Caps in the signal path are a necessary evil, but are also powerful tuning tools. I would suggest that you audition various types AND try bigger and smaller values, but not before you have done your other upgrades. Once you know what you want more of and/or less of, then you can it is possible to be more specific about which caps to try. I have never peeked inside the unit, but you probably have some opamps in there that could also be upgraded. Ultimately, if you can bypass the output opamps and incorporate a tube output stage (ala "Lampizator") that would be a bigger upgrade than the caps. I have an entry level DVD player that sounds pretty good with the opamp bypassed. Ultimately though, if you really want good sound, I still recommend a DAC.
I would suggest having a look at the caps in your speaker crossovers. Probably more influential than most of the caps in your CDP. They can absolutely make or break your sound. Decent replacements at reasonable prices are Obbligatos or Claritycaps. You can also achieve a great deal by bypassing caps with small high quality ones, in all stages of your hi-fi chain. Decent polypropylene caps are always good and if you have the space, Teflon caps are unbeatable. Hope this helps. William.
Is there any objective data on this? The difference people hear after replacing speaker crossover cap is due to varying value of the cap itself which alters the crossover slope slightly, not due to higher price or fancier grade of the cap.
There are all kinds of claims about the capacitors on internet. How many of them have you seen that actually back up their claims with proof? Please note, proof and opinion are not the same thing.
Dear Evenharmonis, having built a number of speakers with good quality drivers and tested various caps of SAME VALUE in crossovers, I can tell you from experience that there are enormous differences between the sounds of various caps. I don't have to prove it to you or anyone else, as I have proved it to myself - and no, it has nothing to do with the prices of the caps either! I recently built a pair of TL's for a friend with Scanspeak revelators and ring tweeters and based on my experiments with various different makes and types of caps I feel confident in recommending the Obbligatos and the Claritycaps (SA series). I tried Mundorf Silvers and Golds in those speakers and took them out again as I heard no sonic benefits using them in that particular crossover.
The first pair of speakers I built (Scanspeak drive units) had Solen caps in the crossovers and for years I could not figure out where the harsh unpleasantness was coming from in my system. After upgrading just about everything in the system, I finally tried some other caps in the crossovers - WHAT A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE! I will never use Solen caps again for that purpose, though maybe for something else, like power supply duties (but only after auditioning them against others)
Have you built any speakers yourself and have you tried different caps in your crossovers?
The first pair of speakers I built (Scanspeak drive units) had Solen caps in the crossovers and for years I could not figure out where the harsh unpleasantness was coming from in my system. After upgrading just about everything in the system, I finally tried some other caps in the crossovers - WHAT A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE! I will never use Solen caps again for that purpose, though maybe for something else, like power supply duties (but only after auditioning them against others)
Have you built any speakers yourself and have you tried different caps in your crossovers?
Can pretty much confirm all of the above based on direct experience designing the X-O for my diy Onkens. I'm now using Clarity SA which are much more transparent and cleaner sounding than the Solens they replaced. Night and day in fact. Acoustical distortion measurements at the time indicated there was a very measurable difference, although I have long since lost the proof.
The values of the X-O capacitors in question before and after were matched to a couple of % or better in each location. (Verified by measurement)
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Same written value on the cap or same measured value of the cap? Also, to what precision were they matched and how?
I'm asking you about your experiment. Again, same written value on the cap or same measured value of the cap? Also, to what precision were they matched and how?
For some reason, you left out the part that said, "not due to higher price or fancier grade of the cap."
If you want to change the frequency response, you can use the same type of cap as the one that came with the speaker but just use different capacitance value. By the way, the crossover slope that came with the speaker is the voicing that the speaker designer intended. That's fine if you want to fiddle around with it but make sure you understand the parameters of the drivers and why the speaker was voiced the way it did before going forward.
If you want to make it a truly "apple to apple" comparison, you should make sure the frequency response stays the same between cap changes and then listen for the differences. If not, then it's same thing as comparing speaker cables while one pair is connected to one set of speakers and the other pair is connected to a different set of speakers in which case, of course you will hear a difference.
What I was curious when you said "caps of SAME VALUE" was that you may have looked at written value on the cap and just swapped out which many listeners do and report the changes they hear. The problem with that is, generally the caps have tolerance value swing of around 10% just like other passive electronics parts (resistors, inductors) and some are as much as 20%.
If you want to match the value so that it does not change the frequency response as the existing one, you have to carefully measure them in various ways. Besides, you would have to buy many caps to find the one that's close enough match to the existing cap. This becomes impractical for just about every consumer.
The bottom line is, if you want to increase the performance of your speakers, either upgrade the speakers or change to active crossover. Trying to squeeze more out of passive crossover capacitor is a waste of time since the current production of caps are pretty darn good including the stock ones that come with speakers.
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For bottletop on Decware DM944 speakers
Hello bottletop,
Are you still using the Decware DM944 speakers? Hope you don't mind I post this for the information. What amp are you using? Do you have any issue with the 94db sensitivity? I am thinking to purchase the DM944 or the newer version DM945 which has the 8 ohm version.
Would you like to share some more of your DM944 experience?
Thank you so much for your time!
Milton
Hello bottletop,
Are you still using the Decware DM944 speakers? Hope you don't mind I post this for the information. What amp are you using? Do you have any issue with the 94db sensitivity? I am thinking to purchase the DM944 or the newer version DM945 which has the 8 ohm version.
Would you like to share some more of your DM944 experience?
Thank you so much for your time!
Milton
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