Breaking in Teflon Caps

[Stefanoo]

that is what i have thought till I have came across SY's post where he said that by keeping a constand DC offset, as my first set up for braking in was, I was going to hurt the final sound of the cap.
Now it is clear to me that a square wave would be a good signal for braking in.

If anybody wants to add anything else, please feel free to do so.

[Salas]

SY and syn08 give you capacitor break in instructions in a tweakers forum deeply subjective thread... Fishy.

[analog_sa]

Originally Posted by Salas

Did you try pink noise?

No, Salas, i didn't. The FT3 are dirt cheap and you can always give them away as presents if you don't like them as i do And it's not just another bout of soviet-phobia which i occassionally enjoy - i quite like the K40Y9. Neither is it a question of the capacitors being too revealing for my system. My currrent favs in the same position are Mundorf Silver&Gold.

[Stefanoo]

Hi folks,

I thought this post would have been of common interest.
This is what audience replied to my questions on how to brake in their caps

"Sorry but this is all wrong! With the 10K resistor in series forming a low pass network the cap only sees the DC voltage. A DC voltage will cause the dielectric to take a polarity set and this is harmful. The final DC set should be formed by the circuit it is installed in by the customer, not by us.



Use an AC output wallwart or transformer of 40-50 VAC for 100V caps. I would like to see a 100 ohm 1/4W resistor in series with 80-100VAC for 200V caps. Use the same resistor for 400V and up caps (it is a fuse) and connect these caps directly across the 120V line. The 1000V and up caps can be connected across the 240V line with a resistor on each AC leg. Be extremely careful with line voltages, they can kill! Use heavy sleeving to protect lives and connections, have an insulating surface to set the caps on. Post a HOT! sign on the caps when power is on. After you turn off the power you need to discharge the caps through the 100 ohm resistors, in other words short out the power plugs on caps that have been direct line connected. The stored charge on larger caps will hurt!"

Hope it will be helpful for who wants to brake in caps but doesn't know how.

[analog_sa]

Originally Posted by Stefanoo

Hope it will be helpful for who wants to brake in caps but doesn't know how.

It will be helpful if it works

[Stefanoo]

why shouldn't it? If audience that makes these caps suggestes this procedure, I would think it has to help somehow

Anyways, my only perplexity would be: even the wallwarrt (220V or 125V) has a DC offset and that is why connecting the DC meter across the caps I can see a small variable DC offset.
I want to try to connect a bridge filter to correct the DC offset at the input of the transofrmer.

[SY]

If audience that makes these caps suggestes this procedure, I would think it has to help somehow

Why? Could it be part of the marketing/image management? It's something that audiophiles expect, so why not give it to 'em? If there's a break-in effect for Teflon caps, it's somehow escaped the far more demanding engineers in aerospace, telecom, and precision measurement. Only the sensitive ears of audiophiles seem to be able to pick up on this.

That should be your first clue. A hyper-expensive and exotic cap needs to have a story.

[Stefanoo]

I am sorry but I do not share your thought whatsoever.
But, If you have experience with high quality audio gears and hi-end audio parts and your ears tell you that there is no difference from a brand new cap and a broken in one, then good for you that you do not have to worry about braking in parts before evaluating their sonical characteristic but just so you know...there is out there an entire world of audio designers and not that says the exact oppostite.
Oh well....world is nice because there is variety!

[Allen Wright]

I wired up about four V-Caps in series and hooked them directly across our 230VAC mains. Left them there for three weeks.

Worked well.

Regards, Allen (vacuum State)

[auplater]

Originally Posted by Stefanoo

why shouldn't it? If audience that makes these caps suggestes this procedure, I would think it has to help somehow

helps their bottom line, because gullible audiophools think they're getting something "better" because it has an exotic "break-in" regimen like an italian sportscar, no doubt...

another PT Barnum moment