Zen V4 C1 and C4

[TJ]

I know this question have been ask many time ago but i still curious about this caps! As i know this two caps will affect the performance of the lower freq ...... can i remove it ? what happen if i increase or decrease the capacitance ? ...............
can i remove the caps and add a output transformer ........ ?
thank

[Tazzy]

Another question would be: would make sence to use better/exotic/expensive C's for C1 and C4?

[Shoog]

My feeling would be that an output transformer would introduce more distortion than the cap you were trying to eliminate. The head of Leak amps once said that the greatest thing about transistors was that they elimated the output transformers.
Even if you go for exotic caps they are likely to be more cost effective than comparable transformers.

Shoog

[Panelhead]

Originally posted by Tazzy
Another question would be: would make sence to use better/exotic/expensive C's for C1 and C4?

I think mine is upgraded over the specified(recommended) ones. Because the amp is used for high impedance speakers I used a 4700 ufd, 35 v Nichicon Muse. The bypass cap is a 680 ufd, 35 v BG NX.
Using a 35 volt rated cap should be fine. The bias voltage is set to 23 volts in mine. It would require swinging 24 volts peak to peak to exceed the rating. And the caps should have a 42 volt or so surge rating.
But this is using it with a high impedance, high efficiency speaker system. Used with a more normal set of speakers it may be better to use the 10,000 ufd 50 volt caps listed in the parts.

George

[ThomasLMcLean]

You could take Nelson Pass's sugestion and bridge two Zen v4's, balance the dc offset to 30-50 mv, and do away with C1 and C4. This will also bring the amp to 50 - 60 watts.

This would be my first choice for an Amp.

Tmac