Bypass Capacitors?

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LarryD56

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Re: Bypass Capacitors?
« Reply #40 on: 17 Jan 2018, 05:31 am »
I seriously considered the Jantzen Superiors as an alternative to the Clarity CSAs. They were rated very well, but I had to go with what was within a $350 budget. I'm well pleased with what I'm hearing right now, so I'm happy with my choices. I just wish there weren't so many damn caps in my crossovers.

Larry D.

GETRDUN

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Re: Bypass Capacitors?
« Reply #41 on: 17 Jan 2018, 07:54 am »
I seriously considered the Jantzen Superiors as an alternative to the Clarity CSAs. They were rated very well, but I had to go with what was within a $350 budget. I'm well pleased with what I'm hearing right now, so I'm happy with my choices. I just wish there weren't so many damn caps in my crossovers.

Larry D.

You may want to also consider the Audyn Plus caps as well. Have you tried by-passing those Mundorf EVO oil caps? Also remember that it does take many hours to burn in caps!

Stimpy

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Re: Bypass Capacitors?
« Reply #42 on: 17 Jan 2018, 12:04 pm »
I wouldn't give up just yet! Perhaps you should try the Audyn CF caps in a small value and use them as a bypass cap. I realize they are not a Jupiter, but may be worth the money to try! I may still get some to see how they mate up with a higher value cap. Maybe try using a .01uF CDE along with a .1 Audyn CF paralleled on your Mundorf EVO oils?

I think I might have caused some confusion?  My Mundorf recap isn't at issue; my ClarityCap recap is.

I recently recapped 2 different sets of speakers, both Acoustic Research.  My purchased new AR90's, and my CL find, AR58S speakers.  Both sets of speakers are from the same time period, and use the same tweeters and dome midrange drivers.

I've owned my AR90's for years.  Purchased new, directly from the AR factory.  They were recapped last year, with Mundorf EVO Oil and Supreme capacitors.  I'm still working on refinishing the cabinets, so they only have a few minutes of playing time.  Just a QC check of my work.

My AR58S speakers were a CL find, and were recapped a few weeks back.  These used ClarityCaps; CSA's on the tweeters, and ESA's on the mids.  They're still burning in, but so far, the Clarity's haven't impressed me.  At least, the ESA's.  The upper mids are slightly muted, veiled, and rolled off.  It kind'a makes voices sound like people have colds.  Vocals are harder to understand too.  All pretty much how Tony Gee described them in his review.  That's why I'm considering mods, including bypass caps.  Just for the Clarity's, not the Mundorf's.

Stimpy

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Re: Bypass Capacitors?
« Reply #43 on: 17 Jan 2018, 02:24 pm »
I seriously considered the Jantzen Superiors as an alternative to the Clarity CSAs. They were rated very well, but I had to go with what was within a $350 budget. I'm well pleased with what I'm hearing right now, so I'm happy with my choices. I just wish there weren't so many damn caps in my crossovers.

Larry D.

Eight capacitors in your Infinity's, and 8 in my AR's (plus bypass caps).  So, neither speaker cheap to recap, with polys at least.  Plus, with dozens of brands of capacitors to choose from, not an easy decision on what to use.  I researched for months, trying to decide a path forward.  Then stressing, if I'd made the correct decision?  Still, I look forward to listening to improved speakers!  Now that'll be enjoyable.

GETRDUN

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Re: Bypass Capacitors?
« Reply #44 on: 17 Jan 2018, 10:44 pm »
I think I might have caused some confusion?  My Mundorf recap isn't at issue; my ClarityCap recap is.

I recently recapped 2 different sets of speakers, both Acoustic Research.  My purchased new AR90's, and my CL find, AR58S speakers.  Both sets of speakers are from the same time period, and use the same tweeters and dome midrange drivers.

I've owned my AR90's for years.  Purchased new, directly from the AR factory.  They were recapped last year, with Mundorf EVO Oil and Supreme capacitors.  I'm still working on refinishing the cabinets, so they only have a few minutes of playing time.  Just a QC check of my work.

My AR58S speakers were a CL find, and were recapped a few weeks back.  These used ClarityCaps; CSA's on the tweeters, and ESA's on the mids.  They're still burning in, but so far, the Clarity's haven't impressed me.  At least, the ESA's.  The upper mids are slightly muted, veiled, and rolled off.  It kind'a makes voices sound like people have colds.  Vocals are harder to understand too.  All pretty much how Tony Gee described them in his review.  That's why I'm considering mods, including bypass caps.  Just for the Clarity's, not the Mundorf's.

