I swapped out some caps on the my 3 way towers. You'll see in the pictures which ones I changed. I also revised the notch to take out a little more of the cone breakup.
Female vocals sound overly bright to me now. I am considering swapping back in the elctrolytics. I really only changed caps on the mids. The tweeter already had poly caps on it. Is it possible that I prefer the duller sound of electrolytics? I did compare sound back to back and found the poly caps sound cleaning. Now that I've spent a week listening to the new caps I find them to be a bit bright for my tastes.
Do the poly caps need to burn in for "x" amount of hours before they sound right?
Is it possible I just don't like it because I am used to the other XO?
I do have multiple other systems in my house. They all use electrolytics. They do not have the same brighteness
Details:
1. All of the other caps are ClarityCaps poly. All except the big one on the woofer. That one is still electrolytic but I added a poly 1 uf coupling cap to it.
2. Other than revising the notch filter none of the values have changed.
3. Yes, I did solder them back in correctly, I verified this as I thought maybe I screwed up.
4. The two variations measure exactly the same. Within 2 db
5. All data in vituixcad is measured data
6. Drivers used are: Hivi Planar tweeter, Zaph mid 5", Peerless woofer 8"
Maybe I am missing something here.
Female vocals sound overly bright to me now. I am considering swapping back in the elctrolytics. I really only changed caps on the mids. The tweeter already had poly caps on it. Is it possible that I prefer the duller sound of electrolytics? I did compare sound back to back and found the poly caps sound cleaning. Now that I've spent a week listening to the new caps I find them to be a bit bright for my tastes.
Do the poly caps need to burn in for "x" amount of hours before they sound right?
Is it possible I just don't like it because I am used to the other XO?
I do have multiple other systems in my house. They all use electrolytics. They do not have the same brighteness
Details:
1. All of the other caps are ClarityCaps poly. All except the big one on the woofer. That one is still electrolytic but I added a poly 1 uf coupling cap to it.
2. Other than revising the notch filter none of the values have changed.
3. Yes, I did solder them back in correctly, I verified this as I thought maybe I screwed up.
4. The two variations measure exactly the same. Within 2 db
5. All data in vituixcad is measured data
6. Drivers used are: Hivi Planar tweeter, Zaph mid 5", Peerless woofer 8"
Maybe I am missing something here.
Attachments
It's possible you don't like the sound of the ClarityCaps. Which model line?
Try ASC X386 or X387, OR Mundorf Aluminum in Oil for contrast. I prefer the ASC of the 3.
Give what you got a week or 2 to be sure you don't like the current setup, or even add a half ohm resistance to compensate.
Try ASC X386 or X387, OR Mundorf Aluminum in Oil for contrast. I prefer the ASC of the 3.
Give what you got a week or 2 to be sure you don't like the current setup, or even add a half ohm resistance to compensate.
Electrolytics that are not broken may sound perfectly fine in a crossover. Perhaps you could explore whether device parasitics (eg: the small resistance of the capacitor) is the cause of a difference, rather than labelling capacitor types as sounding different in this way. I find that adjustments of this type may be in order after any crossover change.
2dB can make quite a difference, depending on how smooth you have things so far. There are resistors in series with the mid circuit so you might clip some larger values across them to see what happens.
2dB can make quite a difference, depending on how smooth you have things so far. There are resistors in series with the mid circuit so you might clip some larger values across them to see what happens.
Whichever are the cheapest ones. Those have been in there the entire time though.
It's just the 3 I circled in red that I swapped out. I did consider tossing a few more ohms of resistance on the mid.
I'll let it break in and see what happens I guess
AllenB
I am considering throwing another couple ohms at the mid to compensate.
I am not sure yet if that's the right course of action.
I do not see any ESR specs on any of the caps I bought from PE so I cannot throw them in the sim to see the effect. I am not sure what you mean "clip some valued"
I am considering throwing another couple ohms at the mid to compensate.
I am not sure yet if that's the right course of action.
I do not see any ESR specs on any of the caps I bought from PE so I cannot throw them in the sim to see the effect. I am not sure what you mean "clip some valued"
2 ohms may be more than needed but that's OK, you really just want a feel for taking control of the response right now and learn how it sounds. So just generally speaking...
If it is too dull you might use 'clip leads' to attach a higher value of resistor over the existing resistor/s which will reduce it's value. Going the other way you would need to disconnect the mid crossover somewhere and insert resistance.
If you can't seem to get it right, you might try placing resistance in series with the individual capacitors.. or you could try re-fitting the old capacitors one at a time and learn which makes the differences.
A crossover simulator might help you see which ones do what and how to compensate, since they generally model the capacitor's parasitic resistance, which you can change.. or you can put fixed resistors in series to achieve the same thing.
If it is too dull you might use 'clip leads' to attach a higher value of resistor over the existing resistor/s which will reduce it's value. Going the other way you would need to disconnect the mid crossover somewhere and insert resistance.
If you can't seem to get it right, you might try placing resistance in series with the individual capacitors.. or you could try re-fitting the old capacitors one at a time and learn which makes the differences.
A crossover simulator might help you see which ones do what and how to compensate, since they generally model the capacitor's parasitic resistance, which you can change.. or you can put fixed resistors in series to achieve the same thing.
Allen,
Oh OK, that makes sense. What value resistor would I add to the caps to make up the difference? I imagine this varies depending on the size of the cap.
My guess is the 47 uf is the most affecting cap since it's value is largest and the unit is in series with the driver
Oh OK, that makes sense. What value resistor would I add to the caps to make up the difference? I imagine this varies depending on the size of the cap.
My guess is the 47 uf is the most affecting cap since it's value is largest and the unit is in series with the driver
Typically less than an ohm, but here's a link to sample ESRs of a broad cross section of capacitors. Keep in mind they are not all intended for circuits that resemble a crossover.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivalent_series_resistance#Capacitors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivalent_series_resistance#Capacitors
Just to wrap this up story up here, I broke in the new film and foil caps and kept listening to them for a couple weeks. I still did not like them. I took some measurements and found the film and foil add some odd ripple to the measurement. Nothing huge but it is definitely there. Not sure if that was the reason they sounded harsh but I put back in the electrolytics and there are now amazing again. I did add two notch filters. One for each woofer on their cone breakup nodes. Definitely cleaned up the sound. I might start doing this as default on any cone driver. The cost of a cap and resistor is well worth it to me.
