It is decision time Which Capacitors For the Monitor 10B's

transmaster

It is time to make a decision as to which brand of capacitor to get to rebuild the Monitor 10B's XO's. I have 3 choices. The first and the most expensive Sonicap Gen 1, supposed to be the best choice but can my ears tell the difference. Next Solen PB series, and finally Dayton. The resistors are a no brainer 12watt Millers. The order goes in this coming Friday. The below price lists include Miller resistors 2.O ohms 12W X 2, 2.7 ohm 12W X 2, and 0.5 12W Ohms X 2

Sonicap Gen 1 $172.66
With Solen's $81.88
With Daytons $84.32

Forget the crappy ears and go whole hog, or be practical and cheap. :cheesygrin:

Oh and one more thing, this should set things off, Bypass capacitors according to Sonicap using small capacity Gen II caps will improve the midrange performance of a speaker, Is this Voodoo audio science for the Golden eared ones, or factual. Doing this with Sonicap's will add about $9.00 more dollars to the bill.

heiney9

Do a combo of Clarity caps on the high pass and Solens or Daytons on the low pass and absolutely replace the resistors with Mills non-inductive. Forget bypass caps, they aren't necessary when using a quality cap.

H9

transmaster

heiney9 wrote: »

Do a combo of Clarity caps on the high pass and Solens or Daytons on the low pass and absolutely replace the resistors with Mills non-inductive. Forget bypass caps, they aren't necessary when using a quality cap.

H9

Thank you, The flame wars over bypass cap's is almost as hot as those over speaker cable, and interconnects. I have two 12 mF caps and one 34 mF cap. I am a little hazy about which is the high, and low pass Cap's, which is which? the schematic is below. And Thanks.

Does anyone know about Parts Connexion they advertise on the Audio Karma forum and have just about everything under the sun.

http://www.partsconnexion.com/index.html

Joe08867

I will totally concur with H9 on this. The high pass is where you really want the better of the caps. The Clarity's on highs and the Solens or Daytons on lows is the best budget minded setup. And definitely replace the resistors with mills.

If you want to go all out I would go Clarity Caps or Sonicaps for all of them. I would never suggest Daytons or Solens for the highs ever!!!!!!!

heiney9

High pass would be those involved with the tweets, so that would be the (2) 12uF's. Forget the bypass caps, unless you want to experiment for your own conclusion. Most if not all the people here that have used them get rid of them because they can add unnatural artifacts to the signal.

I would go with (4) Clarity PX or SA 12uF's (depending on budget) and (2) 33uF Solens or Axon or Daytons. Remember most of the original caps are 10-20% tolerance so if you can't hit the exact value that's alright. If you find a 33uF or 36uF that's still well within tolerance of the circuit.

Axon caps are dirt cheap at Parts Connexion right now and they sell Mills resistors too.

http://www.partsconnexion.com/capacitor_film_axon.html

The 33uF which will work just fine is $6.51 each and they are made at the same factory as Solen and they are 1/2 the cost.

PX or SA series from Clarity at Madisound.

http://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/index.php?p=catalog&mode=search&search_in=all&search_str=ClarityCap%2012%20mfd%20PX%20Range%20Polypropylene%20Caps

heiney9

^ That combo has worked well for me. Sonicaps are always recommended too, just depends on your budget and your intended use. For my main rig SDA's I went Sonicap but for my office rig Monitor 5B's and now some RT25i's I decided to go the Clarity/Axon or Solen route to save some coin since it's a secondary and sometimes even third rig.

H9

heiney9

Also have you verified visually that your x-overs are exactly like the schematic. Polk had some variations over the product life cycle and don't always follow the posted schematics to the letter. It's always best to pull the x-over and compare to the schematic. Then buy the parts to replace what is actually in YOUR x-over.

And, I can't stress this enough, if you don't already have the silk dome RD0194-1 replacement tweeters grab a pair of those from Polk. HUGE difference over the crappy Sl2000

H9

transmaster

heiney9 wrote: »

Also have you verified visually that your x-overs are exactly like the schematic. Polk had some variations over the product life cycle and don't always follow the posted schematics to the letter. It's always best to pull the x-over and compare to the schematic. Then buy the parts to replace what is actually in YOUR x-over.

