New member and was directed from another forum to ask the experts here.
I can answer question as needed so I don't want to make this a long first post. I want to provide correct information and don't want to fill this with irrelevant data since I'm new at this.
Rebuilding some 1990 speakers and used Clarity CSA capacitors. I replaced the outer rings on the woofers as well. D'appolito style Clements 206di.
OK now the sound prior to the rebuild was very warm with great mid, lower frequency spatial qualities. 30 years on the caps and the repairs on the outer rubber rings pushed me to where I am today.
Doing a frequency sweep confirmed my observation while playing the modified speakers. Tonal balance seems to tip upward and mid/low tonal volume around 100-120 hZ, to be exact 104-108 is the low spot.
Is this the sound signature of these caps? Thanks in advance!
I can answer question as needed so I don't want to make this a long first post. I want to provide correct information and don't want to fill this with irrelevant data since I'm new at this.
Rebuilding some 1990 speakers and used Clarity CSA capacitors. I replaced the outer rings on the woofers as well. D'appolito style Clements 206di.
OK now the sound prior to the rebuild was very warm with great mid, lower frequency spatial qualities. 30 years on the caps and the repairs on the outer rubber rings pushed me to where I am today.
Doing a frequency sweep confirmed my observation while playing the modified speakers. Tonal balance seems to tip upward and mid/low tonal volume around 100-120 hZ, to be exact 104-108 is the low spot.
Is this the sound signature of these caps? Thanks in advance!
...did you do this sweep in a room or in free air? 100ish hZ is almost assuredly a room node.
As for tonal balance of capacitors, that’s something very subjective to each listener. What I perceive isn’t going to be what you perceive nor is it what he perceives.
As for tonal balance of capacitors, that’s something very subjective to each listener. What I perceive isn’t going to be what you perceive nor is it what he perceives.
For information, the original capacitors were said to be mylar or polypropylene types. Information about these speakers here:
SoundStage! Equipment Review - Clements 206di Loudspeaker (11/1997)
SoundStage! Equipment Review - Clements 206di Loudspeaker (11/1997)
The sweep was in my listening room. I have treated the room over the last year and nothing changed. While working on the low freq sweep I did move the speakers back closer to the wall (sound panels) exactly 2". Moved away 1", then 1/2" during the sweep and settled on 33 1/2". So only 1/2" back from my listening position. The lower frequency from 90-40 hZ were affected during this and not my problem area.
Maybe the characteristics of these caps are forcing me to make changes in the room.
Was this a bad move to switch to the CSA caps? First time swapping caps and I'm learning about the different materials used. Still have the old caps.
That would be the tail wagging the dog. If the caps make that much difference I’d be curious if there was a large value change from the replaced originals to the new. Also remember you replaced the surrounds, that’s going to make a difference as well, even if the rubber was identical, the 30yr age difference will make a compliance difference...
Mylar/film caps do NOT need changing, even after 30 years, unless they are defective, which would be quite unusual in this case.
I've grown so weary over the "bad caps" syndrome that proliferates online blogs - it's way overdone and tired already.
These so-called experts need to get a life.
It's my fault for going down this road. I can swap back and see if everything is back on track. I can always use more soldering time under my belt 🙂
Uff swapping from rubber to foam... Of course it is different sound. Qms is for sure 50%higher. So enclosure is not right volume anymore. One possibility is to measure parameters and change the volume or buy new rubber on ebay. My friend is a speaker servicer and till now we always find rubbers and foams on ebay or allegro.pl.
Caps change a little sound, not too drastical. Just last fine tuning.
Caps change a little sound, not too drastical. Just last fine tuning.
The closest caps i have experience with are Clarity ESA. I find them weirdly coloured and not particularly well resolved but neither do they sound up tilted to me, on the contrary.
You know this would bring you one step closer to understanding, this way you are making one change at a time.
There is also an adjustment that many people forget to do when they change a capacitor in a low impedance circuit like this.
Sorry but...
If you're really "missing warmth", then it means the VALUES of your crossover components (caps and/or coils and resistors) are sub-optimal (for your taste, at least), not the BRAND of your caps.
Any reasonably good film (e.g., MKP) cap of the correct value should NOT left you wanting for "warmth".
Marco.
If you're really "missing warmth", then it means the VALUES of your crossover components (caps and/or coils and resistors) are sub-optimal (for your taste, at least), not the BRAND of your caps.
Any reasonably good film (e.g., MKP) cap of the correct value should NOT left you wanting for "warmth".
Marco.
Expectation bias, exchanged surrounds and loudspeaker placement are a powerful combination to perceive sound quality change. Without before/after analysis, it is a little harder to understand what is going on.
I did not follow the rule of tuning by changing more than one variable at one time. I take all responsibility 😱
Headway last night:
1) I wanted to keep my speaker position in the same location so I could compare the before and after.
2) I wanted to put some hours of play time before I made any changes (I know this topic has been beaten like a dead horse)
3) Areas of change that influence my treated room are speaker placement, toe in and sliding sound panels behind the speakers.
I was pointed to David Ranada and used a few tracks from "Surround Spectacular" just to work on Imaging. To my surprise after additional toe in maximising the surround image I noticed the mid / high frequency balanced out much better tonaly. I put the treble back to center and continued to adjust speaker angle only.
Based on the above result could the axial roll off for my higher frequencies be less than before? With the small toe in I was getting a good hit at this level. Now if the roll off for the frequency I was missing is greater I would hear this tone at a lesser rate. The face of the speaker is now pointed more towards my seating position (just a few degrees) and the tonal volume in this area 104-108 hz has increased a bit.
The warmth is coming back and the surround spatial image is better than it ever has. I did move the sound panels out a smidge as well.
Can capacitors effect this?