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A good friend asked me to look at his crazy expensive circa 2007 Aesthetix Janus Preamp. No output from phono amp, both channels. So I see that on both phono input boards, the same electrolytic cap is blown and resistor is burned open. Nothing else obvious to the eye. My thought is cheapo sino electrolytic. Of course when I called Aesthetix, they said it was likely a power supply problem and we should send them the unit. The priblem i have is the value of resistor may be burned off. Just wondering what you fellows think... thanks 
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We sure love to blame China for stuff...
When I see one cap only blown open on a board, and the exact same failure on another board of the same type. My thought is not cheap sino cap. My thought is the failure mode that killed one was faced by both boards. SO power supply failure occurs to me as well. A cap blows apart like that when it receives way over voltage, or a large reverse voltage, or even large AC - (of which half would be reverse, right?)Education is what you're left with after you have forgotten what you have learned. -
I seem to have read about and experienced many cases of electrolytic failures in the mid 2000’s that were attributed to inferior electrolytics, so I dont think my guess is too far fetched. Unfortunately the wonderful folks at Janus wont share their schematic so I dont know the circuit, though this is a preamp only. It even looks like there are multiple power supplies.
Sorry about blaming the Chinese when its the Russians who are the bad guys anyway...Comment
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Luxon junk. If there's more, they are next on the list.Comment
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Taiwan, China, same difference....Originally posted by Enzo View Post
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
Industrial espionage was implicated in the capacitor plague, in connection with the theft of an electrolyte formula. A materials scientist working for Rubycon in Japan left the company, taking the secret water-based electrolyte formula for Rubycon's ZA and ZL series capacitors, and began working for a Chinese company. The scientist then developed a copy of this electrolyte. Then, some staff members who defected from the Chinese company copied an incomplete version of the formula and began to market it to many of the aluminium electrolytic manufacturers in Taiwan, undercutting the prices of the Japanese manufacturers. This incomplete electrolyte lacked important proprietary ingredients which were essential to the long-term stability of the capacitors and was unstable when packaged in a finished aluminum capacitor. This faulty electrolyte allowed the unimpeded formation of hydroxide and produced hydrogen gas.DON'T FEED THE TROLLS!Comment
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