In a line level application (the 250V version) I find them smooth, uncolored and fluid, plus very clear. I must be lucky
Given Solen is remarkably consistent for the really good bang-for-the-buck they are, I would say we're just two of many that prove the topic is subjective and there really is no such thing as "best" cap
Cheers!
I think that "best cap" is somewhat more complicated.
Caps can be very good for some purposes and not so good for others.
I.e. ceramics are the ones for HF decoupling in digital circuits.
For analog PSU decoupling I find the Polyphenylene sulfid caps superior to anything else.
For filtering Polypropylene runs the show.
For x-overs PP also seems to be the preferred one.
When it comes to different makes, one should consider that most materials i.e. PP probably comes from the same manufacturer. PPS deffinately does, and often the higly specialised machinery for manufacturing caps also often is the same.
Så often we are talking about sonic footprints due to very small differences in construction and design, or maybe even due to precission of the value, rather than anything else.
This is especially important to keep in mind when talking about X-overs.
For decoupling it hardly matters at all.
Caps can be very good for some purposes and not so good for others.
I.e. ceramics are the ones for HF decoupling in digital circuits.
For analog PSU decoupling I find the Polyphenylene sulfid caps superior to anything else.
For filtering Polypropylene runs the show.
For x-overs PP also seems to be the preferred one.
When it comes to different makes, one should consider that most materials i.e. PP probably comes from the same manufacturer. PPS deffinately does, and often the higly specialised machinery for manufacturing caps also often is the same.
Så often we are talking about sonic footprints due to very small differences in construction and design, or maybe even due to precission of the value, rather than anything else.
This is especially important to keep in mind when talking about X-overs.
For decoupling it hardly matters at all.
Buddy sent back a pair of my older designs with silverfute driver(ok sonics), swapped in Scanspeak 7 in Revelators, big improvment. Week later he ask to upgrade tweeter ,they sound grainy and spitty he says ,so first I replace the $7 solen caps with another brand at $16 and holy #%@^ the $25 dollar Chinese Tweeter balances out great with the $200 plus Scanspeak! Lesson learn.
Frank
Frank
Added in a pair of 1uf Aura Teflons into my b1 this week. I've had up and down luck with caps, Mundorf Silver/gold Oil in my speakers were an utter waste of time. But these Teflons are the best £100 i've spent on hifi, I was expecting them to be disappointing, due to the hype that surrounds T-caps, but I'm very happy with them.
I'm sure you could find a use for £100 that would provide you more satisfaction than a pair of capacitors- I couldn't find anything to spend £100 on that would give me greater enjoyment than these have.
I value the enjoyment I gain from Music more than almost anything else, and this has more value to me than expensive concert tickets as it affects 'all' my replayed music.
I value the enjoyment I gain from Music more than almost anything else, and this has more value to me than expensive concert tickets as it affects 'all' my replayed music.
Ah well, no doubt... concert tickets are just a luxury, and concerts mundane events... even last august's Leonard Cohen's concert I went to, in Venice. Whereas his music is one of the least mundane I know.
As I see it, it's a matter of proportions... you must really value an awful lot your affair with Music to let her spend your money that way
Andrea,
I find Solen MKP metalized polypropelene caps good value compared to bipolar electrolytics and poorer dielectric film caps like polyester , but grainy, dynamically compresssed, and unresolving compared to good film and foil caps ( polypropelene, polystyrene, and teflon). If you are happy enough with them that's fine, but there are better sounding, larger, and more expensive capacitors available for those willling to accomodate the cost and space.
I use all 3 dielectrics - teflon caps in the RIAA network, bias bypass, and tweeter caps, polystyrene in compensation networks, servos and r/c output network, and fim and foil polypropelene in bass and midrange speaker crossover. The system is totally DC coupled except for the speaker crossover - I could hear the improvement going from metalised film caps in each of these applications.
I find Solen MKP metalized polypropelene caps good value compared to bipolar electrolytics and poorer dielectric film caps like polyester , but grainy, dynamically compresssed, and unresolving compared to good film and foil caps ( polypropelene, polystyrene, and teflon). If you are happy enough with them that's fine, but there are better sounding, larger, and more expensive capacitors available for those willling to accomodate the cost and space.
I use all 3 dielectrics - teflon caps in the RIAA network, bias bypass, and tweeter caps, polystyrene in compensation networks, servos and r/c output network, and fim and foil polypropelene in bass and midrange speaker crossover. The system is totally DC coupled except for the speaker crossover - I could hear the improvement going from metalised film caps in each of these applications.
Bipolar electrolytics sound like crap compared to the Solen.
Did you use them in crossovers? A 2.2uF 250V Solen in the line out of my DAC is not grainy at all, and it's very resolving.
Edit: Admittedly before being burnt in they were just a little grainy and 'flat'.
P.S. I haven't only compared to Wima polyester, but also to Wima polypropylene (the latter being warmer and less impressive than the Solen at fine detail resolution & bass quality).
Did you use them in crossovers? A 2.2uF 250V Solen in the line out of my DAC is not grainy at all, and it's very resolving.
Edit: Admittedly before being burnt in they were just a little grainy and 'flat'.
P.S. I haven't only compared to Wima polyester, but also to Wima polypropylene (the latter being warmer and less impressive than the Solen at fine detail resolution & bass quality).
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You should have said so from the beginning
And so are 5532 opamps, that's why so many "high end" manufacturers use them.
I really stopped understanding the obsession with "bang for the buck" in diy. How many coupling caps can one possibly use so that the price really becomes an issue? How many preamps, amps, etc does one build? Are we talking 2 or 3 or are the numbers within the hundreds? Diy can never be cheap, unless one's time has no value, so does it not make sense to use the best or at least close to the best? I have drawers full of junk caps, accumulated over the years. Clearly most will never be used for anything, at least not stuff i would listen to. So, why do i have them? Because they were all "great bang for the buck".
Honestly no, when there's stuff like the ($.70) LME49723 around
Instead I don't know anything better than the Solen caps that costs the same.
I don't have so many bucks to spend..
BTW, Sonus Faber uses Solen MKP caps (in series with the tweeter; for the low-pass instead they use another type of film cap) in their latest "Liuto Monitor"... just that the large one is paralleled with a small (.33uF) one. Total cost is still bang-for-the-buck.
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