Yamaha P2100 Power Supply Capacitor Upgrade

If you own or are going to purchase a vintage amplifier you really should make sure at least the main power supply caps are recent.   I happen to have bought 2 Yamaha P2100's for my 4.0 home theatre system.    One powers the left 2 channels and the other the right, so when listening to music I essentially have dual-mono setup.

First, please consider purchasing these caps which are brand new, and fit perfectly:

Yamaha P2100 Capacitors

Tools:

• Prepare a large work area, possibly with a towel on top to protect the surface and amp.
• Drill with bits
• Phillips head screwdriver
• Set of hex head drivers and/or extending magnetic pick up. 
• Camera

Removal Instructions:

• Remove all of the screws from the top cover. 
• Look inside with a flash light to find the bracket holding the caps.  Notice the two screws holding the bracket in the middle.  Also notice that to the left there is a wire going from the capacitor bracket tightening screw to a wire bundle.  It's not electrically used, so go ahead and unwrap it.
• Turn amp over and remove bracket screws. 
• Take a picture of the plate that covers the large electrolytic capacitors to the right of the transformer.   You'll need this as a reference point.
• Remove all 4 screws on the ground plate.  
• Remove 2 screws on capacitors.  
• Gently pull caps out, and discard.
• Pull out bracket and discard, along with dressing wire.

Installation instructions:

• Attach a bracket to one of the caps.  With the (-) terminal towards you, one tab should face left, and tightening screw on left.  
• Attach to the bottom plate using new bolts and nuts but through the original screw locations.  You may drill a third hole if desired for the third tab.  I did not have a driver set of the right size, so I used a magnetic pickup to hold the nut in place until it got started, then needle nosed pliers to tighten.
• Attach second mounting bracket to second capacitor.  With + terminal towards you, one tab should face to the right, and the tightening screw on the right.  
• Slide second capacitor in, (+) towards you (front).
• Attach plate to both capacitors ONLY right now using new cap screws.  
• Straighten the caps so the terminals are parallel with sides.
• Use the second bracket to mark the bottom plate for the 3 new screw locations
• Disassemble top plate, remove right cap and drill bolt holes.
• Re-insert second cap, and attach screws and nuts. 
• Check both brackets for tightness.
• Attach ground plate to caps
• Attach wiring to front most terminals first, so you can make any adaptations needed to keep the wires away from the ground plate.  I had to clip a couple of wire ties to do this well. 
• Attach 2 ground plate screws, try to remember to keep the wiring's original location.   Only black wires should be on front-most, middle screw. 
• Double check you have plenty of spacing around (+) and (-) terminals and the ground plate.  
• Plug in to wall.
• Turn on.  
• If you don't smell smoke, turn off and attach top plate.

Goodbye Fedora 18

When Alan Cox called Fedora 18 the worst Linux distro ever I thought he was being a little dramatic, and just happened to run into installation woes unique to his system and needs.

A month into running Fedora 18 on my laptop and desktop, I have to say, Fedora 18 may not have been the worst distro ever in January, but by March it was well on it's way. 

The biggest issue for me is the amazing number of kernel updates which are coming down the pipeline, often breaking my system.  The idea of "rawhide" being the bleeding edge and the rest of Fedora 18 being stable and secure has been completely forgotten.  For the past two months I have had no more than 2 weeks without a new kernel release, and sometimes 2 a week.  It's simply not possible to keep a distro reliable with that level of changes going into the mainline. 

At some recent point, my hard won battle to use the proprietary ATI drivers so I could game and work broke down completely.  

What  am I going to?  Ubuntu for now, though I hear the rumblings about Canonical and developers being out of sync in terms of who the community and who the driving elements should be.   With a nine month upgrade cycle and 2 year LTS versions I am willing to forego getting the latest MySQL DB or MariaDB, Apache releases, etc. for a stable system with good support for games, music management and an up to date Eclipse system, even if it has a crazy ass web-search oriented desktop and a package installer I do not like as much. 

Goodbye Fedora.  Call me when you figure out what good you are besides a place to crowdsource the testing of new kernel patches. 

Theta Casanova and Casablanca I HDMI Upgrade

There are a lot of people who are rediscovering just how good the DAC's in the Theta Casanova are, especially with 96/24 program material.  Oh, right, most people dont' know this but the Casanova's play 96/24 just fine.  I'm listening to NPR through my Squeezebox touch and a Casanova right now.

There are also a lot of Casablanca I and II's out there which won't be upgraded.  Fear not, there are solutions.

There's just absolutely nothing wrong or outdated about the sound coming out of these, and for $399 or less for the Casanovas on the used market they are serious contenders for most DAC's out there at $2,000 or less.   So what do you do?

Upgrade it!

Get an external HDMI switcher with digital audio out and infrared remote control such as:

Monoprice 4 to 1 HDMI switch
Used along with the Home Theater master learning remote with macro capabilities:

URC Learning Remote

And you'll have a music and home theater processor which simply can't be embarrassed  for under $10K.

Full disclosure: I want to pump up the price of the Casanova's on the used market so I can afford a Supernova when they come out! :)

Best!



Nigel

Theta Digital Goes Digtal in a Powerful Way

Theta Digital has yet to post a press release for it, but according to this Stereophile article, they were showing the new Prometheus class-D amplifier at CES 2013.  

No idea what it sounds like.  

Theta Digital - Supernova Upgradability

One very interesting thing about the back of the Super seen here at Home Theater is the use of thumb screws for each of the four rear panels.  This of course implies a level of biodegradability and interchangeability not seen before below the Casablanca.

Of course, there were some upgrade boards available for the Casanova (at least DTS and Circle Surround), as well as some digital input boards, but AFAIK they all required a trip to the shop. 

Looking at the back of the Supernova, I would be very happy to trade half of those digital inputs for an Ethernet port.  Maybe Theta can pick up some of the designers of the Squeezebox Touch for help with a streaming interface that is Android and iPhone savvy.  Just saying.

Theta Digital - New 3D BluRay - SACD - DVD Player

Somehow I missed this release.  Theta digital announced a new version of the Compli Blu player with 3D support, Internet and DLNA streaming and more. 

Details here:  http://www.thetadigital.com/press_release_compli_blu_3D_ships.shtml

Theta Digital - Slow and Steady Progress

I won't say that Theta is roaring back, but it is clear that they are making slow but steady progress over the past two years.

Theta finally introduced their HDMI solution for the Theta Casablanca, a modified Oppo Blu Ray player, new digital amplifiers, and have been showing what I would call the successor to the Casanova, the Supernova.  Think of the Casanova with HDMI and more balanced outputs.  If it sounds as good as the original, it's worth the price, regardless of room eq features.

A picture with article may be found here:  http://www.hometheater.com/content/more-theta-supernova

The choice to go away from contrasting buttons is a good thing, and if the screen can be completely turned off it really is an upgrade in looks.  While Home Theater mentions the desire for room correction, honestly it's not that big a deal for me.  I'd much rather have an Android remote, and/or network streaming built in.  I've spent a lot of time and effort getting my speakers to sound the way they do, so I'd really rather not fuss with eq's, of any sort, except if I had a subwoofer.  Otherwise, an Android remote would be fantastic.

For those who haven't been reading, I have recently gone from an Emotiva HDMI processor to the Theta Casanova after a listening session with Jazz inclined but not audiophile friends.  With low impedance amps, there was just no contest.  I'd rather listen to BluRay in DD 5.1 and have great music than have mediocre music and movie sound in my setup.

Nigel