Very useful things, clip leads, but remember if you're going to do that to check their resistance beforehand. I've seen people go grey prototyping filters via clip-leads, then discovering when the circuit is built up on a PCB or hard-wired onto a board that it doesn't behave the same way due to the altered cicuit resistance.
Hi,
Exactly. Clip leads, especially the cheap chinese ones, have a considerably high resistance, and if you´re using quite a handful of them in a quick XO mock-up, they can quickly screw up what you´re doing.
Of course it´s more work, but despite the fact that I have plenty of them, I try to avoid use of clip leads whenever possible.
All the best
Mattes
Exactly. Clip leads, especially the cheap chinese ones, have a considerably high resistance, and if you´re using quite a handful of them in a quick XO mock-up, they can quickly screw up what you´re doing.
Of course it´s more work, but despite the fact that I have plenty of them, I try to avoid use of clip leads whenever possible.
All the best
Mattes
Hi Iggy,
Was that question aimed at me? If so, in my personal opinion, the Sup-Z sounds more detailed than the Standard-Z, and in the same time less like there´s anything in between amp and speaker. For a high quality system, IMO it makes sense even with large values, but that all depends. If you´re using mid-fi drivers, it will make no sense to invest a few hundred bucks into caps, better get a better driver for your cash.
But when you feel that you do have the best driver for your application, it might be worth it.
Just to keep things into perspective: I actually do sell Jantzen parts, but very seldom. Just remember to read my words with a grain of salt...
All the best
Mattes
I don't see how a good quality capacitor could add brightness to the sound. Its a filter and so can't be any brighter than an active crossover. A junk capacitor can add brightness though.
I just bought a Jantzen crosscap for a first order filter for a build. My decision was influenced by listening to a cheap junk capacitor for a test. It worked but the junk cap sounded bad. I noticed a chirpy splashy transistor radio-like sound that was irritating enough that I had to take it out.
I just bought a Jantzen crosscap for a first order filter for a build. My decision was influenced by listening to a cheap junk capacitor for a test. It worked but the junk cap sounded bad. I noticed a chirpy splashy transistor radio-like sound that was irritating enough that I had to take it out.
I always experiment myself. Some capacitors add to much brightness on hard dome tweeters but seem to work well with soft dome tweeters. Others just the opposite; they sound too mellow on soft domes but work well with hard domes. I stand by the Superior Z as the best capacitor for the money. It's not inexpensive but considering it can even improve the sound of budget drivers, it is still worth it to me. Of course; I wouldn't put a $35 capacitor on a $20 tweeter in general. I have done that just because I had some on hand and yes, there were improvements even on something so cheap. I would never do this as a design goal however. When I am unsure of what values I may need; I have a lot of the Audyn Q4 capacitors of many values. They are quite good for the cheap price and sometimes that is all you need. So I start with these until I am satisfied with my results then I upgrade to a higher quality if the drivers or design warrants the extra expense. Sometimes it just comes down to listening preference and personal tastes.
As far as I know, it's a bog-standard MKP as far as winding geometry (and probably almost everything else) is concerned.
I has forgotten about bypassing, until yesterday when I paralleled a 10uf polystyrenes and 2.2uf Ampohm tinfoil in wax paper caps to tweak my tweeter filter.
I like it better than the 12uf Superior pair they replaced.
Since I still have some smaller value Ampohms left, I bypassed my centre channel 10uf Audyn Plus high frequency full ranger with a 0.47uf tinfoil paper in oil cap, and after a few hours, a little raspiness left. I should note it's not major, and not noticeable to me using the AVR internal amp, it's only apparent using a 5 or 6 years old power amp.
Instead of assigning magic qualities to the Ampohms, I wonder if the differences are just due to the much higher power handling of the Ampohms, and their presumably lower ESR.
