Instructions for replacing the 50/80 V

Capacitors in the Carver M-1.5(T)

Before you Start:
STRONG WARNING!!! Carver amplifiers have high voltages of 120 VAC and
+/- 120 VDC present during operation. They have capacitors that can store
potentially deadly charges even after power is disconnected from the amplifier.
Repairs to be made by qualified service personnel. We do not want you to get
hurt, and we don't want you to hack up these classic amps!!! If you need
assistance with a repair, we can do it at our facility, or refer you to another
qualified repair facility.
Warning # 2: Solder contains LEAD. No eating in the area, and wash your
hands when youre done.
Warning # 3: Make sure your bench has adequate ventilation. Youll be creating
smoke (mainly from the flux), which isnt great to breathso dont.
Warning # 4: Wear eye protection when soldering.
Warning # 5: Soldering irons are hot. Take appropriate precautions to NOT get
burned. While youre at it, take precautions to NOT start a fire.
Encouragement #1: Youre working on a great piece of audio gear. Work
carefully and youll end up with a fantastic result! The replacement capacitors
have far better performance and reliability than the originals.
If we left anything out, or if some part of the instructions is unclear, if you want
additional parts, or if you have some great product idea, please feel free to
contact us at circuitsnconcepts@gmail.com .

Tools and supplies you will need:

Soldering Iron (I have a Hakko pencil-type iron adjusted to 725 deg F that
does a great job)
Solder wick 3/16 or vacuum de-soldering tool
Solder (I prefer rosin core)
Denatured alcohol or other solvent
Cotton swabs (Q-tips)

Carver M-1.5 Capacitor Replacement

Rev 110102

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Get Started:
Make sure you have plenty of room on your bench, some decent background
music and have minimized distractions.
Make sure the amp is unplugged before removing the cover. In the time it takes
to remove the cover, the caps should have time to discharge to safe levels.
Now you can remove the cover. Double check that the amp is unplugged.
With the cover removed, you will see the 50/80 V capacitors at the right rear of
the amplifier.
Tip the amp up on its right side and rotate the unit so you have a view of the
wires shown in Photo 1.

Photo 1
Clip and remove the tie wrap bundling the red, orange and yellow wires. Heat
the solder joint and remove each red wire from the power supply circuit card and
tie back out of the way.

Carver M-1.5 Capacitor Replacement

Rev 110102

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Heat the solder joint and remove each orange wire from the power supply circuit
card and tie them back out of the way. The board will now look like Photo 2.
Heat and remove the black wires from the power supply circuit card and tie them
back out of the way.

Photo 2

Using a soldering iron with solder wick or a vacuum de-soldering tool, de-solder
the capacitor connections and supports from the power supply board. Each
original capacitor has 4 electrical leads and 4 support connections, for a total of
16 solder joints. Take your time with this operation.
The positions of the 16 solder connections are shown in Photo 3. Make sure you
remove the solder to completely free each lead (if you dont, you risk tearing the
trace from the board). Also, take care to avoid touching and burning wires,
components, fingers etc with the soldering iron.

Carver M-1.5 Capacitor Replacement

Rev 110102

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Photo 3

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a good point to evaluate the project. If the project is
beyond your skills, or youre simply not enjoying the process, PLEASE
CONTACT US. For $100.00 (price includes return shipping in the US) we will
complete the repair and return the unit (price includes capacitor replacement
only, additional repairs, if needed, will be quoted separately).

Carver M-1.5 Capacitor Replacement

Rev 110102

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Photo 4
My technique for removing solder from leads is shown in Photo 4. I place solder
wick (about an inch from the end) over the solder joint to be de-soldered. I then
press the side of the soldering iron near the tip on the solder wick. When the
solder in the joint begins to flow, I pull the wick under the iron, which draws the
solder from the joint.
When all 16 solder connections have been removed, clean the board with solvent
(de-natured alcohol, etc), then re-inspect and re-work as needed. Make sure
there are no solder bridges on the diode pads where the wires will attach to the
board.

