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Are all Vitamin Q the same?

205.188.116.141
Posted on March 23, 2008 at 05:50:31
Neff


 
If a capacitor has Vitamin Q print on the can, all the caps sound the same in circuit. Right?

 

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RE: Are all Vitamin Q the same?, posted on March 23, 2008 at 08:02:20
iamthanik@hotmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 120
Joined: May 9, 2005
 I do not think so. From my experience, the same brand capacitors with difference voltage rating has differece sound. Moreover, Vitamin Q has many code; 196P, 91P, CP08A and etc.
Each codes may have difference design or type which determine the sound signature.

 

RE: Are all Vitamin Q the same?, posted on March 23, 2008 at 08:24:53
Michael Samra
Dealer

Posts: 36118
Location: saginaw michigan
Joined: January 30, 2005
 Ima
I think what neff is asking do the all VIT Qs basically have that same signature sound and I would say the answer is yes.We know that the vitamin Q is a very high quality paper in oil capacitor..Like any cap we know that voltage differences have an effect but if he is asking about similar voltages,they are probably pretty close sonically.

 

RE: Are all Vitamin Q the same?, posted on March 23, 2008 at 08:31:54
Michael Samra
Dealer

Posts: 36118
Location: saginaw michigan
Joined: January 30, 2005
 IMA
I think what he is asking is do all vitamin Q caps have that same signature sound and I would say yes..Like any cap tho, using a higher voltage cap than called for will many times net a sonic improvement but assuming he gets the same voltage cap,I would say they will be pretty close.

 

Thanks Michael, posted on March 23, 2008 at 08:38:37
Neff


 
Bad news buying something and it is not the 'real item'. I read many of your posts in the AA archives. The most accurate capacitor is not necessarily the best capacitor sonically for music reproduction and you have been stating this for a long time.

 

RE: Thanks Michael, posted on March 23, 2008 at 10:26:04
Michael Samra
Dealer

Posts: 36118
Location: saginaw michigan
Joined: January 30, 2005
 Neff
What I really mean to say is the fastest capacitor isn't necessarily the most accurate for music reproduction.A neutral capacitor shouldn't produce a sound but they should let the existing quality of a well designed tube amp come thru.
The vitaman Qs and the k40s are very close to being the most neutral caps made and most of the time people put them in and are in total euphoria.It isn't the pio cap making this music,its just letting it come thru without damaging it with bad characteristics that you get from plastic caps.
Some people are in confusion at times when I talk about how good the pios are and they wonder gee,some of the polys are pretty expensive and pretty good also..Thats true on many conventional speakers but when you get into the highly accurate and revealing speakers like the ESLs and Maggies and even many Horns,the plastic caps produce a thin tizzie and more compressed sound by comparison and also lacks musical body..People that own these types of speakers know exactly what I'm talking about because our speakers are very finicky when it comes to components.If I didn't have ESLs,I doubt we would even be having this conversation because I would still be using Hovlands or Solen film and foils,the white solens that is and I'm sure I would be content.
When I first was heard the Jensen pios in my VTA dynaco st70,I couldn't believe that these paper caps could be that much better.I proceeded to try the caps in my other amps to make sure it wasn't a fluke..I got the same sonic result and after that it became like a heroin addiction because I kept wanting to do all my amps in jensen pios but I couldn't afford that so I started going on ebay buying pio caps for 10 cents on the dollar such as the k40 and even vit Qs and now these were better than the Jensens.
Thats when I realized that the super power militarys have unlimited amounts of resources and I don't think any cap I could buy on the retail market for 120usd or less could compete with the VIT Q or K40 sonically.

 

RE: Are all Vitamin Q the same?, posted on March 23, 2008 at 11:45:20
diamondsouled
 There will be some variation between VitQs which are case to ground types such as 186P-81P and the regular axial types 196P-91P. The size varies between these types so there will be a slight difference between caps of the same value. As Michael notes though Vit Qs do have a tonal signature of their own. Whether this is true of their larger bathtub and motorrun type caps I'm not sure.

Also I have Vitamin Q caps that are labeled Sprague Vitamin Q 196P22496S4 and some that are labeled CSC Vitamin Q 196P22496S4. I assume that this was after Sprague had been sold but before Dearborn eventually purchased their assets.

Lar

 

History of Sprague-Dearborn, posted on March 23, 2008 at 11:52:24
diamondsouled
 Actually the history of Sprague-Dearborn is a bit more convoluted than I remembered:

The business was founded in 1952 in Chicago as Dearborn Electronics Laboratories, a capacitor manufacturer, specializing in film and paper capacitors. We moved to Florida in 1959 and were purchased by Sprague Electronics in 1964.

In 1992 a group of former managers purchased Sprague Electronics and the name changed to Dearborn Electronics.

 

CSC = Commonwealth Sprague Capacitor Inc., posted on March 23, 2008 at 12:26:12
diamondsouled
 Apparently CSC stands for Commonwealth Sprague Capacitor.

Anyone have any more info about these Sprague company name changes?

Lar

 

RE: Are all Vitamin Q the same?, posted on April 5, 2017 at 02:45:05
DannyV
Audiophile

Posts: 5
Joined: April 4, 2017
 Hi everyone,
I just bought a Sprague Vitamin Q capacitor on eBay. The online photo showed "Sprague" Vitamin Q on the capacitor. The listing title said "Sprague" Vitamin Q. But, what I actually received doesn't say Sprague anywhere on it. It says "CSC" Vitamin Q. I learned from this thread that "CSC" stands for Commonwealth Sprague Capacitor. I think this might be a name change that occurred either after Sprague was bought by another company, or took over another company. In most instances, when a company gets bought out, quality goes out the window in order to make the company more profitable. For example a Fender Twin Reverb amplier that was made before CBS bought them out in 1965, back when the company was called Fender Electric Instruments, is going to sound a lot different after CBS bought them out and changed their name to Fender Musical Instruments.

Does anyone know if a Sprague Vitamin Q sounds/is the exact same thing as a CSC Vitamin Q? I'm doing an upgrade on a very expensive Gretch White Falcon, and I really wanted to put the real deal in there. Maybe CSC IS the real deal? I just don't know.

Thanks for your input!

 

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