High quality capacitors for crossovers?

[CH Monte]

Hi all, I'm really new in electronics DIY.

So far I have read tons of discussions about choosing "the best" capacitors (Elna, Panasonic, Rubicon, etc) for audio replacements in integrated amplifiers. But I was also thinking: if I have to replace the capacitors inside my old loudspeakers (crossovers), do I have to put high quality audio capacitors?

Many thanks in advance.

[ticknpop]

Yes

[googlyone]

Monte - my advice here is that if you are new to DIY, you start playing with decent quality components, without launching into esoteric parts. For example, crossover capacitors are available in Australia (internationally digikey, element14 etc also sell them) that cost <US$10 for typical XO caps.

I agre that good quality is necessary. Just not esoteric. This will get you decent quality for speaker XO type parts.

I honestly feel that gaining experience and getting a feel for what you are doing - all the while having a great deal of fun - need not require you to sell your house or rob a bank.

As an aside: There are many people who are quite adamant about the audibility of some extraordinarily expensive parts. My experience is that the basics (i.e. speaker driver selection and crossover design) are where the real differences are at.

Make your own judgement: choose a piece of kit (ideally broken needing repair, or something you are happy to murder) and tuck in!

[s3tup]

Caps type by preference:
1. MKP/FKP
2. MKS
3. Electrolytics

You want to stay with MKPs as long as possible. Caps manufacturer doen't really matter.
You'd want to replace the electrolytics you have there with MKPs too.

[cats squirrel]

some electrolytics were used deliberately. You can assess the effect of better capacitors by adding a small value non-electrolytic capacitor in parallel with the electrolytic one. Capacitors in series with the tweeter are likely to have a lot more influence on the sound than one across a bass/mid range unit.

[mickeymoose]

Not to forget: If you have to use electrolytics, they must be bipolar. E

[CH Monte]

Originally Posted by googlyone

Monte - my advice here is that if you are new to DIY, you start playing with decent quality components, without launching into esoteric parts. For example, crossover capacitors are available in Australia (internationally digikey, element14 etc also sell them) that cost <US$10 for typical XO caps.

I agre that good quality is necessary. Just not esoteric. This will get you decent quality for speaker XO type parts.

I honestly feel that gaining experience and getting a feel for what you are doing - all the while having a great deal of fun - need not require you to sell your house or rob a bank.

As an aside: There are many people who are quite adamant about the audibility of some extraordinarily expensive parts. My experience is that the basics (i.e. speaker driver selection and crossover design) are where the real differences are at.

Make your own judgement: choose a piece of kit (ideally broken needing repair, or something you are happy to murder) and tuck in!

Many thanks, Googlyone, s3tup, and mickeymoose.

Indeed, I wouldn't use expensive caps on an old loudspeaker, but because it's a 30 years old 2-way box, their electrolycts are done.

I would like also to ask you guys about the inductor's value for the woofer. I don't like too much the mid frequencies (around 500-800Hz) as you can have an idea from this graphic:



So I really don't need kind of midranges. Today it's easy to ask for a proper value for the inductor in order to cut these frequencies. So do you have an ideia for the inductance in the crossover? It's a 2 way loudspeaker and bothe woofer and tweeter are 8 ohms / 100 watts.

Many, many, many thanks again!