Ah, OK, now I see! So with a few minutes of play time, how did the AR90's sound with the Mundorfs?

I'm curious to know the voltage rating on your ESA's? I have the 630V ESA's bypassed with the .1uF MR's/.01uF Russian Teflon's, and they sound really nice to me. Just my 2 cents!

Stimpy

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Re: Bypass Capacitors?
« Reply #45 on: 18 Jan 2018, 01:53 am »
Ah, OK, now I see! So with a few minutes of play time, how did the AR90's sound with the Mundorfs?

I actually have a spare set of AR90 crossovers.  So, I recapped the spares, so I could still play the speakers, as long as possible, before their tear down.  After the first spare was completed, I tested it with a crap test 6.5" woofer.  All seemed OK, and sounded correct.  Next up, I hooked up a spare AR90 1.5" dome to the new crossover, and played that single driver, and compared it to one of my stock 90's.  Well, that single midrange dome put out more mid and high range output, than the combined mids and tweeters in the stock speaker!  Clean, clear, and much more present.  Not forward, just natural.  There was also quite a bit of static distortion through the stock speaker, where the new crossover was again, very clean.  To me, open and neutral.

I'm curious to know the voltage rating on your ESA's? I have the 630V ESA's bypassed with the .1uF MR's/.01uF Russian Teflon's, and they sound really nice to me. Just my 2 cents!

Both my CSA's and ESA's were the 250V version.  They were big enough.  I'm not sure if I'd want to see the even bigger 630V caps.

I have some Auricaps, Dayton Film and Foils, and Russian Military surplus oil caps.  I guess I could throw some of those on the ESA, to see if it would help?  Couldn't hurt at this point.   :?

GETRDUN

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Re: Bypass Capacitors?
« Reply #46 on: 18 Jan 2018, 07:58 pm »
I actually have a spare set of AR90 crossovers.  So, I recapped the spares, so I could still play the speakers, as long as possible, before their tear down.  After the first spare was completed, I tested it with a crap test 6.5" woofer.  All seemed OK, and sounded correct.  Next up, I hooked up a spare AR90 1.5" dome to the new crossover, and played that single driver, and compared it to one of my stock 90's.  Well, that single midrange dome put out more mid and high range output, than the combined mids and tweeters in the stock speaker!  Clean, clear, and much more present.  Not forward, just natural.  There was also quite a bit of static distortion through the stock speaker, where the new crossover was again, very clean.  To me, open and neutral.

Both my CSA's and ESA's were the 250V version.  They were big enough.  I'm not sure if I'd want to see the even bigger 630V caps.

I have some Auricaps, Dayton Film and Foils, and Russian Military surplus oil caps.  I guess I could throw some of those on the ESA, to see if it would help?  Couldn't hurt at this point.   :?

I believe you will continue to hear improvements as you put some play time on the caps! I have noticed that at times you can hear some changes as the components are burning in.

As for the 250V ESA's, if you wanted to go with the 630's, you could always do an external crossover..LOL

Stimpy

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Re: Bypass Capacitors?
« Reply #47 on: 3 Feb 2018, 09:40 pm »
OK, some updates.  I allowed my recapped AR-58S speakers to play and burn in for about four weeks.  The recap sounded very good, with a warm, rich balance, with a wide enveloping soundstage.  But, for whatever reason, the Clarity ESA cap on the UMR dome, never opened up in the upper mids.  The sound stayed rolled off and veiled, making vocals hard to understand.  So, I opened the speakers up and added cascaded bypass caps.  I added a 0.1uF Dayton film and foil cap, and a 0.01uF Russian K40Y-9 PIO cap.  Why 2 bypass caps?  Because I could, since I already had both.  Plus, I was hoping the Russian paper in oil caps would help retain the rich sound of the Clarity's.  Now, the speakers sound much more balanced through the mids.  The veiling is gone too.  I'm starting to finally like the speakers, post recap.  Next time, I'll stick with Mundorf.  But for now, I'm happy.

Now, a weird thing.  Before finding the AR-58S speakers, I had picked up a set of AR-1MS minimonitors.  Nice little speakers, with good midrange clarity.  But, the 1MS speakers were very sibilant at times, with a pronounced 'ess' peakiness.  So, I opened them up, and they had already been recapped by the previous owner.  Poly TRW caps on the mids, and poly Dayton 5% caps on the tweeters.  I added a 0.1uF Dayton F&F to the mids, and a 0.1uF Auricap to the tweeters.  Sibilance gone.

