Types of polypropylene capacitor....

[nickds1]

Hi,

My Bevios Valley amp proceeds at pace. Tubes on order, along with Sowter trafo set (5 week lead time ;-()... Spent an hour at the metal fabricators on Saturday - chassis sorted...

Now, there are many varieties of polypropylene cap, and no obvious outright winners - I'm avoiding the "orange drop" ones for now...

I'm torn between the Visay MKT1813 series and the Epcos MKP B32 651/652 series. The LCR PC/HV/S series also looks promising...

What do folks feel? Is there a real difference in coupling caps? Any others to consider? What about the Ruski teflon ones on eBay? My main supplier in the UK is Farnell, but I'll use whoever has the bits...

Thanks

Nick

 

[chris james]

The best bet is jump in and try a few, here's a short list of what may be worth trying;

Jupiter Beeswax, Auricap, and the one's which I have in at the moment Jensen paper in oil.

Chris..

 

[SY]

Wima FKP works exceptionally well.

 

[amperex]

chris james has good advice.

Big difference in-between the 'orange drop' & AuriCap. I can not listen to the orange drop in a home entertainment amp. I like the 'orange drops' in guitar amps.

 

[Eli Duttman]

SCR (France) makes polypropylene film and Tin foil parts. Prices are higher than ODs, but less than "boutique" stuff (Hovland, MultiCap, etc.).

Russian surplus PTFE parts have a definite following.

 

[Sch3mat1c]

CDE poly film are fine with me. Price is right, too!

 

[rdf]

Russian surplus PTFE parts have a definite following.

Russian PIO's too, wonderful in my EL84 play amp. My advice, buy a small selection of various brands and types, don't trim the leads, sleeve them instead and drive yourself around the bend for the next few months flipping them in and out with every change in bias point, supply smoothing and plate load.

 

[andyjevans]

Another vote for Russian teflons - to my ears better than any polypropylene and I've tried loads of them. You will see in Morgan Jones book that he uses them too. You may get away with .056 or if not get the .1uf. A few suppliers - I like the FT-3 ones but they're harder to find than the usual K72, which can be got from KW tubes - kwtubes on ebay or Anthony Welsh (ebay shop) who's in the UK (though they get sent from Ukraine for the most part). Gintaras in KW tubes is in Lithuania. Alexander in Kiev is another source - ranutek on ebay. I've bought from all three. greentulip1970 on ebay has them too.

 

[barretter]

If you do go for the Russian teflons remember to check the size : the 0.1ufs are BIG.

 

[andyjevans]

If you do go for the Russian teflons remember to check the size : the 0.1ufs are BIG.>

Indeed. The .056 will actually shoehorn into the Leak Stereo 20 PCB as it is. The .1 won't though it could be bodged. There's a .22 on ebay that's even bigger! I use multiples in my preamp as coupling caps - works fine. For a SRPP stage or a cathode follower, the 200v ones are a useful space saver, and you can combine a few of them to make up .5 or 1uF.