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Coupling Caps - Cary 300sei

71.62.34.73
Posted on August 17, 2015 at 09:01:35
Devils Advocate
 Greetings,

I'm getting ready to send my 300sei back to Cary for a routine check-up, and while it's on the bench I figure it would be a good time for them perform some upgrades.

Cary offers replacement coupling caps in a couple of options: Jensen Copper Foil/Paper-in-Oil/Pure Silver and ClarityCap MR.

Question, for those who have first hand experience with these 2 caps, what were your impressions, was the change worthwhile or was the change just different but not really what you would consider an improvement?

Basically I'm trying to decide if I should just leave the amp stock or if it's worthwhile to have Cary swap out the caps.

Also thinking about having Cary install Hexfred rectifiers, Grayhill switch and Kimber Kable wiring at same time.

Thanks a bunch.

 

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RE: Coupling Caps - Cary 300sei, posted on August 17, 2015 at 09:40:09
SETdude
Audiophile

Posts: 3944
Joined: January 20, 2000
 Do you like the sound of the amp as is? If not tell us what you don't like that rolling an input tube won't fix. That may be all you need to do.

Changing caps is like adding spice to food. We have preferences and there is no right or wrong just what works for you in your system. :-)

 

RE: Coupling Caps - Cary 300sei, posted on August 17, 2015 at 10:07:15
Caucasian Blackplate
Industry Professional

Posts: 8313
Location: Seattle
Joined: June 18, 2004
 What's in your amplifiers now? I've had plenty of Jensen coupling caps fail, as have others, so you'll have to decide whether the sonic merits of the capacitor warrant the reliability issues that may follow.

Why would you want to use Hexfreds? Schottky diodes have no reverse recovery, and are not overwhelmingly expensive.

What is the current selector switch? Is it working properly?

If you don't know what's in your amplifier already, it will be difficult to say if you're actually getting an upgrade.

 

Great caps already, posted on August 17, 2015 at 10:07:34
Frihed89
Audiophile

Posts: 15703
Location: Copenhagen
Joined: March 21, 2005
 Those are Russian K-40s. It's hard to find a more engaging coupling capacitor. I would not pay that much extra for the Jansens. I don't know about the clarity caps. You don't have a tube rectified PS. I'm not sure (and not knowledgeable) about the benefits of changing hexefreds. These items don't generally cost a lot, but you may have to pay a lot.

 

RE: Coupling Caps - Cary 300sei, posted on August 17, 2015 at 10:33:13
SETdude
Audiophile

Posts: 3944
Joined: January 20, 2000
 The issues with Jensen caps was rectified long ago.

 

RE: Great caps already, posted on August 17, 2015 at 10:34:38
SETdude
Audiophile

Posts: 3944
Joined: January 20, 2000
 His amp is from 1994 and likely has Cary Audio 1 caps that may be Vitamin Q's.

 

RE: Coupling Caps - Cary 300sei, posted on August 17, 2015 at 11:11:01
Devils Advocate
 Amp sounds good (real good), no complaints except there seems to be a bit of suck-out in the high bass/low midrange region, nothing that I can really put a finger on other than it seems that it sounds a bit muted compared to how I'm used to hearing on albums that I'm familiar with. Maybe it's because I've listened only on SS gear all these years and need to acclimate to tubes? Also getting a lot of stridency (sibilance), but that is probably just room reflection. I tried rolling tubes but that didn't help, suck-out & sizzle are still there regardless.

The reason why I'm thinking about swapping out the coupling caps is mostly 'ok, if it sounds this good with the stock caps in there how much better could it sound with the Jensens or Clarity caps'.

Listening to music thru the 300sei has been an eye opener and I'm enjoying it very much, playing albums that I've listened to many times over the years are like a whole new experience, I'm hearing nuances that I didn't know were there before, it's kinda like rediscovering your music collection all over again, fun!

 

RE: Coupling Caps - Cary 300sei, posted on August 17, 2015 at 11:22:41
SETdude
Audiophile

Posts: 3944
Joined: January 20, 2000
 If you can, open the amp up and look at the coupling caps. There should be two of them and see if you can read what is on them. You can't decide where you want to go if you don't know what is there now. Is the bass muddy or boomy? Also, consider that your tubes are not settled in yet. That could be the source of the stridency.

 

RE: Coupling Caps - Cary 300sei, posted on August 17, 2015 at 13:12:11
Devils Advocate
 Audio 1 caps.












 

RE: Coupling Caps - Cary 300sei, posted on August 17, 2015 at 13:59:08
Salectric
Audiophile

Posts: 1358
Location: East Coast
Joined: February 23, 2003
 The Audio-1 caps in there are quite colored in my opinion. A number of years ago I had a set of Cary 40M amps (push-pull EL-34) and I tried a lot of coupling caps based on Cary's suggestions. These included Vitamin Q (the stock caps), Audio-1, Jensen, and Hovland. The Vit Q, Jensen and Hovland caps each had their favorable and not-so-favorable qualities, but Audio-1 caps didn't do anything for me. They were boomy in the upper bass, had poor deep bass, and generally had an opaque, soft, murky sound throughout. I suspect you will find just about any decent cap will give a major improvement in sound quality.

