I have 1% Relcap TFT teflons for RIAA caps, John Curl recommends them.
Relcap Polystyrene ( and MIT RTX) are a lot cheaper, but all are hard to get in 1% values especially if the cap values are not a common one, I had to custom order mine from Parts Connexion. Do not use silver mica.
I burn them infor 500 hours ( 2 weeks) before auditioning, in the right presmp they are wonderfull, smooth, detailed, but you have to have your power supply, resistors, and circuit topology all top notch before considering them., theres no sense in putting them in a $200 phono stage.
Relcap Polystyrene ( and MIT RTX) are a lot cheaper, but all are hard to get in 1% values especially if the cap values are not a common one, I had to custom order mine from Parts Connexion. Do not use silver mica.
I burn them infor 500 hours ( 2 weeks) before auditioning, in the right presmp they are wonderfull, smooth, detailed, but you have to have your power supply, resistors, and circuit topology all top notch before considering them., theres no sense in putting them in a $200 phono stage.
Polystyrene or anything other than ceramic or mica.
Components do not 'burn in' the bad design of schematic or your ears do!
5% are ideal your ears cannot detect anything more close tolerance.
Polyester are really nice;
Polyester Film Capacitors | RS Components
Components do not 'burn in' the bad design of schematic or your ears do!
5% are ideal your ears cannot detect anything more close tolerance.
Polyester are really nice;
Polyester Film Capacitors | RS Components
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My favourite. The Relcaps come in 2% but the Mit RTX are next to impossible to match.
Tefon or polystyrene/styroflex cap`s is on top for RIAA network.
BTW, one of Thorsten`s last RIAA preamp had Painton wirewound resistors (which are great, btw) and many Ansar MKP capacitors everywhere. In RIAA network, Ansar was bypassed with ERO MKP1837 (3.18e-3) and caramel (Sangamo ??) silver-mica (3.18e-4) equalization, to make a proper value.
Of course, capacitors should be around 1% tolerance.
You can put on the capacitors any way you want, but you'll quickly change them, I'm sure.
This is is pic of Thorsten last RIAA preamp.
Best diying.
BTW, one of Thorsten`s last RIAA preamp had Painton wirewound resistors (which are great, btw) and many Ansar MKP capacitors everywhere. In RIAA network, Ansar was bypassed with ERO MKP1837 (3.18e-3) and caramel (Sangamo ??) silver-mica (3.18e-4) equalization, to make a proper value.
Of course, capacitors should be around 1% tolerance.
You can put on the capacitors any way you want, but you'll quickly change them, I'm sure.
This is is pic of Thorsten last RIAA preamp.
Best diying.
Attachments
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F461BK104F630L KEMET | Mouser
F461BB333F630A KEMET | Mouser
This is what I could find after a long search. High enough voltage capability, 1% tolerances and polypropylene. I'm a little worried about the 1000 hour life-span.
Comments or further suggestions?
F461BB333F630A KEMET | Mouser
This is what I could find after a long search. High enough voltage capability, 1% tolerances and polypropylene. I'm a little worried about the 1000 hour life-span.
Comments or further suggestions?
Philips KS series 1% polystyrene.
Even though polystyrene/styroflex capacitors are no longer manufactured, the KS are still widely available as NOS on eBay, at reasonable costs. The only con I can see is the steel leads, but overall it's a very good compromise. In spite of what has been said, the dielectric does make a difference: stay away from polyester and ceramic.
Even though polystyrene/styroflex capacitors are no longer manufactured, the KS are still widely available as NOS on eBay, at reasonable costs. The only con I can see is the steel leads, but overall it's a very good compromise. In spite of what has been said, the dielectric does make a difference: stay away from polyester and ceramic.
I've had very good results upgrading the RIAA stages in two different Phono amps to Russian surplus military teflon capacitors.
It was reasonably inexpensive as the uf values are low the improvment in resolution and spatiality was quiet noticable. As has been mentioned depending on brand they can take around 200hrs plus to burn before they open up and come on song. You can speed this up with a burn in rig or just hook up a music player to the inpurt and leave on shuffle.
Some pics
Russian candy
Hand matched for closest values out of the 10
3 under 0.5% tolerance
3 1%-1.5%
2 2% - 2.5%
Two unused at 3.5% the capacitor tolerance rating was +/- 5%.
Installed
It was reasonably inexpensive as the uf values are low the improvment in resolution and spatiality was quiet noticable. As has been mentioned depending on brand they can take around 200hrs plus to burn before they open up and come on song. You can speed this up with a burn in rig or just hook up a music player to the inpurt and leave on shuffle.
Some pics
Russian candy
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Hand matched for closest values out of the 10
3 under 0.5% tolerance
3 1%-1.5%
2 2% - 2.5%
Two unused at 3.5% the capacitor tolerance rating was +/- 5%.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Installed
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Siemens Styroflex (either ps or pp) haven't been made since around 1980, far as I know.
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