Okay, so then can anyone confirm that the caps in the illustration above are the correct ones?

Well, we've just taken them off, so tally ho! Tell you in about an hour.

They do look to be right (they go between centre conductor to ground) but be cautious on the right hand one (as you look at the case back from inside) as there is also an 804 sized resistor mounted on a pad adjaecent to the capacitor. The resistor is black and numbered, the cap is tan-coloured and has no numbering.

Yeah, I couldn't get a good picture with the resistor in it, too...

Yes, these are the correct ones; they will have a slight effect on the front car outputs too as the car outs are the home outs amplified further.

Hugo

Thanks! Creating FAQ entry now.

Do these caps exist on the 2a units or only the 2's? Or only some of the 2's?

We can confirm that the two small, tan capacitors to the right hand (as you face the back of the case, looking inside from the display end to the back panel) of the audio connectors are the correct ones to take off. We have been doing the mod on Derek's early (series 08) Mk2, and I opened my later 2 to find the same pads were there but with the caps already desoldered. Don't confuse the cap with the resistor adjacent to it on the right hand connector.

The way to identify the cap is that one end is earthed, the other connects to the centre contact of the RCA connectors on the board. There is a thin track running from one end of the cap to the connector, the other end is connected to a "fat" earth track.

I opened my later 2 to find the same pads were there but with the caps already desoldered

Desoldered? Or simply not installed to begin with?

Well the guys in Cambridge have "looked" at Robs empeg a couple of times so probably they were desoldered one time it was in there. From what he said to me last night it looked like they had been desoldered rather that the pads never having been populated

PS have blue LEDs looking though really fine holes drilled in the buttons on my empeg now - looks *really* cool

PS have blue LEDs looking though really fine holes drilled in the buttons on my empeg now - looks *really* cool

JPG! JPG!

Oh if you insist ;-)

Actually someone has actually done this before. I just wanted to see the LEDs until I get something better sorted out. I would like to try cutting holes in the buttons to look like FF, REW symbols and the likes and then fill them with white translucent epoxy.

I have an original empeg blue face plate on - the one without the anti-reflective coating (I reckon it looks better). The buttons actually look a lot bluer and the display a lot greener than the pics show.

The dimming on the button illumination is really cool - when you switch the unit onto standby the illumination dims right down for example. The also dim with the display when you switch the headlights on. The LEDs are also visible in daylight, which I also quite like. Anyway, the pics! :-)

and another one:

Considered doing a similar hack to the rotary selector?

Yep, I'd like to drill a really fine hole in the centre of each of the bumps. It's actually really surprising how much light comes out of such small holes. I should be able to drill the centres out but still have a reasonable amount of the bump left over. I need a knob illumination board first though.

If I can get a variable voltage supply for the drill I'm going to be having a go at this: the button holes are 0.4 mm, and I can get a smaller bit at 0.25 mm. For this to work (as we found out) I'd really need to run the drill slower though.

Correct, none of the Rio-Car players have them. I suspect that the 0900 batch may also not have them fitted.

Hugo

To improve the rolloff in earlier units, remove the two caps *right next to* the rear panel phonos (between signal & ground - they are unnecessary EMC measures). You should be able to tell which ones with a multimeter.

Hugo,

All three of my Mk2a units have those capacitors in the positions indicated. Should I remove them? Or do they only affect Mk2 (not Mk2a) units?

Thanks

Very interesting. I thought those spots were supposed to be empty on 2a units.

The word from Hugo on this is:

I believe (hazy memory) that the value was changed on the mk2a to a lower capacitance, hence they didn't cause the rolloff problem (but did still attenuate EMI, which is what they were there for).

Hugo

Gotcha.