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Capacitor Search - I Shouldn't Have - Doc Forgive The Bandwitth!

Posted by Grainger49 (A) on January 7, 2008 at 10:55:36

There has been much has been bantered about concerning the kick for the buck in capacitors in our equipment. When I started using “Designer” components the "finest" capacitor was the WonderCap, used extensively by Audio Research and many other makers of high end equipment. It is now called Wonder Infinicap. They, and most of the top contenders, are polypropylene film (PP) caps and are tight tolerance. At the same time, back when, there were TRW and GE manufactured PP caps

Since then there have been a few more entrants into the field. And there are quite a few more designer formulations, not just polypropylene, that are all loved by a number of us. When I joined the Bottlehead Forum some of the popular caps were Hovland, Clarity and Auricap.

So I thought I would do a pricing for a 2.0uF cap (or next highest value) at or above 200V (100V isn’t high enough for a Foreplay/Seduction). I’m not going to show shipping, just the price per cap if you buy two (Double for a pair). The prices are the lowest I cold find from my bookmarked sources. The URLs for the sources are below.

The list is mainly PP film with foil or metalized PP. Some do not say what the material is, but all have been mentioned in the Bulletin Board.

Teflon caps are another comparison. And what we refer to as "Oilers," that is, motor start/run caps are not included since they are not designer caps, they just sound good.

Audio Note Cu PIO 2.2uF@300V $84 (DHF)
Audio Note Silver foil 2.2uF@600V $1.122 (PCX)
Auricap 2.0@200V $14.50 (SC)
Cardas 2.2uF@600 $107.14 (SC)
Clarity (ICW) 2.2uF@160V $1.77 (DIY C)
Dynamicap 2uF@425V (electronics) $22.95 (PXC)
Dynamicap 2uF@310V (speaker?) $17.95 (PCX)
Dynamicap 2uF@210V (speaker?) $20.95 (SC)
GE Couldn’t find, but I can post a picture of one that came out of a DC drive from 1963.
Hovland 2.2@200V $21.15 (PCX)
Jantzen Crosscap 2.2uF@400V $2.10 (PE)
Jantzen Z-Standard 2.2uF@400V $2.48 (PE)
Jantzen Z-Superior 2.2uF@800V $14.32 (PE)
Jantzen Z-Silver 2.2uF@800V $28.96 (PE)
Jensen Aluminum foil 2.2@400V $33.05 (PCX)
Jensen Cu foil 2.2uF@100/200V $55.80 (PCX)
Jupiter Couldn’t find 2uF or above at a rating above 100V
Kimber 2uF@200V $10.26 (SC)
Multicap 2uF@200V $17.79 (PCX)
Mundorf Supreme Silver Oil 2uF@1200V $50.40 (SC/PCX)
Mundorf Supreme Silver Gold 2.2uF@1200V $70.85 (SC/PCX)
Mundorf M-Cap Supreme 2.3uF@800V $21.90 (PCX)
Mundorf M-Cap ZN 2.2@250V $22.30 (PCX)
Mundorf M-Cap 2.2uF@400V $3.92 (PCX)
Obbligato Aluminum Film 2.2uF@630V $12.25 (DHF)
Obbligato Premium Film Oil 2uF@630 $5.50 (DHF)
Relcap 2uF@200V $252.10 (PCX)
Solen (SCR) ? 2uF@200V $2.50 (MP)
Solen (SCR) PB 2uF@400V $2.27 (PCX)
Solen (SCR) SE 2uF@400V $16.47 (PCX)
Solen (SCR) SY 2.2uF@250V $14.80 (PCX)
Sonicap Gen 1 2uF@200V $7.40 (SC)
Sonicap Gen 2 & Platinum didn’t get to a 2uF value (SC)
TRW (now ASC) Couldn’t find
V-Cap (Oil) 2uF@250V $49.99 (V-Cap)
Wonder (Infinicap) 2.0uF@425V $19.95 (TNT)

AEC is Antique Electronic Supply: http://www.tubesandmore.com/
DHF is Diy HiFi Supply: http://www.diyhifisupply.com/diyhs_an_caps.htm
DIY C is DIY Cable: http://www.diycable.com/main/default.php
MP is Michael Percy: http://www.percyaudio.com/Catalog.pdf
PE is Parts Express: http://www.partsexpress.com/mfg/jantzen/jantzen.cfm#capacitors
PCX is Parts ConneXion: http://www.partsconnexion.com/partscomponents.php
SC is Soinccraft: http://www.soniccraft.com/index.htm
TNT is Tomorrow’s Research Today: http://www.trt-wonder.com/page2.html
V-Cap: http://v-cap.com/oilcapacitors.html

Feel free to give me a source for a lower price and to add specialty caps (not Teflon!). I will amend my post.

P.S. Buying two of each, without shipping, would cost $4,145.35. I'm not going to make THAT comparison!

Here is the "GE" cap, it is made by AEROVOX, it is PP and it came from a 1963 DC drive.

Now, would someone else give pricing and sources for Teflon caps?

"Remember, YOU are the only one who needs to like the sound of your system."

Grainger Morrison
There Is Only One (Grainger Morrison, it seems)

Edits: 01/07/08 01/07/08 01/07/08 01/12/08 01/12/08 03/26/08 07/13/08 07/13/08 11/07/09

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

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