Cap suggestions

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I've got speakers that are over 25 year old, Heybrook Sextets that need the caps changing and a Dark Voice 336 that comes with 3 x 10uF Chinese polyester output caps per channel.

To give me greater leeway with h/phones I'd like to replace with 100uF caps per channel. 100V caps have been successfully used as replacements.

The Heybrooks are a 3 way and I've got the tweeter and bass covered, the mid uses 2 x 60uF Alcaps and a 4.7uF ICW. I want to lower the value for the mids by 20uF so I'm looking for a value of 100uF. I have the 4.7uF covered with a K73-16.

The x/over caps can be as low as 63V but as i need 100V for the D/V I might as well use the same value for the Heybrooks.

Should i stay with bipolars or use polarised? Polyprops would be very expensive and big, not a problem with the speakers but certainly with the D/V. Also is it better to use a single cap rather than 2 caps. In both applications sonics are important, suggestions please.
 
http://www.nichicon.co.jp/english/products/pdfs/e-uvp.pdf

These are bipolar and available in your required voltage.

100uf per side in polypropylene would likely be huge and not cost effective. I wouldn’t feel it necessary.... and I’m known to go overboard for no sensible reason. Your mileage / sanity level may vary.

If you absolutely must, ASC or Genteq oil caps or Audyn or Dayton films from parts express will likely provide that value at the most reasonable cost.

Note if those two caps are in series or in parallel.

If they are in series you are at 30uf, in which case a film cap doesn’t sound so crazy.
 
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There isn't much room to change the caps in the Darkvoice 336 - you would need to add a base extension to fit anything much bigger than the existing ones.

And, while you've got the 336 open, consider replacing all the electro caps - I used BHCs and Epcos that gave a significant improvement in the sound.
 
James,
the o/put caps are 3 x Chinese polyester per side, I plan to use a single bipolar 100uF/100V cap in their place and almost certainly bypass with a 1600 or 1000V K73-16 small value cap as i said in an earlier post, so space will not be a problem. I agree about the other caps. Did you replace the power resistors, they get very hot. I replaced them with Mills.

I disabled the preamp out circuit, did you keep yours and have you used it?
 
Yes, fitted some Arcol power resistors and mounted them on some heatsinks - a bit awkward but works well - no to the preamp use. Replaced the Poly caps with some Panasonics but not much change - replaced the small resistors with Phillips/Roe/Beyschlaggs and definitely a clearer sound
 
FWIW

In my experience in parts substitution in crossovers I’ve noticed more qualitative improvement through subbing higher quality resistors over fancier capacitors. This would seem counterintuitive based upon the volume of conversations here on one versus the other.

This has been especially true for me with the lower wattage resistors that the previous post touched on

Likely has to do with power handling, moisture resistance, stability, etc. but I have no definitive data on the subject.

Also manufacturers I think notice that consumers pay more attention to capacitors and so the quality of them is generally unjustly weighted over resistors.

My preference is to use the 5W Mills in these applications or Vishay heat sinked resistors for greater power handling, in concert with CMF/RN or comparable with a strong moisture resistant epoxy coating and aggressively derated.
 
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James,
I think that these o/put caps are as crucial as using quality o/put valves. It's a great shame not being able to use K73-16 caps here, why not try to bypass the Panasonics with the K73-16 caps i mentioned?

Apart from one seller in Russia who is asking a lot for just 2 x 0.01 uF caps the other values are for 10 x and one with one seller, a whole box of 108:eek:. Whichever value i choose I will certainly be able to send you 2, 1 per channel if you like.

spaceistheplace - totally agree about resistors, both signal and power. I replaced the first resistors in the D/V with Z foils. I am going to replace the existing bass resistors with 12 W mills and there is a resistor before the caps in the tweeter, a 0.25W it will be replaced with a 1W.

The one value that seems to make a big difference with the Heybrook Sextets is the mid and here I am lucky as I can add or subtract according to what I hear.
 
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