Carver M-1.5 Capacitor Replacement

Rev 110102

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Photo 5

Remove the screws that go through the bottom plate of the amp that secure the
aluminum bracket that supports the 50/80 V capacitors and remove the bracket.
The bracket is shown in Photo 5. The capacitors are attached to the plate with
double-sided tape. The plate can be discarded or recycled. The 50/80 V
capacitors can be removed at this point. As the capacitors are removed, watch
the pins on the solder side of the power supply board to assure they are free of
solder. Remove any additional solder as needed to assure pins can be removed
with no damage.

Carver M-1.5 Capacitor Replacement

Rev 110102

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Photo 6

Re-Assembly
Align the pins of replacement capacitor assembly with original capacitor holes in
the Carver power supply board. Take care to assure the large capacitors are on
top and the FRONT and BACK designators on the PCB silkscreen correspond to
the front and back of the amplifier.

Carver M-1.5 Capacitor Replacement

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Photo 7
The replacement capacitor assembly has 8 circuit connection pins and two
support pins. Carefully feed the capacitor assembly leads into the corresponding
power supply holes and check the solder pads to assure all leads protrude
through the Carver power supply board. The capacitor assembly should sit
about 0.1 above the Carver power supply board. Solder all 10 connections.
Trim the long leads flush to the top of the solder joints.
Solder the black wires to the Carver power supply board. Refer to Photo 2.
Solder the orange wires, then the red wires to the diode leads on the Carver
power supply board. Be VERY careful not to let solder bridges or whiskers short
across any of the red or orange wires. When black, orange and red wires are in
place, clean the flux from the board with solvent and swabs. Now, do a thorough
visual inspection with a magnifying lens to make CERTAIN there are no solder
bridges across the wire connections and that the wires are in the correct
locations.
Place a tie wrap around the black, orange and red wires to secure them. If the
amplifier is to be used in a mobile application, add dots of epoxy as needed to
secure the capacitors to the board and amplifier case.

Carver M-1.5 Capacitor Replacement

Rev 110102

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Photo 8
Heres how the capacitor adaptor should look when the soldering has been
completed.
Now, its time to test the amp. Take one more look at the installation to assure
there are no solder bridges, the leads are trimmed, there is no debris in the amp,
etc. Don your safety goggles and apply power to the amp. If the amp comes up
in protection mode, there are probably solder bridges across the transformer
inputs.

Supply Voltage Adjustment

Adjust the supply voltages per the instructions in the service manual, using
extreme caution, as high voltages are present:
Power up the amplifier with no input and no speaker connections and let it idle for
at least 15 minutes.
Set your DMM or VOM to the 200vdc scale.
Connect the BLACK lead to the common connection between the two large
power supply caps.

Carver M-1.5 Capacitor Replacement

Rev 110102

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Connect the RED lead to the post on the power supply cap where the RED wires
attach.
Adjust RP1 on the Power Supply PCB so that the voltage reads 122vdc.
Warning, make SMALL adjustments on RP1. NEVER allow voltage to
exceed 140vdc

Idle Bias Adjustment

Adjust the Idle Bias voltages per the instructions in the service manual, using
extreme caution, as high voltages are present:
Power up the amplifier with no input and no speaker connections and let it idle for
at least 15 minutes (or simply keep it powered from the power supply adjust).
Set the DMM/VOM to the 200mvdc scale.
Connect the leads across R87 (large block resistor to the right of RP1 on amp
PCB).
Adjust RP1 to read 4 mV +/- 0.5 mV. Again, make very small adjustments!!!
Repeat steps on the second amp PCB.

Final Assembly
Replace the cover on the amplifier.
Your Carver repair is now complete. Happy Listening!!!

Carver M-1.5 Capacitor Replacement

Rev 110102

circuitsnconcepts@gmail.com