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Re: V-Cap experience?

Posted by A.J. (A) on January 16, 2007 at 09:12:24

In Reply to: V-Cap experience? posted by Srajan Ebaen on January 16, 2007 at 02:43:29:

I have a tube amp (push-pull) which uses 2 caps in the signal path on each channel (4 caps total) I've made acquaintance with the manufacturer and we've been trying several cap types in those positions. V-Caps were used in 2 steps, first we replaced one pair (one cap/channel) and weeks later the other pair, after the first was fully broken-in.

IME the V-Caps brand new don't sound balanced, not harsh or bright either, but they're quite "regular" on the midrange and show a curious "extended echo" effect that some may take for "outstanding detail", which goes disappearing with time. After about 200 hours, they seem to be "right in", but that's an illusion, you start to experience "bass disbalance" which is something like mid-bass goes away and you start getting a very extended and solid bottom end. Then for the next 200 hours, things go steadily and quite slowly going into place and it's not after 500 or more hours that the caps are actually spot in with a balanced frequency response, correct detail level and the best by large mid-bass that I know of, in the proportion a cap in the signal path can influence it. Probably you need all that time to get the upper-midrange sounding smooth and pure.

The second pair of V-Caps was pre-burn-in into a machine that the manufacturer designed. This saved the "stormy" time that happens in between the 200-500 hours term and the initial "hyper-echoic" sound. The caps sounded more balanced right from installed, but it took well 200 hours to get again a pure midrange and a balanced bass from bottom to mid-range.

Of course I'm sure this can be completely different depending we speak of tube amps, SS amps, push-pull or SET designs, and the places of the circuit the caps work into. Maybe in other kind of gear results and break-in impressions are different.

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