantled. So I checked if the problem got fixed. Lucky Me!!! LX-3 plays and records like new again!


Since I am not selling my LX-3, the rest of the caps will be kept for later failures, but right now its me, smiling on the background of another recording session:

 

I see you have gone the Linn / Naim route, I do like the Naim green logo glow. Is that a Wadia CD player I see there?

 

So, orange caps aren't electrolytics... LOL!!

 

With a little help from my son I managed to upload a list of orange PP caps for LX-3 here: square-2
Yes, its real strange that all electrolytics still work, but unbreakable PP caps fail. Bad production batch?

 

@TooCooL4 yes, I am totally in love with Naim "house" sound. And style, at least re old "olive" series. Wadia 781i is my digital player for now, Naim CDS3 is in storage: not enough shelf space. Wadia had a few predecessors: SACD players from Krell, McIntosh, Ayre, Linn. The only time I was getting any compliments from the guests was when I had McIntosh in this system:



It sounded too "polite" to my tastes, had to go... But it does look like a million bucks!!!

 

One of my friends still has an all Naim setup like you and the SBL speakers too. He has the 52 pre, SuperCap, 135 power amps etc. On the Linn side Naim arro arm Archive cartridge.

 

I am in the same situation, once you get used to Naim sound it is difficult to change. For over a year I had BAT VK-75se, its imaging was almost creepy.


But small SBLs were too much for the Beast, and BAT had to go... Its place is now taken by ProAc sub
Keel-ed and Aro-ed Sondek (with Lyra cart) is another constant in my setup. To stop myself from thinking about dPS t-table I even sold all original LP12 packaging boxes

 

Did you try the Naim IBL's?

I have to admit the Naim sound is not for me. I did try it at one point, years ago when I was upgrading from my first system, which was a Mission Cyrus II and PSX and Linn Axis turntable. I borrowed a Naim 72, HiCap and 140 power amp, I had it at home for the weekend. Listening to it at the Hi-Fi shop and first having it at home, I liked it. But by the end of the weekend I could not wait to get it back. It was not for me. I ended up buying Roksan Pre and Power amp instead.

Now I run Spectral Audio Pre and Power, it kicks anything I have had or listen to into touch.

 

is that a zip-tight on the speaker stand?
Beautiful setup, but I agree that the beauty of hi-end is that everything sounds soo different! you just have to choose... and then live with it My original plan from 20+ years ago was Wilson Audio "robots", or at least B&W 802... and look how it ended with a joke of floorstanders and Flat-Earth everything

 

Yes zip ties as the Spectral audio MH-770 Ultralinear II's has a box on the end of it and since my speakers are stand mounts with the terminals up high, i needed to not put the weight on the terminals from the cables on them.

 

Nails would look so much better!

And Yes, I was thinking about DBLs but since I am in love with "active" speakers getting another NAP250 sounded like too much of a boxes for just one of me

 

Nails, i think not.

I mean the IBL's not the DBL's as you say the SBL's are too much for the BAT's, i would i have thought a BAT would drive most things.
What did you mean the SBL's are too much for the BAT?

 

Nope, never even considered IBLs... BAT with SBLs was not a good match, at least to my ears. Not enough "snap", but I blamed SBLs because at the dealer BAT performed pretty well with Naim front-end and peamp into the speakers (forgot which) that were way above my $$ limits. So, instead of getting onto another upgraditis round I retreated to all-Naim amplification.

 

here is a free widget to check W&F: A.N.T.Audio. No need to pay $100+ for the "old skool" hardware, I think