And, I can't stress this enough, if you don't already have the silk dome RD0194-1 replacement tweeters grab a pair of those from Polk. HUGE difference over the crappy Sl2000

H9

Yes I have 4 different schematics for the 10B the one I attached matches what I actually have. The tweeters are on the replacement list. I have the clear dome model and one of them is showing the hazy line in it that means it going to open up in the near future. I assume the RDO'
tweeters are available from Polk.

heiney9

transmaster wrote: »

I assume the RDO'
tweeters are available from Polk.

Yes the part number is RD0194-1 and as a club member you get a discount and free 2 day FED EX. Last time I bought them they were $48/ea plus tax. They may have increased slightly since 4 years ago. Keep the shipping boxes and you can sell your SL2000 tweets to defray the cost and ship them in those boxes.

11tsteve

$179? I geuss sale must be over? I just ordered the same basic parts for my 11T with 48 ft of solder and it was $107 shipped.

transmaster

11tsteve wrote: »

$179? I geuss sale must be over? I just ordered the same basic parts for my 11T with 48 ft of solder and it was $107 shipped.

I have not called Sonicap these are the prices listed on the Website. If I can get a set of Sonicap's for that price then it is a no brainer.:razz:

heiney9

I come up with $185 w/o the Mills resistors and even with the 20% discount he's been running that's $148. So 11Steve you got a great deal on (4) 12uF's and (2) 33uF's.

Transmaster not sure how you came up with $172.66 including the Mills which are $4.15 x (6) = $25 which gives a grand total $210 before shipping.

His last sale was huge, probably the biggest he's had.

H9

P.s. Ok I see, still 20% off sale so $168.

heiney9

11tsteve wrote: »

$179? I geuss sale must be over? I just ordered the same basic parts for my 11T with 48 ft of solder and it was $107 shipped.

You'll have to be more specific

(6) Mills resistors @ $4.15 = $25

(4) 12uF Sonicap Gen I @ $22.50 = $90

(2) 33uF Sonicap Gen I @ $47.58 = $95.16

total = $210.16 x 20% discount = $168.13

It's silly to use $95 worth of caps for the low pass on a Monitor 10, IMO.

H9

transmaster

It was 2:00AM, the last brain cell had shut down, I couldn't even use a calculator :redface:
Checked a spread sheet I have setup for this job and it is $215.00.

heiney9

transmaster wrote: »

It was 2:00AM, the last brain cell had shut down, I couldn't even use a calculator :redface:
Checked a spread sheet I have setup for this job and it is $215.00.

There is 20% off for the month of April at Sonicraft for the caps. If you wanted to do Sonicaps for the high pass and purchase the Mills and then do Axon or Solen or Dayton for the low pass from another vendor. I think that would make more sense.

http://www.soniccraft.com/specials.htm

transmaster

heiney9 wrote: »

There is 20% off for the month of April at Sonicraft for the caps. If you wanted to do Sonicaps for the high pass and purchase the Mills and then do Axon or Solen or Dayton for the low pass from another vendor. I think that would make more sense.

http://www.soniccraft.com/specials.htm

This makes sense.

I get a big kick out of this discussion about Capacitors it is just like the ones Ham Radio operators such as myself have with other Hollowstate radio pilots when talking about the best brand of vacuum tubes for a particular job. Of course we all know Eimac transmitting tubes are better then Amperex so there. :evil:

transmaster

Here is what I have on the shopping list so far.

http://www.partsconnexion.com/index.html

Mills Resistor 042-71933 2R0 / MRA-12 MILLS-71933 $4.95 X2= $9.90

Mills Resistor 048-71906 2R7 / MRA-12 MILLS-71906 $4.95 X2= $9.90

Mills Resistor 020-71899 0.5R / MRA-12 MILLS-71899 $4.95 X2= $9.90

AXON 33uF 250VDC True Cap AXON-73692 $6.51 X2= $13.02

Total $42.72

I have not yet decided on the 12 uf cap's

http://www.madisound.com/
ClarityCap 12 mfd SA Range Polypropylene Caps $17.85 X4 $71.40

http://www.soniccraft.com/index.htm
Sonicaps Gen 1 12uF / 200VDC 1.17 x 1.74 $22.50 X4 $90.00

$18.59 difference between the two brands.

I looked in on another forum where they where the differences between the two were being supposedly discussed, instead I ran into a personal jihad.

transmaster

I just realized as noted up thread Sonicap has a 20 % off deal going on the Sonicap Gen 1 so the choice is made, The Sonicap Gen I is it. I can't wait to get the beasties blasting again.

transmaster

OK, everything except the Sonicaps have been ordered I'll give Sonicap a call on Friday.:cheesygrin:

11tsteve

sorry... i was reading on my phone and missed the 33uF... i goT:

4 12 uF Gen1
2 mills 2.7 ohm
2 mills 1.5 ohm (wrong ones so i had to re-order)
2 mills o.5
48 feet of they're normal audio grade solder.

man.... i did not mean to cause this much confusion. sorry.

heiney9 wrote: »

It's silly to use $95 worth of caps for the low pass on a Monitor 10, IMO.

H9

yeah... agfrost sent me a couple of Jantzens 33uF he had laying around. i jusy got my 2.0 ohms to replace the misordered 1.5's, so this weekend i will get my 11T's back together.

transmaster wrote: »

OK, everything except the Sonicaps have been ordered I'll give Sonicap a call on Friday.:cheesygrin:

here's what mine look like with the new caps http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?130965-crossover-upgrades-11T&p=1752281&viewfull=1#post1752281 ... it's a very fun project...

transmaster

That will be my mix except for the AXON True Cap's, Thanks heiney9 for turning me on to these AXON cap's.

TennMan

I'm trying to place an order for Axion caps at Parts Connection. I can't find any shipping cost or estimate before entering a credit card number and placing my order. How do you know how much you will be paying for shipping?

transmaster

You noticed that to, We will see what happens. I see what is going on this company is in Canada.

TennMan

Did you order without know the shipping cost?

heiney9

TennMan wrote: »

I'm trying to place an order for Axion caps at Parts Connection. I can't find any shipping cost or estimate before entering a credit card number and placing my order. How do you know how much you will be paying for shipping?

You send Stephanie an e-mail (via the on-line order form) and she will send you a quote for the parts (including discounts if they apply) and shipping BEFORE you pay. This also allows for them to check stock of items. Last batch of caps and resistors I bought cost $7.10 for air mail shipping and I recieved them in 3 days.

You don't pay before she sends you a quote. Their system for checkout is not fully automated.

H9

P.s. To compare, the last similar order I placed with Parts Express cost me $8.95 for UPS ground. So the shipping cost is competative even though they are in Canada.

heiney9

It's actually not that clear on the website.

Just put the items in your cart and fill out the info and send. Stephanie will e-mail you (if you provide one) the quote with the discounts and shipping. I always pay with PayPal because it's by the far simplest method.

If you like the quote, then follow the payment instructions in the e-mail or if it's not clear send Stephanie an e-mail and she'll answer any questions.

*note* since Axon caps are already 50% off they don't qualify for the 20% off sale currently running. I tried but it didn't work

H9

TennMan

OK. Thanks H9.

transmaster

I checked up on this outfit before I ordered and they have a very loyal customer base. They are not at all automated the way it works is you put in your order and a real person sends you a note confirming your order and your shipping choices, You pick how you want it sent then you finish the authorization of your order, if you don't like something you can cancel the order at that time. I could have had my order ship via regular mail for 10 dollars, but instead I when for a faster UPS method for S18.00 I need to get these 10B's up and running as soon a possiable.

I must say I kind of like the personal touch. The Consensus out there is it is best to call.

heiney9

Be careful with UPS you could be charged unreasonable duty fees. I had a friend that had this happen and it's out of Parts Connexion control. I wouldn't ever choose UPS from Canada to the US. To unpredictable what duty fee's they decide to charge.

H9

transmaster

Thanks I'll change it

transmaster

heiney9 wrote: »

Be careful with UPS you could be charged unreasonable duty fees. I had a friend that had this happen and it's out of Parts Connexion control. I wouldn't ever choose UPS from Canada to the US. To unpredictable what duty fee's they decide to charge.

H9

Thank You H9!!!!!!!! This was on the invoice: PRICES IN US$ -International Customers Pay ALL Duties/Taxes :eek:
Just emailed Stephanie to change it to ground mail.