Explain to me why a bypass cap can open up the response of one speaker, and tame the peakiness in another?  Please help, 'cause I'm confused!

MikeK123

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Re: Bypass Capacitors?
« Reply #48 on: 12 May 2019, 06:32 pm »
Stimpy,
It's been a while since your post regarding the alchemy of a particular bypass cap's effect on different systems. But, I'd like to add my 2-cents to this discussion, since recapping (whether it be a coupling, filtering, or shunting application) is of interest to alot of audiophiles and has, as you point out, such a mysterious effect on different systems.

So, my take on it all is simply the synergy of the new cap's ESR/ESL with the neighboring circuitry's own inherent capacitance. In other words, when one examines the response time between, say, a film cap versus a metal cap, the rise time of metal will always outpace film. Within the array of film caps (oil beeswax, gold coating or silver, even the axial wires alone) a significant response characteristic occurs. Add this phenomena to the component's properties at different frequencies (relative to another brand or material type) and it's a three-dimensional plot. Now place that cap in a circuit with it's own flavors of behavior (which change with frequencies and sometimes amplitude) and the outcome in sound quality is --reasonably-- impossible to predict. Which is why it's so hard to give first-time re-cappers explicit advice on the 'best' component(s) for their system and how it'll sound. 

Jymlock

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Re: Bypass Capacitors?
« Reply #49 on: 10 Jul 2020, 01:25 pm »
I am rebuilding some custom crossovers from speakers I designed and built 15 years ago. Hiquaphon Tweeters, Focal midrange and Woofer.

I am using Solen caps and mostly foil inductors, Mills resistors. My question, should I spend the money to buy Duelund crossover caps fro the tweeter?

With all the expense and effort in the rebuid I would hate to leave out one small component that MIGHT improve things geatly?

Second Question, my measurement plus design software recommends an impedance EQ parallel circuit for the midrange that includes a 348mfd capacitor!!!!

How can I add that for a decent cost? I am thinking of leaving that out... Where can one get an acceptable 348mfd cap for an affordable price?

richidoo

Re: Bypass Capacitors?
« Reply #50 on: 10 Jul 2020, 01:57 pm »
I am using Solen caps and mostly foil inductors, Mills resistors. My question, should I spend the money to buy Duelund crossover caps fro the tweeter? With all the expense and effort in the rebuid I would hate to leave out one small component that MIGHT improve things geatly?

IME, usually an upgrade from Solen caps is beneficial, but it doesn't have to be an expensive exotic cap like Duelund to get good result. I like Jantzen Superior Z for speakers, great value.

Quote
Second Question, my measurement plus design software recommends an impedance EQ parallel circuit for the midrange that includes a 348mfd capacitor!!!!

How can I add that for a decent cost? I am thinking of leaving that out... Where can one get an acceptable 348mfd cap for an affordable price?

Definitely listen to it without the zobel filter. If you have a solid state amp, the impedance may not matter anyway.
Otoh, you can parallel a bunch of cheap electrolytics to make the 348uF. As long as they have high enough voltage rating (50V probably more than enough) it will be good enough to listen and compare to no filter, or adjust the filter to your liking. Nichicon KL is a decent sounding electrolytic cap. Parallel same size caps to get close to the value. Doesn't have to be exactly 348.

Don_S

Re: Bypass Capacitors?
« Reply #51 on: 10 Jul 2020, 02:53 pm »
This is a old cap test result from Lampizator site,
Iam posting it again to your meditation:


My eyes and brain get lost in all the lines. Am I correct that the Jupiter copper caps appear to be the best balanced? Of course I realize the chart is subjective observation.

dalton

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Re: Bypass Capacitors?
« Reply #52 on: 20 Jul 2020, 08:59 am »
The purpose of a bypass capacitor is to provide local energy reserve right where it is needed and shunting of high frequencies to the ground. The power supply has such capacitance but it is too far away to work the same way. Digital circuits for example in the front-end of a DAC for example switch fast and can create spikes on the power supply line without bypass cap. And there can also be oscillation.

Note that the connection to sonic improvement is another matter than the pure functionality of the device using bypass caps. So what I say doesn't necessarily explain the attributes people attach to it.