Electrolytic bipolar capacitors in passive crossover?

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
So recently i opened up bluetooth speaker (aiwa exos 9) since something was ratling inside after one year of use, it was the plastic posts im now fixing and reinforcing them, but what i discover that it uses fairly decent class D amps TPA3118 from texas instruments, one chip for mids and high and one for dual voice coil sub, but on the crossover for mids and high there is bipolar electrolytic caps they work ofcourse but do i need to replace them with something like plastic film caps or electrolytic is good in passive crossover? or if i want to change em with better brand like ''nichicon'' should i use low esr or just normal bipolar caps :confused:
 
I think I would try replace them, if you have space, use plastic ones , if not, then nichicon for speaker network are great. As the other ones tried to warn you is the fact that the sound might change a little bit , but who knows? maybe you will like it more .
 
You could add a bit of resistance in series with a film cap - or if there's already a resistor in series, you could increase the value.
Is there just a single cap on the tweeter? Or something more complicated?
no its just 3 electrolytic caps and one long either resistor or inductor, cant see its value since its wrapped in heatshrink but, on pcb says L1 also does the wires matter or not cuz they dont look like copper wires 20awg or they are platted with something silverish color.... the caps say Yontex on them, on main pcb is STONE.... i know some very cheap speakers use one electrolytic cap on tweeter terminals, its not like that...fun fact caps are glued with hot glue on the bottom lol :D speaker inside - Zippyshare.com - IMG_20181018_193804.jpg it has acoustically sealed chambers for midrange drivers , crossover top view Zippyshare.com - IMG_20181030_164603.jpg , crossover bottom pcb tracks view - Zippyshare.com - IMG_20181030_164638.jpg top left wires go for tweeter, bottom left goes for midrange right side wires is input
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
 
Last edited:
no its just 3 electrolytic caps and one long either resistor or inductor, cant see its value since its wrapped in heatshrink but, on pcb says L1 also does the wires matter or not cuz they dont look like copper wires 20awg or they are platted with something silverish color.
L1 means it is an inductor (coil). The wires don't matter (they are tin plated copper).

P.S. There is no need to change crossover electrolytics unless they are VERY old.

You are very unlikely to hear any difference in doing so in this level of equipment.
 
What a funky way to protect the internal wires! With all the foam around them. Never seen that before. Also i don't think these speakers are going to be transformed by putting in better / other caps.
i think its not for protection its to stop them from rattling inside since 6.5'' sub really moves that box, behind sub speaker on the magnet is breathing hole, behind sub magnet is polyester sheet (same as pillows use) to fake ''that its bigger box'' for speaker and behind that sheet is port (since its ported box), dunno why aiwa did it like this but i put together everything as it was and on full volume you can really feel air coming out from the port, even its going in sideways not straight so air comes thru that polyester sheet out the port which sits sideways :hphones:
 
L1 means it is an inductor (coil). The wires don't matter (they are tin plated copper).

P.S. There is no need to change crossover electrolytics unless they are VERY old.

You are very unlikely to hear any difference in doing so in this level of equipment.
i might do hear difference in high's if i replace electrolytic with film capacitor since high's are somehow muted they sound nearly same as mid's do, there is no that tssss or ts ts ts sound when they play, like not high enough, i mean its like its in the 14khz range or bit above, even if it will sound the same atleast i know nichicon will last longer :) also speaker has aptX codec built in or crs - cd quality audio is guaranteed since my phone also has aptX codec and my sennheisser hd 4.40bt headphones ''this level of equipment'' means nothing to me, any equipment which i own is important to me and how i can improve it still it says on aiwa's page
40Hz-20KHz Frequency Response
 
Last edited:
Sonyzz, was the treble OK when the unit was new, or has it always sounded dull?

Could it be that the tweeters have been overloaded by turning the volume up to eleven? :)

I really don't think the capacitors are to blame for your lack of treble. :dunno:

By saying "this level of equipment" I meant no disrespect to your unit, but was merely pointing out that any differences between crossover capacitors are only likely to be audible via expensive high end audio equipment and expensive replacement capacitors - like these:

Mundorf M-Cap Supreme Capacitors
 
Sonyzz, was the treble OK when the unit was new, or has it always sounded dull?

