|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
75.109.57.245
paper dielectric caps might be preferred in some systems (maybe "solid scrape" ?) What are they doing to the signal? How well do they mix in parallel with other types in your crossovers ?
Karlson Evangelist
Follow Ups:
oil filled caps paper or plastic seem to soften sharp leading edge transients of the signal then they blossom. The oil provides damping and makes them sound more composed some might say warmer sounding. Some non oil filled plastic caps can sound very sterile and sharp.
moray james
Soften the signal in any way, shape or form-- TRASH IT!
"Warmer" sounding? TRASH IT!
"provides damping"? TRASH THE !@#$!@#$!@#$!@# THING!
"Sterile and sharp"? COULD BE your electronics, not the
caps, or it could be CHEAP capacitor construction.....
These are all unusable (for music) characteristics,
and is why people lust after better/boutique capacitors.
Fortunately, mostly the Germans are finally mass-producing
some lesser-cost items that actually work..... and
do THE WHOLE THING (musically) somewhat right...
Forget about NOS or Military unless you intend to leave-out
parts of music in an attempt to please yourself (or others)
rather than have the real thing musically.
-Dennis-
My experience if very different from this. I pulled paper caps out of a number of vintage tube amps and replaced them with film caps of various materials, and in all cases found the amps to sound sterile and boring afterward. It didn't make sense, since even in the early 80s when I was doing this, the prevailing wisdom in audiophile circles was (and continues to be) that paper caps are bad.
To figure out whether paper or plastic dielectric caps changed the sound less, I built a D.C.-coupled phono preamp. I compared full DC coupling to coupling with paper caps and film caps. I was very surprised to find that I could not tell the difference between DC coupling and paper cap coupling. When I put the film caps in, the sound changed in the same way that I experienced with all of those vintage power amps.
Subjectively, this issue is closed for me.
As to why this is? Hell if I know. Some of my Japanese audio friends maintain that the old paper caps have much better mechanical damping, which implies that there could be a mild piezoelectric effect that causes non-harmonically-related distortion. If this is true, it could be extremely low in level and still be detectable by the ear.
A friend in Japan had a capacitor manufacturer there try to reverse engineer a Sprague Black Beauty "Difilm" (paper/mylar hybrid) capacitor and recreate it. They were able to come up with a dielectric recipe which they felt was comparable to the original. However, they scratched their heads over how Sprague was able to wind the cap so tightly. Even in 2014, they could not conceive of a way to do it.
Last year, I came across a box of NOS Black Beauties on eBay. I bought them and found a marketing blurb on the box stating that they went to great lengths to achieve exceptionally tight windings, thereby resulting in a superior capacitor. What they meant by superior is anybody's guess.
It could be that what I like about those old Spragues has more to do with the construction techniques than the dielectric, or it could be a combination of the two.
But again, subjectively, it's a no brainer. I avoid film caps like the Bubonic Plague.
Is it possible that a cap that sounds soft, compared to other caps, only does so because it's not adding high frequency energy (caused by non-damped ringing) that the other caps are?I say the way to hear this for yourself is to place a cap in the signal path where you don't need a cap.
Does the cap (vs. no cap) change the sound?
Do damped caps (oil caps) sound more like a piece of wire compared to dry film caps?
If you have no point of reference then you can be fooled and the cap that is getting it right might sound soft to you while the cap that is adding high frequency energy might sound "clear and bright" to you and you think that's right because it "pleases" you but, in fact, it's totally wrong.
In your post you show no method for determining the true difference between the sound of capacitors. You just make pronouncements.
That gets old Dennis.
Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
Edits: 05/01/17
.
"Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems to characterise our age." Albert Einstein
OK. I'll bite. What are some of the German Caps that are better? I assume that they are better as they are "neutral?" but how would do we define that and however it is that they are better.
Dennis uses Mundorf in his amps, probably in wild positions like cathode bypass, unless I'm mistaken. Pretty cool really.
I've not had success with Mundorf to date and sing with the chorus that they emphasise treble slightly; they did not sound as I expected. They probably work very well in otherwise rolled off, warm-sounding systems.
I'll be trying ClarityCap (C)MR and AuriCap XO metalised film when I can't afford or fit true foils.
Yes, I know, this stuff is highly subjective and dependent on one's perspective...
Cheers,
91.
"Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems to characterise our age." Albert Einstein
I suppose Mundorf and Audyn are the first that come to mind.
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: