Capacitor shootout

Face

I agree that Sonic Caps work well in Polks. I wasn't a fan of them in my Tannoy's though.

ViperZ

To resurrect this thread...

Installed Mundorf Supreme capacitors in the Jolida JD801A today - in the signal path. Used ELNA audio-grade series electrolytics in the signal cct. For power supply, just used military/high-end industrial Panasonic and Kemet.

Mundorfs and Elnas obviously still need to burn-in, but the difference is not subtle by any means already. Instruments are more defined, frequency range / sound stage is much wider, bass is tighter. Very satisfied with the changes!

zingo

I am still extremely satisfied with rebuilding my Klipsch Fortes with Jantzen caps. I would go with them again if I had too, and any short comings of the sound at this point is from the design of the drivers.

I'm thinking about upgrading an amplifier and preamp set soon with all Jantzen parts; Silver Z-Caps maybe and MOX resistors.

mmadden28

I just read some Cap Shootout reviews from humblehomemadehifi.com here, and this was what was said about the Sonicaps:

Sound: I can agree on the good price-to-performance ratio! You get a nice capacitor for a reasonable price – nearly 4 times the price of an Intertechnik Audyn Cap but still only half the price of an Audyn Cap Plus or Mundorf Supreme. Compared to a standard Mundorf M-Cap they are more transparent and clearer with lots more depth. Bypassing them with an MKP1837 (a good tweak for any capacitor) can create even more detail and separation! They reveal micro-information in a way that reminds me of a Hovland Musicap but without the Hovland loudness effect. I didn’t find them to mix well with other caps – a 50/50 mix with a standard Mundorf M-Cap gave me the funny sensation of listening to two different cap’s at the same time. I can advise them if you are looking for a “high-end” cap but are on a “tight” budget.
Verdict: 8,5

And about the mentioned bypass cap MKP1837

Vishay MKP1837 (a.k.a. ERO MKP1830) 0,01uF MKP 100VDC – 1% tolerance
Technical specifications: Metallised polypropylene, radial capacitor, designed for LC/RC filter circuits, coupling and de-coupling at high frequencies.
Sound: I was tipped by Klaus Witte of Germany to try this capacitor as a bypass cap for the Mundorf M-CAP SUPREME. I tried them as a bypass for the tweeter series caps in my Progress speaker and I must say I am very impressed! To get straight to the point they don't change a Supreme into a Supreme Silver-Oil but they really do clear things up. I must admit I was sceptical at first as the value is only 10nF (0,01uF) - and the caps in the Progress are 12,6uF. The difference is most noticeable with classical music but also good quality recordings of jazz and fusion benefit: No change in sound stage width or depth but there is more "concert hall acoustics" that let you get into the recording more. Not as liquid as silver/oil but they take away the "grainy" edge from the Supreme's. A gain in clarity and transparency making instruments better separable from each other, the violins in an orchestra are a group of individual violins instead of one mass. Jazz drum brushes sound more like a brush than a "shush".
Verdict: Can’t live without them! – Use them as bypass cap with any capacitor, they cost practically nothing!

Thoughts on using the Vishay bypass cap on a Sonicap upgraded Polk??

F1nut

Like this guy, I can't live with them!

So why use a bypass at all? There are actually components of very high frequencies in some audio waveforms. Some are high order harmonics. If you think of a square wave, the right angles at the top of the wave are extremely high in frequency. Sometimes there are high frequency components in very fast audio sounds, for example, the instantaneous tap of a drum stick on a cymbal. These are the sounds that should be "helped" by including a small-value bypass capacitor in a high pass crossover.

Well, I don't think so. If the 8 µF capacitor blocks frequencies below 5000 Hz and passes frequencies above 5000 Hz, why do we need what is actually another crossover for the same tweeter, but operating at frequencies already passed by the big cap? I am sure engineers have a very good reason, and a couple of them have tried to educate me on this subject. I respect the science and electrical theory on this subject, and my technical background helps me to understand it fairly well. But there is one small problem: the bypasses all sound bad! They add a quality that at first sounds like an increase in air and detail, but after a couple of hours becomes an intrusive harshness and discontinuity in the upper treble. Remove the bypass: all of the detail is present but without that grating and annoying sound. The high frequencies are cleaner, smoother, and much more enjoyable. It doesn't matter if the bypass cap is Teflon®, polystyrene, or common polypropylene, the results are very similar. And to be avoided.

hearingimpared

F1nut wrote: »

Like this guy, I can't live with them!

Jess, is it used on the 1.2TLs? If so I remove it. However they sound so good now and I haven't tried the 5 ohm resistor tweak in the polyswitch jumper yet.

Face

hearingimpared wrote: »

However they sound so good now and I haven't tried the .5 ohm resistor tweak in the polyswitch jumper yet.

The 5ohm resistor tweak is very subtle. Do you hear any hint of brightness? If not, I'd leave it alone.

F1nut

Joe, I don't believe I installed any bypass caps in your crossovers.

I haven't tried the 5 ohm resistor tweak in the polyswitch jumper yet.

For the record, it is not a 5 ohm resistor, it's 0.5 ohm. A 5 ohm resistor would have an extremely noticeable negative effect.

hearingimpared

F1nut wrote: »

Joe, I don't believe I installed any bypass caps in your crossovers.



For the record, it is not a 5 ohm resistor, it's 0.5 ohm. A 5 ohm resistor would have an extremely noticeable negative effect.

