Newbie capacitor question

[The Nephilim]

Hello,

I have a tweeter capacitor with a value of 3uf.
I'll like to "re-cap" with 2 X Mundorf 1.5uf in parallel.
My question is, would there be a sonic advantage to using one cap that is supreme silver/oil and the other a regular supreme?
Or, does the sound quality just default the poorest cap?

Thanks, Ken

[hunter audio]

hi

depends on how good / or accurate your tweeter is

could you please mention its make and model

and how good your measuring equipment is - ,

where if you change or use a cross over with the best components available to a one with generalparts - you will find an audible difference , but if you change only one cap it may not make much of a audible improvement

Suranjan

[soongsc]

I think it best to use one 3u silver, or two 1.5u silver. Since these have good acurracy, it should be not problem in sound quality.

[K-amps]

Brand apart, the type of cap makes a huge diff. Generally (exceptions always exist) speaking, on a scale for worst to better:

- Electrolytics
- Tantalums
- Polystyrene
- Polypropylene
- Paper in Oil.

You will not believe the difference you can make from replacing stock eletrolytics with Polypropylenes.....

[soongsc]

The supreme silver/oil seems to be metalized paper in oil. So that seems good. Wonder what other brands have good metalized paper in oil?

[K-amps]

To answer the original question, electrically two 1.5uF in paralell are better than a single 3 uF because of lower ESR. However sonically I cannot say...

[Scottmoose]

Can I sound like a heritic here and suggest that you don't waste your money on mega-priced caps? I'm not implying that some aren't better than others (they certainly are -engineering tolerances are tighter etc), but I've rarely observed the manufacturers of some stupidly priced components (I can buy or build a perfectly good amp for the price of some of these things) displaying any proof whatsoever that their product has better performance than some much cheaper equivelants. Why? Simple: they can't.
I look at it this way: say you have a total of £100 to spend on a tweeter and a cap. You will invariably get better results spending £95 on the tweeter and £5 (or less ) on the cap than spending £95 on the cap and £5 on the tweeter. Am I overstating? Not really, I've known people do just that, and wonder why they were disappointed. Electricity is electricity. It's the drive units shifting air that you listen to.
Just a thought.
Cheers
Scott.

[Timn8ter]

Ok now hold on! Are you saying that better drivers reproduce sound better? Unbelievable!

[Scottmoose]

Originally posted by Timn8ter
Ok now hold on! Are you saying that better drivers reproduce sound better? Unbelievable!

Me? Suggest such heresy? Never! Will there be no end to this degridation?
OK, if you will now excuse me, I have to go now to renew my subscription to the Church of Snake-oil...

Best
Scott

[K-amps]

Originally posted by Scottmoose
Can I sound like a heritic here and suggest that you don't waste your money on mega-priced caps? I'm not implying that some aren't better than others (they certainly are -engineering tolerances are tighter etc), ....... Electricity is electricity. It's the drive units shifting air that you listen to.
Just a thought.
Cheers
Scott.

Scott agreed with the caveat that the cap is better off costing $10 than 50 cents. I have done experiments of using a 50uF non-polar electrolytic vs. a 50uF polypropylene (which was about 20 times the volume of the lytic in size) and the Poly sounded so much better or the lytic sounded so much worse that I am dumbfounded why people still use lytics... even for cost reasons... The difference is huge. (And I am tin eared not gold.. )

The driver I had this connected to was a medium quality Vifa P13WH. With the Polypropylene, the sound was open, clear and holographic. With the Lytic the sound was congested, blurred and constipated.... Had I not witnessed this myself I would not have believed it. Granted the Lytic was rated at 100v and the Poly at 250v but still the signal never crossed 40vac. P to P

As far as $50 caps.... I don't see the benefit either.... I guess I have not played with those yet to form an opinion.

The effect I heard had nothing to do with tolerances, just a characteristic of the cap design I guess.... Also let it be know I am not a "buy expensive cable and see the magic" type either, but when t comes to components, i know they make a difference.

K-