Petp Capacitors-one Of The Best?

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#301
mach1 said:
Bit of a problem if you run a turntable with normal (ie not exactly flat) records, especially into a valve amp with normal sized cores prone to saturation at subsonic frequencies. Well made capacitors should be able to (and do) filter without audible distortion.
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Indeed, polypropylene is excellent at minimising distortion of an RC filter.

Yet he said he could hear an improvement by taking out the MKP and inserting a type that when acting as a filter will increase the distortion.

The solution to avoiding that distortion is to move the filtering frequency to well outside the audio band, then it is no longer a filter of the audio range and thus no added distortion of the audio signal.
It becomes a DC blocking capacitor.
If you use a DC blocking capacitor as a filter, then that has two consequences
a.) it filters out some of the wanted signal.
b.) it adds distortion that varies with the type and quality of the capacitor.

You can avoid both of those consequences by ensuring that your selected value does NOT act as a FILTER.
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#303
1.Why can't people replace an unsuitable cap with a suitable one and prefer the results instead? Why assume the unsuitable one is usually perceived as better? Sounds a bit bonkers to me.
2.Cost has nothing to do with performance. If you believe that you are a fool.
3.K73-16s cost less than wimas, and provide ample evidence of 2.
 
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#304
mach1 said:
1.Why can't people replace an unsuitable cap with a suitable one and prefer the results instead?
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They can. Some do. Some don't.

Why assume the unsuitable one is usually perceived as better?
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I don't assume that. Anecdote suggests that it is often true. Note that people who try to 'upgrade' an item by 'recapping' usually show themselves to be unable to genuinely upgrade it by improving the circuit; they do what they can. Those who can't solder have to 'upgrade' by changing cables; often this involves swapping well-engineered but cheap cables for expensive cables, which may or may not be inferior in electrical characteristics.

2.Cost has nothing to do with performance.
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It has. Very cheap and very expensive items often have poor performance. Mid-price items are usually OK.
 
#305
he said he could hear an improvement by taking out the MKP and inserting a type that when acting as a filter will increase the distortion.
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Your argument is based on a common erroneous assumption. There are factors other than dielectric that affect distortion. It would appear that you haven't read the capacitor testing and DBT articles linked earlier in this thread.

Well constructed high voltage polyester caps are fine for audio. Just because they are cheap doesn't mean they are unsuitable.
 
#306
It has. Very cheap and very expensive items often have poor performance.
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Due to serendipitous political circumstances there is an abundance of very low priced Russian ex military componentry on the market. Some of this product is of excellent quality. K73-16 capacitors are one of these products. Their only detractors on this thread are those who haven't used them.

As you stated, preconceptions associated with pricing can cloud many people's judgement.
 
#307
That report confirms that polyester when used as a filter does increase distortion compared to polypropylene.
Go read and find the data.
That report (or the later one) also confirms that electrolytic when acting as filters increase the distortion even more.
But that using back to back (without a polarising mid tapped voltage) reduces the distortion.

What the report does not confirm is whether when the signal voltage across the capacitor becomes so low that the capacitor is no longer acting as a filter that the distortion decreases to virtually nothing, i.e. unmeasurable.
There seems to be a consensus belief that if the AC/Signal voltage across a capacitor is reduced to very low values that the distortion also goes to very low values compared to the low value that Marsh & Co have been able to detect/measure.

There is some anecdotal evidence that DF differences are audible (J.Curl), but I have never seen any measurements that confirm it is audible.
 
#308
I said that there are factors OTHER than dielectric that affect capacitor distortion. Not that dielectric does not affect distortion.

Re-read the articles. I am assuming you were referring to the Russian ones I referenced
 
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#309
mach1 said:
1.Why can't people replace an unsuitable cap with a suitable one and prefer the results instead? Why assume the unsuitable one is usually perceived as better? Sounds a bit bonkers to me.
2.Cost has nothing to do with performance. If you believe that you are a fool.
3.K73-16s cost less than wimas, and provide ample evidence of 2.
Click to expand...
keep diy's and try for yourself a lot here know... 😉
 
#312
Halo All,

I have been reading about Russian caps, I have never try them.

I am looking to bypass blackgate caps, they are the output caps of my oppo 105 analog board.

Some forum mention that FT-3 and KY72 are the best, but in this thread i read more bout K73-16 which is much cheaper. Which Russian caps are best for bypass?

Hope someone can explain more.

Thanks
 
#315
Santodx5,
You are using these capacitors as output coupling by-pass caps. The value (uF) should be 1/100th the value of the black gate caps. Teflon caps are know for high resolution of sound and "air", meaning that instruments can be heard as individual instruments and not a sloppy group of instruments. More resolution of tone and timber.
Teflon Caps take a long time to "break in", >200 hours, so give them time and you'll be happy.
Plain and simple, for the $$$ you can't buy a better cap for you purpose.
Ron
 
#316
If you use a good quality electrolytic as a coupling cap and keep the corner frequency at least a decade below the lowest frequency of interest, you'll get higher performance (which may or may not be audible, depending). Bypassing can cause resonance issues, and substitution of a film cap will necessarily mean a much bigger part and longer leads, so more noise pickup, especially in a digital environment.

There is more voodoo around caps than any other component.
 
#320
The original output caps are Elna Slimic 100uf 16V. Someone bypass them with K40y-9 0.47uf and told me it was better, smooth and tube like.

That's why I have been researching about Russian caps. They are cheap and I am willing to experiment. So what's the consensus here? Thanks
 
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