Yeah I know Jess .5 ohm coffee hasn't kicked in yet. I'm gonna take a good long listen and see how they sound without the tweak although remember I that back wall splash back that I am currently using couch pillows to tame.:o:eek::D

F1nut

You may know what you meant, but some guy a day or year from now won't.

Face

Ok, I edited my post so it would read .5ohm and now the "." is gone. :rolleyes:

hearingimpared

F1nut wrote: »

You may know what you meant, but some guy a day or year from now won't.

Yep I was afraid of that! I'll fix it!

hearingimpared

hearingimpared wrote: »

Jess, is it used on the 1.2TLs? If so I remove it. However they sound so good now and I haven't tried the 0.5 ohm resistor tweak in the polyswitch jumper yet.

Correction in red to post #187.

zingo

I'm looking at picking up a pair of Obbligato Gold caps to upgrade the coupling caps in my T20U T-amp. I've heard nothing but good things about their Copper caps, so I figure the Gold ones should be a fun go even though I can't find any reviews on them; plus the price is good at $14 for 2.2uf.



My main questions is that I know I need to make sure the caps don't contact anything inside the amp as they have conductive cases, but would it be a bad idea in general to use these caps in an amp for that reason? Maybe there is something I am over looking?

Face

Cover them in heat shrink.

zingo

Face wrote: »

Cover them in heat shrink.

But then you loose the pretty gold! What about insulate from each other and the board with a bead of hot glue?

I'm also going to replace the Panasonic 1000uf 35v caps on each side of the chip with Nichicon 1000uf. Should I use their FW series 100v, or KZ series 50v?

ben62670

Double faced foam tape?

zingo

I just ordered the Nichicon 1000uf 50v KZ Muse caps as they seem like good stuff from what I have read. I should have an interesting little rebuild of the T-amp with two pairs of upgraded caps, actual 5-way binding posts, and solid core Neotech wire to replace some RF bead and ribbon jumpers. I also thought about swapping the mini-Noble pot for a full size Alps Blue Velvet, but only if I get a good SQ increase from the above listed mods.

ben62670

You could go with a stepped attenuator if it fits

zingo

If you know of one that can perform better than Alps for less than $50, I'm all ears Ben.

ben62670

analogmetric.com

zingo

Not bad... Have you heard one of them before? I'll need to measure and see what will fit. Thanks for the suggestion.

F1nut

zingo wrote: »

I'm looking at picking up a pair of Obbligato Gold caps to upgrade the coupling caps in my T20U T-amp. I've heard nothing but good things about their Copper caps, so I figure the Gold ones should be a fun go even though I can't find any reviews on them; plus the price is good at $14 for 2.2uf.

My main questions is that I know I need to make sure the caps don't contact anything inside the amp as they have conductive cases, but would it be a bad idea in general to use these caps in an amp for that reason? Maybe there is something I am over looking?

The copper casings are conductive, the gold casings are not. Soundwise, they are the same.

Obbligato Gold Premium Caps
These Obbligato capacitors are premium polypropylene film in a non-magnetic case. Values are laser etched into the surface. Pure copper soldered lead out wires

http://www.diyhifisupply.com/catalog/21

ben62670

Jake I gave one to a friend of mine who replaced a pot with it. The idea is that the signal only passes through one resistor per channel. It is much cleaner than the sweep of any pot.
Merry Christmas
Ben

zingo

Jesse, the claim on the Obbligato Gold caps is that their case is non-magnetic, not non-conductive unless I missed something.

Ben, the only thing that will fit my the little class-T case is possibly the Alps pots as the heat sink for the chip sits right behind it. I'm not too disappointed as it currently has the best and smoothest mini-pot I've seen, and I'll just have to focus my upgrades elsewhere.

zingo

With my recent Partsconnexion frustration, I ordered two Bennic 1000uf eletrolytic caps and two ClarityCap ESA 2.2uf caps from Madisound for my T-Amp upgrade. The bi-polar Bennics should be a nice upgrade from the stock, non power supply electrolytic caps, and are roughly 3x the size and 5x the voltage. I've not been a big fan of Bennic caps in the past and am replacing the stock Bennic poly caps coupling caps with the ClarityCaps, but the electrolytic Bennics should work well in the 1000uf position. They were $10 each which seems crazy to me, but it's a more rare cap in an audio circuit, and I wanted something other than the stock $1 caps available anywhere.

zingo

zingo wrote: »

With my recent Partsconnexion frustration, I ordered two Bennic 1000uf eletrolytic caps and two ClarityCap ESA 2.2uf caps from Madisound for my T-Amp upgrade. The bi-polar Bennics should be a nice upgrade from the stock, non power supply electrolytic caps, and are roughly 3x the size and 5x the voltage. I've not been a big fan of Bennic caps in the past and am replacing the stock Bennic poly caps coupling caps with the ClarityCaps, but the electrolytic Bennics should work well in the 1000uf position. They were $10 each which seems crazy to me, but it's a more rare cap in an audio circuit, and I wanted something other than the stock $1 caps available anywhere.

Bennic 1000 mfd Electrolytic Caps




ClarityCap 2.2 mfd ESA Range Polypropylene Caps

gp4jesus

Any takers on a (main) PS cap (shootout?) discussion

just a few opinions please

tony

ben62670

What size caps and what voltages are you looking at? Some guys like to add a smaller value cap to the big PS caps for better transients.
Ben

zingo

I've used Ruby Gold caps in a power supply before, but they do come in limited values.