advertisement


NAIM OLIVE 250/HICAP CAPACITOR HELP

rockyplatter

rockyplatter

Member
Hi everyone,
Just curious if you could shed some light on my situation,
I'm in Canada and trying to find some replacement caps for my gear.
I have 3 hicaps and a nap 250 I'd like to put in some fresh capacitors.
Everyone seems to recommend the Kendeil 22000 uf 63 V (the only ones I can find are 105 mm long)
I opened 2 hicaps and the 250,
The caps that are in there are FELSIC 15,000 uf 63V 112 mm long.
IS that a straight drop in replacement ? Would it work fine? ? Is there something you would recommend to try instead, and lastly DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY FOR SALE!?
Ha, I only finding some on ebay from TURKEY which might result in a lengthly shipping situation.
Thanks in advance everyone! This is my first post on here and been lurking info for a while.
 
Last edited:
I’m in Canada as well so I understand your problem on getting some European parts........
For the capacitors with soldering tabs, I often end up buying some Nichicon Gold Tune or KG Super Through from Parts Connexion in Ontario.
For the screw on type, I usually buy either some Vishay/BC from Digikey or Mouser.
I typically prefer to keep the exact same size and capacitance to avoid any modification so I sometimes have to buy higher voltage to get the right one. Not a bad idea as they may last a bit longer.
Sound wise, I didn’t hear any major difference compared to the original ones so all good for me.
If you can find some BHC/Kemet ALC type, they are also very good but difficult to find sometimes.
The best of all for me are the Mundorf from Parts Connexion but they don’t have all the suitable sizes for vintage gears.
I have 2 Felsic capacitors I removed from my chrome bumper Hicap, they are 15 000 uf, 63 volts and date of fabrication is 2003. I just kept them in case someone would like to repair an Hicap to resell it. They are within specs but they probably won’t last another 10 years. I’m willing to give them for free if you’re interested, just let me know.
 
That's so generous Gervais, but i'm after something that's a hopeful "upgrade", giving some future proofing here, I don't think the gear I've mentioned has ever had new caps so I think it would be exciting to hear the difference to go from old to brand new. I'll look into the mundorf ones, thanks for the suggestion!
 
Last time I serviced my 250s I got everything here. UK based company though and I would imagine international postage is taking a while in the current situation. As well as the big smoothing capacitors it's also important to replace the electrolytics on the amp and regulator boards.
 
So much for the info everyone, it's a huge help. I'm curious if someone has had the experience of swapping out the 15,000 uf caps for the kendeil 22000 first hand and how it worked.
@Richard Lines The only ones on that website are quite a bit shorter ( 79 mm ), I wonder how much of a difference that makes. Full size (105mm) replacement's are sold out :-(
@martinab2 Yes those kits look great. I wonder if they ship to Canada. Thanks for the reply
 
In Naim amps, the capacitance is always optimized at factory so increasing it won’t bring a major improvement.
And nowadays, the capacitors tend to get smaller for a given capacitance and they are working fine anyway. My only concern would be the time they will last, I don’t know yet if a small capacitor has a shorter life than a larger one.
 
Curious Gervais, about 10 years of the felsic, Sic safco produce for aerospace and high end industiral gears, they time rate their Caps CO39 at 32000 hours, when the much praised Italian Kendeil, german's Mundorf( F&t rebranded) barely 5000 hours! at around the same price the call is simple as product .. at last Naim made it clear ..
 
The 105 mm long Kendeils are better than Felsic in the Hi Cap by quite a margin. The difference in power amps is not so much but they aren't worse.

The shorter 79mm Kendeils are not as good (found that out a few years ago) and I don't recommend them for HC's or the 250. They do work quite nicely in a bolt down 160 though.

The only source of Kendeils to DIY at the moment seems to be that Turkish Ebay seller and he's really hiked the prices so I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to buy there.

There is a British Seller of the Felsics but he also seems a bit pricey but not hugely so.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/13383277...d=link&campid=5338728743&toolid=20001&mkevt=1

Don't overlook Kemet (either formerly BHC (black) or formerly Evox Rifa (white)). I think I'd be looking there if I had to do a recap right now but I'm hoping the supply situation improves in the future.

Of what Farnell (Newark in US) can currently supply in the UK I would go with these

https://uk.farnell.com/kemet/als40a223kf063/cap-22000-f-63v-alu-elec-screw/dp/2835151
https://www.newark.com/kemet/als40a223kf063/cap-22000-f-63v-alu-elec-screw/dp/48AC1631

But on your side of the pond I think these Epcos caps are also worth a look

https://www.newark.com/epcos/b41560a8229m000/cap-alu-elec-22000uf-63v-screw/dp/60K1980
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
I've replaced two of my unmodified chrome bumper HC's with the Kendiel 22000uf 63V Reservoir caps and been listening to them for over a year, one HC driving my 32.5 and the other driving my NAXO 3-6. The Kendiels have been working without issue and sounding fine during this time, no performance issues.

Then about a month ago after reading posts here and there I started having this idea in the back of my head to remove the KIendiels from my 32.5 HC and reinstall my 20 year old S.L.C.E caps to get a better idea of how things have progressed over time by this change and after about 48 hours of warming up I noticed something that I remember hearing back at the shop 30+ years ago when I first listened to Naim gear that I can only assume I thought had gotten used to, but it appears that the Keindles while fine caps offer less of a sense of musical realism that draws the listener into the performance "in my system", I was happily surprised by this change, so much so that 2 weeks later I removed the Kendiels from my NAXO HC and reinstalled my 8 year old Felsics, and while this wasn't as big a difference musically as the change with the 32.5 going back to the Felsics did improve overall system balance and improved high frequency control.

Again, the Kendiels are fine, but in my system the older caps seem to have the advantage. And I did check the old caps with a capacitance multimeter before reinstalling and both sets measured surprisingly close to each other, I'm not sure how much longer they will last but I'm going to continue to use them for a while. And FWIW my (3) CB 250's all currently have 8 year old Felsics in them.
 
I actually recapped a pair of 135's fairly recently (but it must be about 5 years ago now) with Felsics and other correct Naim components for resale after retirement from my system.

I was very happy with the result but I've never actually thought the Kendeils made much difference to the power amps anyway.

In the CB days Naim would use whichever of LMT, SLCE and Felsic they could get most cheaply so I suspect there is much more made about brands of cap than is really justified. With early olive they were down to Felsic vs SLCE but for some reason went exclusively for SLCE after about 1991 until SLCE went bust.

I've never thought I made anything worse when replacing old SLCE's and in HC's certainly thought I got a lift out of the Kendeils.

I certainly wouldn't be happy listening on a standard 32.5 though, I'm after a lot more clarity than one of those could offer in its unmodified state.
 
Naim amps generate very little heat so quality caps like SLCE last a lifetime. Sikorels are rated 25000 hours for 85C and 200000 hours for 40C.
 
Hello all,

There are 2 types of SLCE capacitors
.the basic 15000 µF 63V. 51x116mm at 51.48 incl VAT (£46.02)
.The Special audio(376332-SLCE) 15000 µF 63V. 51x116mm -10+30% ref:220154. but minimum order 16U at 83.04 incl VAT (£73.45)
Rates 1 year 1/2.

I'm selling Kendeil brand stock (just used 1 month buy on ebay (Turk of course) you have to finish prowling them.
.4x22,000 µF at 63v
.2x22,000µF at 75v

PM if interested

Regards
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top