ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
For the practicalities I buy caps at the store that is avaliable in my town, ELFA that is owned by the Swiss Dislectric.They have usually daily storage prioritated of values.When I start to read about caps, I realize that lifetime of the caps is what is reasonable to put into consideration for me to get my hobby going not too slow ,considering my own life complexies and what is avaliable for quick delivery of capsIf I would be too choosy, my hobby would be just too slow in awaiting of deliveries.I understood by reading that Jamicon is chinese crap to stay away from, less then 1000 hours lifespan,and that japanese caps are genereally better when it comes to life hours Today I came home with Elna caps , I just bought them based on that I know it is ahistorical brand.What opinions do you have on caps and choices ? I do feel a biut confused sometimes.What I have read on the net Panansonic, NCC and NIC are generally good.
My re-capped M75 are my precious diamonds.
Not all japanese caps are good.Not all chinese caps are bad.Not all Panasonic caps are Panasonic, many are counterfeit - also from "trusted" suppliers.
Not all "good" caps are good in any position.
It's a jungle.
Martin
Hi,
Before I stepped into the world of B&O I counted myself to the upper world of HighEnd audiophiles and had some pretty nice sounding equipment to. But a decennia ago I asked myself a question (Being so buzzy with tuning and tweaking the whole time my sound equipment in my own private listening space): What am I doing? Do you listen to the music or do you listen to sound equipment? it was pretty obvious, music became second.
Memories went back to the seventies when I first heard a transistor radio at the home of my architect who helped to build my house, it was the Beolit 707. I never forgot that enjoyable sound from this radio, playing in the background on his desk. That was the reason why I entered the world of B&O, and started again to enjoy and listen to music, this time together with my whole family.
I am not doing projects with B&O equipment, as you do (I don’t wanna fall back in my old habit ). But sometimes I am repairing an amplifier or upgrade some loudspeakers, build a power supply…. for family or friends. So what I want to say is, I have some pretty decent experience in building, using and comparing components.
But watch out, sometimes components are like snakeoil, and the hardest thing is to find the exact component to match the project your working on. It makes no sense to put in a esoteric costing capacitor in a circuit if the complete layout is build on low budget. This would only bring down your funds.
To answer your question:
I have some good experience with Elna Silmic II and Cerafine capacitors for the signal path, I found the Silmics II to be quite natural and inoffensive, whilst the Cerafines accentuate details in the music slightly and are a bit brighter. Both are electrolytic capacitors. I always use Silmics in preamps, tone amps and other signal path locations. I get the best results with these.
There are off course more and better capacitors, as is Black Gate and so on… but again all depends on budget and quality of the rest of the chain. Don’t forget to judge the sound of the upgraded parts only after about a 100 hours burn in time, capacitors always need some time to bed in. For loudspeaker projects, I’m preferring Audyn MKP-plus or Mundorf Supreme polypropelyne caps.
I’m pretty sure those capacitors will be hard to find at your local dealer, so here are some links where I buy my parts:
- http://www.audiophonics.fr
- http://www.hificollective.co.uk
- http://www.rumoh.eu
Enjoy the music, Chris
"Believe nothing you read and only half of what you see, let your ears tell you the truth."
Absolutely critical to buy from Authorized Distributors only, otherwise, as Martin said, you end up buying counterfeits.
Many years ago, I tried almost everything that the Forums were trumpeting. Now, many wiser years later, I can safely conclude that you can find all you need within 2 or 3 manufacturers.
My primary choices are the 105-degree caps from Nichicon and Panasonic. They cover just about everything you'll ever need. Nichicon has 2 new Audio lines now - KT and KA. Just as good as Elna.
For lower values, I use Wima MKS2 - excellent in the signal path.
Menahem
Menehem, and all of you, thanks.
My thoughts are to invest in a bigger collection, like this.http://www.conrad.se/AXIAL-ELECTROLYTIC-CAPACITOR-%25PANASONIC.htm?websale8=conrad-swe&pi=433013&ci=SHOP_AREA_17434_0245811 .I have started to get frustrated by the manual ordering, as it often destroys an nice evening when I open a new B&O and have no caps at home..You say 105 degrees. Do caps really get that hot ? I have felt caps being appr 30-35 degress warm after being used for an hour or so.
Menahem Yachad: Nichicon has 2 new Audio lines now - KT and KA.
Nichicon has 2 new Audio lines now - KT and KA.
I am always in for a learning curve but, I don't think this is Nichicon's best sounding audio cap. For those who must use a 105C and 2000 hour cap this will be a fine choice, as it is "Designed for Audio," and not just a "General Purpose" capacitor.
Well, I have to compare them to the Silmic II, Nichicon KZ 'MUSE', and the Panasonic FC to see, sonically...