First post, by FesterBlatz
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I just received an Ensoniq Soundscape S-2000 I won on eBay, and unfortunately it's suffering from a case of leaking capacitors. It seems to work just fine but has rather weak audio output with a little bit of distortion, especially one of the channels. I suspect the capacitors just recently begun to break down because the board was actually still wet with electrolyte in the vicinity of the large arrangement of caps just next to the codec. After cleaning up the mess, several of the capacitors had dulled solder joints from the corrosion that was just starting to occur. The PCB itself seems unscathed though, so I think I caught this one early!
I've already ordered replacement Nichicon UUQ series capacitors which are physically an exact match, and being designed for audio equipment should be a good fit for such a nice old sound card. I don't normally buy into the "audio" capacitor snake-oil, but the cost difference was minimal...so why not?
While I wait for the new caps to arrive, the old ones have been removed and the board thoroughly cleaned.
I'd like to note that I've recently begun to amass a small collection of the various Soundscape versions (S-2000, Soundscape-II, OPUS, NEC Harmony, VIVO 90, SPEA Media FX) and this is the first to show any signs of capacitor failures. Anyone who has one of these boards may want to consider taking a look to make sure the capacitors haven't started leaking.
I'll be sure to follow-up with the results once the replacement caps arrive!