Could it be that the tweeters have been overloaded by turning the volume up to eleven? :)

I really don't think the capacitors are to blame for your lack of treble. :dunno:

By saying "this level of equipment" I meant no disrespect to your unit, but was merely pointing out that any differences between crossover capacitors are only likely to be audible via expensive high end audio equipment and expensive replacement capacitors - like these:

Mundorf M-Cap Supreme Capacitors
Maybe my hearing is dull lol, they sound ok, i dont think they been overloaded since everything is stock original, each wire be it two going to crossover or wires for dual coil sub has large chunky ferrite bead on the start of the wires just beside connector for connecting to amplifier...i asked my friend which knows way more than me and he said its good way to filter out big unwanted noises comming from class D amp with two tiny chips ''TPA3118'' one for mid and high and one for dual coil sub by changing caps i meant that i was always told for passive crossover - electrolytic caps are the worst, even when i built simple crossover myself i used two inductors and two film caps:) here is fixed and put back together YouTube my old xperia z2 which i filmed with records audio better than most phones but not the best as expensive cameras or mics do :D and here is how it sounds recorded by professional youtuber YouTube
 
Last edited:
Your video certainly makes it clear that you like a lot of treble played at high volume! :yell:

Obviously I'm not going to persuade you to leave those electrolytics alone!

Just be sure to make the work worthwhile by choosing good quality polypropylene capacitors.

Hope you will let us know how the modification turns out. Have fun! :cheerful:
 
Your video certainly makes it clear that you like a lot of treble played at high volume! :yell:

Obviously I'm not going to persuade you to leave those electrolytics alone!

Just be sure to make the work worthwhile by choosing good quality polypropylene capacitors.

Hope you will let us know how the modification turns out. Have fun! :cheerful:
but first i do plastic side walls with polyfil, my video shows how loud is speaker and how xperia z2 could not handle it even with mic gain set to medium (for small party or conversation) i mean the speaker itself doesn't distort like you see in other youtube videos about exos 9, what distorted is my xperia z2 mic :) speaker is with stock components
 
L1 means it is an inductor (coil). The wires don't matter (they are tin plated copper).

P.S. There is no need to change crossover electrolytics unless they are VERY old.

You are very unlikely to hear any difference in doing so in this level of equipment.
it also could be CCA - copper clad aluminum wires used in cheaper audio equipment like we know aluminum has lower conductivity than copper, so question would be does changing that CCA 0.5mm² cables to OFC 0.4mm² will make a big difference i mean like will that ofc cable fail because of 0.1mm² less than CCA, also i've read online that CCA cable needs to be bigger than OFC cable for example 8 gauge OFC cable can hold same ammount of wattage like 10 gauge CCA :confused:
 
it also could be CCA
It 'could' be CCA? There's little point in discussing this unless you know for sure it is CCA. If keen, you could cut the wire to see what it looks like in cross section.

Are you aware that resistance also depends on the length of the wire? These internal wires are so short that, regardless of material or thickness, they will have negligible resistance.

I suggest you compare resistances, taking ALL influencing factors into account, before making unnecessary changes to the wiring.
 
It 'could' be CCA? There's little point in discussing this unless you know for sure it is CCA. If keen, you could cut the wire to see what it looks like in cross section.

Are you aware that resistance also depends on the length of the wire? These internal wires are so short that, regardless of material or thickness, they will have negligible resistance.

I suggest you compare resistances, taking ALL influencing factors into account, before making unnecessary changes to the wiring.
will try that when ofc cable arrives :) also will see if its copper or cca and thank you for being patient with my stupid questions ;)
 
Sorry if I sounded offhand. I don't think your questions are stupid. You are knowledgeable about some factors that may be important, but also should be aware of the full picture.

Sometimes making changes produce such minor differences that the task is not worthwhile. However, this is diyaudio and you can achieve satisfaction through experimentation.

I could easily tell you what you seem to want to hear - i.e. replace all the electrolytic capacitors with polypropylenes and replace all internal wiring with the thickest and most conductive you can find. However, I don't think you would benefit much if I did so. :)
 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.