Tony Gee's Capacitor page updated..

[nicoch58]

"I have some 0.01uf Vishays to try as bypass caps, maybe it will work out ok.

"
yes they do....

 

[AndrewT]

your attachment/link does not.

 

[maty tinman]

Styroflex 0.010uF, bypassing

My KEF Q100 crossover with styroflex cap bypass and Würth 150 kHz ferrite.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

​

My impressions, spanish:

-> KEF Q100 Uni Q bookshelf speakers. 5.25" coaxial with front bass reflex. - Página 3

El rodaje está siendo muy rápido, pues se nota cómo va mejorando el sonido. Sonido más detallado y, sobre todo, mucha mayor separación de los instrumentos en el jazz. Incluso hay un poco más de profundidad -se nota si me levanto y me alejo. Ah, a pesar del mayor detalle los agudos son más agradables.

La clásica también está mejorando mucho.

Las cajas parecen otras, la música es más real, creíble.

En una escala de diez, la puntuación sería:

Antes: 8/10

Ahora: 10/10

Supongo que con música comercial la mejora será mucho menor.

to English:

-> https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=es&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Faficionados.foroactivo.com%2Ft342p50-kef-q100-uni-q-bookshelf-speakers-5-25-coaxial-with-front-bass-reflex%2316166&edit-text=

The burning is very fast , as you can see how the sound is improving. More detailed sound and, above all, much greater separation of instruments in jazz . There's even a little more depth - you can tell if I get up and walk away . Ah, despite the greater detail the treble are more pleasant .

The classical music is also improving a lot.

The boxes look like others, the music is more real, credible .

On a scale of ten, the score would be:

Before: 8/10

Now: 10/10

I guess with commercial music the improvement will be much lower.

PD: the translation link does not work here!

 

[bubuxxl]

"I have some 0.01uf Vishays to try as bypass caps, maybe it will work out ok.

"
yes they do....

I can't view the link/image you posted! Would be interested though!

I've got the Vishays MKP1837, but I want to see if the Claritycaps improve on their own. They are getting better by the hour, I'm just going to let them play for a couple hundred hours before objectively evaluating them.

 

[bubuxxl]

My KEF Q100 crossover with styroflex cap bypass and Würth 150 kHz ferrite/QUOTE]

Quite interested in the ferrite bead tweak, never saw that! What does it do?

 

[18Hurts]

So this cap thing is still going on? Odd, I figured active filters would of pushed that hobby into the history books. Tubes, records, caps and wire--for a bit of old school entertainment.

I just don't understand blowing hundreds to thousands of dollars over the cost of active filters but I don't get the record thing either. It would look odd to have record players and tube amp mixed with electronic crossovers though--nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

 

[bubuxxl]

Of course it is on... it's a hobby remember?

 

[Baldin]

Hope you will not tell us that you are able to hear any difference by putting a 10nF in parallel with the tweeter cap and using a EMI filter on the woofer!!
It would take very good meassurement setup/equipment to actually measure the difference

If you want to improve the Q100, I'm sure you would be able to make a better filter all together than the very simple one used .... or og active as suggested

 

[maty tinman]

Tweeter: bypass with 10nF polystyrene (aka styroflex) cap:

despite the greater detail the treble are more pleasant .

Würth 150kHz ferrite:

First I tried with the speakers cables -> the sound was "U" equalized: more and "clean" bass and more trebble (I do not like it).

After that I tried only with the woofer cable.

PD: I have a lot of RFI/EMI in my system (and DC in mains too).

 

[maty tinman]

-> Humble Homemade Hifi - Cap Test

LCR Capacitors FSC tubular foil polystyrene, axial lead, 0,01uF 160Vdc – 2,5% tolerance

Technical specifications (according to manufacturer): "Polystyrene is a superior dielectric material with exceptionally high insulation resistance and low loss. Aluminium foil electrodes are used and terminal wires are welded to them to ensure satisfactory performance at low voltage and high frequency. Low temperature coefficient. Close capacitance tolerance. Extreme capacitance stability. Low power factor. High insulation resistance. Small physical size. These are recommended for use in I.F. transformers, tuned circuits, pulse networks, laboratory standards, timing circuits, analogue and digital computing circuits and many other applications where superior qualities are used to advantage. Marking: Wherever possible capacitance tolerance and working voltage are clearly indicated by black digital lettering, but on small components a letter code is used for tolerance."

Sound: Like the Vishay MKP1837 they really clear things up when used as a small parallel capacitor. They take away the grainy edge from most capacitors. They give a gain in clarity and detail making instruments better separable from each other, the violins in an orchestra are a group of individual violins instead of one mass. They don't do the disappearing-act quite as well as the Vishay MKP1837 but they come close. I also find them to match well with "analogue" sounding capacitors like paper-in-oil types, etc in which they improve clarity at the top end of the spectrum.

Verdict: An alternative to the Vishay MKP1837 if you are looking for an even more detailed sound.

