Mark51 Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 I have a Creek 4140 integrated SS amp that I hooked up for the first time to my Fortes. Compared to my cheap Tubecube tube amp it sounds dull and lifeless. Is that characteristic of this Creek amp or if I replaced the coupling caps would that wake it up? That amp must be 20 or so years old. I put this question in the Tech forum but got no response so I thought I'd try here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ski Bum Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 No. Even with a full rehab back to spec, the Creek won't sound like a single ended tube amp. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moray james Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 sounds like you have a problem with your Creek and no new filter caps will not change the response of your amplifier best get it checked out. the creek amps I have heard are all clear bright and lively sounding with decent bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 Don't fix it: there are to may newer tube amps on the market. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark51 Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 For $20 in parts I can replace every electrolytic in the Creek so I'm going to do it. Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours and I'll report back on whether it comes back to life. Checked all the voltages and they seem to be right on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark51 Posted October 19, 2018 Author Share Posted October 19, 2018 (edited) I did the recap job and the Creek sounds much better - better highs, transparency and so forth. It was worth $20 but a real PITA to desolder all those caps. I even put one in backwards which blew a fuse but caused no other damage. One thing I learned is that in the instructions Creek says the 4140 is designed to work only with 8 ohm speakers. It did not do well with my Fortes which are 4 ohms according to the terminal cup. I also had to turn up the volume more than I would expect to get some level. Also, when pushing the "Disc" input button, which is for a turntable, it would motorboat while hooked up to the Fortes. However, hooked up to my pair of Klipsch KG4's, which are 6 ohms according to the terminal cup, no such problems and plenty of gain. If anyone cares to pontificate on why the amp motorboats hooked up to 4 ohm speakers when the phono premap is on I'd like to hear it. I would guess that with all that gain the amp becomes unstable when hooked up to a 4 ohm load. Mind you I don't have a turntable so nothing was plugged into the phono inputs. Does it now sound as good as my cheap Chinese EL84 SE amp? I''d say no, Ski Bum is right, but I would say its listenable now. Edited October 19, 2018 by Mark51 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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