If you have Cary make the change, you should also consider upgrading the output binding posts. My Cary amps came with generic plastic binding posts. Replacing them with WBT Mid-Line posts (as recommended by Kirk at Cary) was another significant improvement.

 

RE: Coupling Caps - Cary 300sei, posted on August 17, 2015 at 14:21:53
Devils Advocate
 Caps are stock Audio 1.

Cary recommends upgrading to Hexfreds.

Stock selector switch which Cary says are prone to failure thus upgrade to Grayhill.

 

RE: Coupling Caps - Cary 300sei, posted on August 17, 2015 at 16:12:51
SETdude
Audiophile

Posts: 3944
Joined: January 20, 2000
 They are paper in oil caps but I'm not sure who made them. To change them requires a little soldering that you could easily do. I won't suggest a replacement at this time because I think that is a personal decision. You are new to tubes and your tubes have not settled in so to change caps at this time would be a roll of the dice. Google capacitor reviews and you will find a lot of information that should be taken with a large block of salt. Read them and you should get a feel for the basic sonic character. Personally, I change capacitors after I have had an amp a while. Some combinations of caps and tubes in a given circuit are truly magical but it takes a little experimentation to find out what works for you in your system. I feel it is worth the effort. Also, the most expensive caps may not sound the best to you and what you have now may be just fine.

My 2 cents.

 

RE: Coupling Caps - Cary 300sei, posted on August 17, 2015 at 16:36:09
Devils Advocate
 Good advice, and you're right it would be easy swapping them out, I could do it myself and save $$$, and experimenting with different brands might actually be kinda fun too.

 

RE: Great caps already, posted on August 17, 2015 at 22:18:05
drlowmu
Manufacturer

Posts: 9730
Location: East of Kansas City
Joined: January 10, 2005
 Hi Frihed89,

K40 Russians are NOT so wonderful in good single ended amps. I just took out a K40 pair as part of a multiple cap bunch, a bypass across an Rk, 0.22 uF, and the same-value film replacement was TONS better.

I DO think K40s are "OK" if you mod vintage gear, and do Push Pull, but don't confuse its use for GOOD SE - it don't cut it for the better SE amps IMHO, and in tonight's A-B experience.

Its very average sounding to me. I do NOT like SSG silver Mica Russians either, even as in bypass duty, dark colored in a well-done SE amp.

Have fun, I am - with the latest mods of my SE DC stereo 45 amp.

Jeff Medwin

 

We have different ears, posted on August 18, 2015 at 01:19:10
Frihed89
Audiophile

Posts: 15703
Location: Copenhagen
Joined: March 21, 2005
 Bypassed, it sounds great to me on a cap coupled SET for the money. Lacks some dynamics, though.

 

RE: Coupling Caps - Cary 300sei, posted on August 18, 2015 at 03:05:54
SETdude
Audiophile

Posts: 3944
Joined: January 20, 2000
 Absolutely. :-)

 

RE: Great caps already, posted on August 18, 2015 at 03:47:38
Frihed89
Audiophile

Posts: 15703
Location: Copenhagen
Joined: March 21, 2005
 I was looking at photo on the net that wasn't high resolution. The caps on the output tubes were longish and silver, so I guessed after comparing them with the ones I have.

 

Not really, we are both Human Species, posted on August 18, 2015 at 08:34:29
drlowmu
Manufacturer

Posts: 9730
Location: East of Kansas City
Joined: January 10, 2005
 Lack or lessening of dynamics is unacceptable to me in SE amps.

Jeff

 

OK, our brains like different things., posted on August 18, 2015 at 10:58:18
Frihed89
Audiophile

Posts: 15703
Location: Copenhagen
Joined: March 21, 2005
 They aren't as bad as you make them sound. There are always tradeoffs.

 

then, of course... you use only horns, Jeff-nT, posted on August 21, 2015 at 05:54:12
Cleantimestream
Audiophile

Posts: 7550
Location: Kentucky
Joined: June 30, 2005
 !
The Mind has No Firewall~ U.S. Army War College.

 

RE: Coupling Caps - Cary 300sei, posted on March 20, 2022 at 21:00:08
jazzman5
Audiophile

Posts: 18
Joined: July 13, 2002
 I don't know if you still own a 300SEI, given your post is 7 years old. If you still do, I can tell you that Stuart Jones (President of Chapman Audio Systems) totally transformed and improved mine with... DH Labs RCA sockets, Cardas binding posts, Furutech IEC Inlet, Clarity capacitors, and Duelund Silver Bypass capacitors. All contacts treated with Furutech Nano Liquid.

Before the mod, I already had... Synergistic Research Orange Fuse, Hexfreds, Grayhill selector switch, Bybee IQSE, 1 NOS HYTRON Made in USA 6sn7 (preamp tube), 2 NOS Sylvania Bad Boy (driver tubes), 2 Genalex Golden Lion 300B (power tubes).

 

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