With my styroflex the trebble is more detailed/clean and pleasent/natural/credible/real too.

 

[bubuxxl]

Well... The Clarity Caps SA are starting to sound clearer and less foggy. They have about 70 hours of burn-in on them. Comparing to the Jantzen standard Z-caps, it all sounds less precise, detail is still lacking big time, and the sound gets messy at highish outputs.

But I can honestly say that it somehow sounds more natural and smooth to me with the Clarity Caps. They sound better and less picky with lesser amps now, and there is more depth to the soundstage. Instruments lost their almost "caricature" feature of over etched forms drawn in space (I'm not sure I love this omission though...). Also, woofer and tweeter sound more cohesive, as if they both had the same sound signature. Voices sound more natural as well.

Beware though, these are my experiences and you may experience otherwise!

I'll be trying the Audyn Cap plus for the next weeks and let you all know how it sounds.

 

[speakerdoctor]

-> Humble Homemade Hifi - Cap Test



With my styroflex the trebble is more detailed/clean and pleasent/natural/credible/real too.

I bought six of the Vishays and will try them on my Intimates speakers. However, I am very skeptical. Ran some tests with my calibrated WT2 cap test rig on one and got a very high ESR which ranged from 11 ohms at 20 kHz to close to 5,000 ohms at 100 hz. So, I'm not sure what if any meaningful signal will be getting by my primary tweeter series cap. We'll see

 

[speakerdoctor]

This post is to correct my previous test data quoted above.

I subsequently found my WT2 unit was not set up properly for testing the Vishay 0.01 uF caps. A shunt resistor I used was too low in ohms (i.e. 100) for testing below 0.1 uF. I found a 10K ohm resistor. re-calibrated and found ESR values that were right in correct range above 2400 hz for a MKP construction (e.g <0.2 ohms).

So now, I'm looking forward to installing a couple of these in my Intimates to see what, if any, sound improvements result as noted by Mr. Gee.

 

[FSHZ42]

I'd like to chime in and say a few things about what I have experienced, read, and heard over the longest time, using numerous brands of caps, as well as inductors and resistors! In my honest opinion, it is all about the components used in the complete system! Human ears hear the same sounds, unless you are impaired or going deaf! Anybody on planet earth with normal hearing will hear the same sounds. That being said, it's really a matter of individual tastes. Some like chocolate, while others prefer vanilla or strawberry! I have heard plenty of interconnect cables between my cd player/DAC/amplifiers, and yes I could hear a difference! It will depend on your "system!" Let's take a pair of Magneplanar speakers and connect an old Emerson stereo receiver for example, do you think it will sound as good as say an Audio Research system? Of course not! Why? Because of the technology, components, and thought process that goes into the designing of Audio Research components. Unless you have good components in your system, you may not hear the differences. I see a lot of members here that rant about measurements, and that is fine, but not all flat across the board measurements will sound good! I've heard speakers that sounded great, but on paper, looked terrible! I have heard the difference as well changing out caps in the signal path of my mono tube amps. I believe caps make a difference as far as how they are constructed and the materials they use! There are no perfect caps, nor anything for that matter! Years ago, all I used in the cross-over section were Solen caps, air-core inductors, and sand cast resistors. I was told to try changing out the caps to Sonicaps. So I figured I would give it a try. Well, it did make a difference, and it was to me better! I'm not saying to go out and bust your bank account to purchase all Duelund components, just saying in a round about way that I believe that better manufactured components should make a better difference in most cases!

 

[soongsc]

When we look at the physical structure of capacitors, obviously not all are going to be ideal, but closer to ideal depending on the voltage and current characteristic during use. Different values and different driven conditions are going to require different structure.


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[FSHZ42]

Yes, I agree! I wish I had the extra money just to try the Duelund caps! I do think they are over priced! Do you have any favorite caps that you really like in your cross-overs?

 

[Bill poster]

personally don't get why you'd want to spend huge amounts of money on a metallized cap (clarity cap MR or various mundorf caps)when there are cheaper good quality foil caps available

 

[soongsc]

Yes, I agree! I wish I had the extra money just to try the Duelund caps! I do think they are over priced! Do you have any favorite caps that you really like in your cross-overs?

I have not used Duelund caps, but for some caps on Tony's list that I used, I have found that it is similar to my finding. What I have found is that CDE cap paralleled with that little cap as recommended provides similar sound as the Mundorph gold silver.


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[jameshillj]

Which particular CDE cap are you using?

 

[FSHZ42]

Here is the direct link to CDE for the film caps: Film Capacitors - CDE
Here is the link for the caps Tony and soongsc are referring to: http://www.cde.com/resources/catalogs/940C.pdf

The 600V rated caps are only available in .01-4.7uF. They also show higher voltage caps up to 3000V. I may try and search a couple places here in the USA and see what prices they have. I take it that soongsc is using the Vishay MKP 1837 100VDC cap to bypass?