Best electrolytic capacitors

:)For people not that confident removing devices. A simple trick not to over stress joints devices pads ect. Just simple heating up what you are working on. I use a heat gun but a hair dryer is fine. (Wife not included). Warm the component side up first not crazy that you can't touch it. Then heat up the area you want to work on and around it on the solder side. Liquid flux first as it's a cooling agent on the hot area...Again not crazy hot but a bit more heat and have all your kit ready at hand.

This makes flowing desoldering easier and faster. All those pcb tracks pull heat away from the joint. The higher they are above ambient the easier to work.

Good advice on leads above in the post. Hold the leg in pliers near the body and move the free leg. We had terrible failures with people cracking glass seals, As they started using a cropping machine than hand cutting...to spec...

I hope this silly tip helps. All SMT reflow ,wave soldering preheat the components PCBs before hitting max temp..
A few minutes gentle hair drying makes it much simpler

Thanks for the great posts

Good luck
Dave :)
 
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Interesting... Just wandering what nF (nano) value used for a, say, 22uF cap...

Anybody ever tried Muse and Silmic in Parallel, too?
I should clarify: I use the KGs for higher voltage (valve) applications, and the KZ (Muse) for anything ≤100V. In both cases, I usually drop down one value and place a Silmic II in parallel (at a fifth of that value) to add a smidge more warmth.
RE: Your question about the poly... I typically use whatever's handy, but given a choice, I'd probably use a 27nF (0.027µF) for a 22µF coupler. (Not that what I use matters; the best thing to do is let your own ears decide!)
 
As this thread's pages are many, I wonder if Cyril Bateman's findings on dual bipolar series arrangements have been tried by someone as AC couplings, particularly where large values leave out film caps.

NFB caps in preamps and power amps should be most benefited from them, if those caps combos low distortion means improved sound quality.

Another thing is zobels bypassing power supplies large caps, with or without regulation up front. If you have a good 'lytic cap, then you should help it with the right filtering.
 
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I should clarify: I use the KGs for higher voltage (valve) applications, and the KZ (Muse) for anything ≤100V. In both cases, I usually drop down one value and place a Silmic II in parallel (at a fifth of that value) to add a smidge more warmth.

RE: Your question about the poly... I typically use whatever's handy, but given a choice, I'd probably use a 27nF (0.027µF) for a 22µF coupler. (Not that what I use matters; the best thing to do is let your own ears decide!)
Thank you for the formula, digitrax. :)

I'll try a 27nF poly with a 22uF Muse (bipolar) lytic in the output stage of a tuner.
And the Silmic II's are indeed nice caps. Just wondering if the Silmic's can be paralleled with the Muse bipolar (green sleeve)... :wiz:
... but aparently it's not guaranteed, due to their polarity

Thanks again. :)
 
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What many of you are not considering is that the dissipation in a capacitor takes signal energy and locks it only to release it later) in the dielectric. Putting a better capacitor in parallel won't do a darned thing to fix that situation.

To many who hear a positive difference: "expectation bias". Look it up.

The above was valid for signal path capacitors. For power supply bypassing, we looking at an entirely different situation. Here, a smaller bypass capacitor specifically reduces power supply impedance within it's range of frequencies. In other words, power supply bypassing helps to keep the supply impedance low across a range of frequencies where the bypass capacitors are effective.

-Chris
 
For power supply bypassing, we looking at an entirely different situation. Here, a smaller bypass capacitor specifically reduces power supply impedance within it's range of frequencies. In other words, power supply bypassing helps to keep the supply impedance low across a range of frequencies where the bypass capacitors are effective. -Chris
Yes. but the most important thing is the fact, that this provides a longer lifetime for the electrolytic caps, particularly in all kinds of SMPS-applications (very often to observe in flat screen televisions, LED lighting and phone stuff).
What many of you are not considering is that the dissipation in a capacitor takes signal energy and locks it only to release it later) in the dielectric. Putting a better capacitor in parallel won't do a darned thing to fix that situation.

To many who hear a positive difference: "expectation bias".
Look it up.

The above was valid for signal path capacitors.

-Chris
I don't understand exactly the marked terms. What happens exact, if I put a better capacitor (e. g. WIMA MKS) in parallel ?
We can't always afford polypropylene capacitors, much less Teflon (tm), so we often make do with electrolytics whenwe need those higher values.

There's all sorts of caps out there with claims to being better, and they certainly are more expensive.

My favorite is the Elna silk capacitors, available from Digikey,and really cheap. The measure spectacularly, sound great, and the manufacturer's translated description of why they sound better is a Babelfish classic.

So before you run out and spend a lot on the highly hyped spendy caps, try the Elna silk caps. There's hemp in them, too. :cool:

Is this vailid only for power supplies or also for use in the signal path and non-polarized (nonpolar/bi-polar/bipolar) applications at the same time ?
In this case I have start a new thread, because there rises up more questions:
Best Electrolytic Caps for Non-Polarized (nonpolar/bi-polar/bipolar) Applications
 
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Hi wushuliu,
Same exact deal if you mean "not good". If you had no opinion one way or another, or there is an obvious (and measurable) difference, you can operate without falling into the trap of expectation bias. That's one reason I don't quantify my own work. My testers never know what I've done, good or bad. Just went through a series of preamplifier listening tests today. The results showed that "expectation bias" was not at work.

Hi Sk8Ter, :) Probably by using the wrong capacitor types without any bypass in a wide band circuit. How would you do that>

Hi tiefbassuebertr,
Yes. but the most important thing is the fact, that this provides a longer lifetime for the electrolytic caps, particularly in all kinds of SMPS-applications (very often to observe in flat screen televisions, LED lighting and phone stuff).
Why would that be - unless the electrolytics were completely ineffective so that no HF current flows in them with the bypass caps there. I stock switching power supply capacitors as well as normal capacitors. Those don't need a bypass capacitor in normal service with a switching power supply.
I don't understand exactly the marked terms. What happens exact, if I put a better capacitor (e. g. WIMA MKS) in parallel ?
Depends on the circuit and the ripple current rating of the film capacitor.
Is this vaiid only for power supplies or also for use in the signal path and non-polarized (nonpolar/bi-polar/bipolar) applications at the same time
Nope, just bypass capacitors. Audio path capacitors have other factors and bypassing a crappy electrolytic doesn't help at all.

-Chris
 
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For me there's no such thing as Bests capacitors be it industrialor boutique. It's more like using it in the right location.Dare I say, using same brand & types be it the best of its kind will not equate to great sound, in fact it might even kill the sound
 
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If they were good Hificollective and Partsconnexion would sell them.

Lol, that's really funny. You'll find that mostly what those guys sell is a story. What most people on this site buy is the specifications.Take Duelund resistors as an example, they both sell them, they are none linear and higher in self noise that anything but the worst NOS carbon comp resistors. I have a grand piano, i have no intention of randomly filling it up with bits of metal just because it will sound different. Maybe your take on things is different.
 
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I find specifications are the best way to choose capacitors, they help me select appropriate voltage limits, capacitance value, temperature limits, lifetime and also their ESR. I'm curious, are your ears so special you can pick these out just from a quick listen. Wow.
 
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