I read in various articles sometimes it is mentioned that forninstance 'put as good resistor/capacitor here as you can afford'.....and other times in certain locations the quality of the component is less important.
To narrow this down to 2 instances....I read an article on improving the crossover in a B&W speaker. Is it that a component directly in series in the audiopath is deemed important...and is it that an R or C shunted to ground is less important?
Also I want to build this active low pass filter board and it has loads of resistors. I can't follow the schematic all the way as is passes through various op amps and potentiometers, but assuming I can decipher it...I take a similar view to the XO and anything in direct series to the signal output should be the best quality one can muster? The others less important?
Thanks in advance. Just wanting to get a handle on where to better spend my money and where not to waste!
To narrow this down to 2 instances....I read an article on improving the crossover in a B&W speaker. Is it that a component directly in series in the audiopath is deemed important...and is it that an R or C shunted to ground is less important?
Also I want to build this active low pass filter board and it has loads of resistors. I can't follow the schematic all the way as is passes through various op amps and potentiometers, but assuming I can decipher it...I take a similar view to the XO and anything in direct series to the signal output should be the best quality one can muster? The others less important?
Thanks in advance. Just wanting to get a handle on where to better spend my money and where not to waste!
All nonsense of course, pick components with adequate ratings for the use - for low level audio signals metal film resistors and polypropylene (PP) caps are excellent, price irrelevant (though tolerance may be important in filter circuits and this affects price markedly).
They are parts of the _same_ passive filter circuit, so same importance. Use metal film and PP if you can. If the cap. value is large and thus need electrolytic, good quality bipolar electrolytic are the ones to go for, price will be relevant for these - they also have temperature/lifetime characteristics to consider.
Metal film is the best(*), nichrome is nichrome, buy from reputable electronics supplier, not eBay/Amazon random seller. If you pay over the odds you are being fleeced for being gullible, not getting better resistors.
(*) Actually wire-wound is the best, but only slightly better than metal film and often too inductive to be used.
Look at the signal path.
There is really a very diminishing return in the choice of resistors.
Any capacitors in the signal path can make an audible difference, as can semiconductors.
Their are obvious capacitor topolgies that make a huge difference. I replaced a tantalum capacitor in my Aleph 4 with an Elma Silmic and the difference was HUGE.
However, randomly replacing one Polycarb cap with another may not make that much difference.
There is really a very diminishing return in the choice of resistors.
Any capacitors in the signal path can make an audible difference, as can semiconductors.
Their are obvious capacitor topolgies that make a huge difference. I replaced a tantalum capacitor in my Aleph 4 with an Elma Silmic and the difference was HUGE.
However, randomly replacing one Polycarb cap with another may not make that much difference.
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