Hi, I am looking to parallel three 1uf film caps (same manufacturer) in place of existing 3uf caps. I know that Multicap does this internally but will it cause any problems, and if not are there any precautions I need to take.
Thanks,
Ron
Thanks,
Ron
Best is to parallel caps of different construction.
Each covers holes in the other's performance.
Each covers holes in the other's performance.
In response to kenpeter, if these mixed caps are to be used as signal caps, the differences in ESL/ESR of each cap could literally cause different phase shifts in the signal, leading to a real mixed up signal. Tried this before with PIO caps bypassing PP caps, the staging got totally screwed up.
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I am actually using 3-1uf caps in parallel, one set for the line stage and two sets for the phono stage.
I stand by my statement.
Not going to mix up any signal that has a clear path through either cap.
Not doubting your opinion. I am sure you achieved a good result 🙂
Just that my experience did not have such favourable results. I thought I could improve my linestage by paralleling a pair of PIO with my already very good film PP cap. Results were very disappointing. Bass improved (due to larger capacitance) but the imaging suffered, loss depth and staging. Using the caps separately yielded far better results.
film caps should have the outer foil lead marked - the outer foil should connect to the "driven" low impedance, high signal side to prevent the sensitive circuit's hi-Z input from picking up noise from electric fields
another common substituion problem is when large physical size means you have large loop area from long leads that have to loop down into the smaller case size hole pattern - the bigger loop area picks up more magnetic field noise, adds to the parasitic inductance, lowers the cap's self-resonant frequency
keep leads short, cap bodies close to board/signal path - but don't melt the plastic soldering too close to the body (too samll/"cool" iron is worse as you spend too long and the heat diffuses further along the leads)
another common substituion problem is when large physical size means you have large loop area from long leads that have to loop down into the smaller case size hole pattern - the bigger loop area picks up more magnetic field noise, adds to the parasitic inductance, lowers the cap's self-resonant frequency
keep leads short, cap bodies close to board/signal path - but don't melt the plastic soldering too close to the body (too samll/"cool" iron is worse as you spend too long and the heat diffuses further along the leads)
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Unfortunalely to tie the three tubes together I had to make them into a pyramid with the apex siliconed to the board. The leads are therefore longer than I would like. Can I coat them with silicone or another material?
I can't understand why it happened. If metalization layers are non-linear shunting would improve them. However, 2 caps could resonate, but in such case one of them should have a huge ESL.
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