I am currently working through the odyssy of having my first "audiophile" amp, an Onkyo M588, recapped/refurbished here in Japan. Monoblocks in one chassis, weighs almost 70 pounds. The M588 was as adcanced as Onkyo ever went, amp-wise.

My journey through the stay-at-home hifi refurbisher scene has been a long one. I did not anticipate that 1) it's all about word of mouth, IF you can get it and 2) the sensei who refurbishes CD players will not touch amplifiers, and so on and so forth. You need introductions. You need to let the sensei do whatever he thinks is necessary and shut TFU. I LIKE IT!!

I was fortunate to find a veteran amp guy to work on my M588. What I am wondering, because  I don't want to disturb the master (he has had my amp for 2 weeks and is still figuring out what it needs -- refurbishing is probably going to cost almost what the amp cost new, and he guarantees it will be better than the original), but I also have an old but expensive power conditioning unit (the kind I could afford in my 30s, not now) that needs looking at.

Is a PSU anything like an amp, electronically? I have a feeling it is, but I'm not sure. I looked inside and see an enormous transformer and a lot of capacitors... If I could get this guy to work on it it would solve some problems.