To recap or not recap is the question. My Yamaha amp is now 33 years old (Carver TFM-35x is at 24 years) that powers my now 24 year old Carver AL-III speakers (custom active crossover) (See
https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/attachments/carver-speaker-s-jpg.28476/) and the Yamaha is showing hints the electrolytic caps are starting to fail (protection circuit kicks in at volume levels in the high 90s when they should make it to at least 104dB...dire so far I know, but I've tripped it a half dozen times in the past 5 years and only once ever before that (testing in the 1990s). Given the age, it's overdue (expect 20-30 years life on a good amp before they start failing, although that's just an average, they can go sooner). That was at a different house so it's possible it isn't a failing cap or it could be another issue altogether or it's possible I'm just playing certain music with momentary peaks too loud. Hmm, actually I just downloaded the service manual (never did have a manual, even the user one).
I'm looking at ~8 hours an an average power amp (like 30-40 caps to desolder to do them all to be sure and then solder in the new ones plus time assembling and disassembling everything and looking for any other issues and getting the dust out while your'e at it). Some places will do this monotonous work for you for $200-400, but then you can probably get a recapped amp already to go in many cases on eBay (depending on what it is you're trying to fix).
I never looked on eBay for a Yamaha M-45 before, but apparently it's better known than I imagined as there are a half dozen for sale. I think I paid $250 for it back in 1997 used (11 years old at the time) from a dealer who just got it on a trade-in towards a McIntosh. With inflation, that's about $397 today. Caps typically in the $70-120 range (haven't looked for this one yet plus figure 8 hours of labor) so it's a wash, I suppose. Or I can upgrade to a higher power amp (lots of Carver TFM-25s out there, many recapped already and they do 350W @ 4 Ohms compared to the M-45's 170W into 4 Ohms),but the Yamaha is a Class A/AB amp, although the "A" mode doesn't do me much good as it's hardly ever in that power range (Carver ribbons are hungry for power) and puts out a TON of heat in that mode so I leave it off).
Anyone have any opinions on the M-45 and whether it's worth keeping (or getting one already recapped) or should I go for more power while I'm at it? There's also the Yamaha M-80 (250/330) with the same Auto class A option and input gain controls not typical on many power amps. Maybe something brand new like an Emotiva A-300 for a similar price? (300W into 4 Ohms).
