John Horner wrote:
James Lehman wrote:
Do you think that the electrolytic juice got cooked out?
I wonder what steps , if any have been taken to prolong the life of a
capacitor in the last 25 years.
I have several amps from the late 70's, early 80's.
I'd like to think that when you get something like that, it should
last forever.
I know one thing... I never buy speakers with foam surrounds any
more. I don't even look at them. I go straight for the butyl rubber
or treated cloth or whatever.
James. 
)
Nothing lasts forever, especially electrolytic caps. I don't think
today's are necessarily any better than good quality ones from the
past.
I agree with you on foam rubber. Anything made out of foam rubber is
on a one-way journey back to goo and dust. The only question is how
long it will take. Don't expect the seats in any modern vehicle to
still be firm 10 years from now!
John
Many caps are specifically designed NOT to last as long these days. Look in
a DigiKey catalog. Why else would a cap be rated at 1000 hours, but betters
ones rated at 2000 hours, etc?
I've seen radios at 65 years old which still had (some) good caps in them.
Mark Z.