[Bill Baker]

The regular Sonicap seamed to have a bit more body and weight to it by comparison. The new version clearly had a greater sense or air about it. High level detail was better in the new cap too

 Okay, here is a quick comparison between the original SoniCap and Gen2.

 The original SoniCap sems to be the most neutral I have hear. Very articulate and unforgiven if used in an aggressive system or component. For someone looking for the utmost inner detail retrieval, this would be the cap to use. I found it to provide a good balance in such circuits as EL34 tube based amplifiers and also brought forth more air and resolution when used in circuits that were on the darker side to begin with.

 The Gen2 has been designed to be on the warmer side of neutral. In the designs I experimented with, they offered a bit more fullness and body in comparison to the original. I found them to be a very good balance in designs such as 6550/KT88 based tube amps and offered exceptional musicallity and fullnes in some of the EL34, EL84 and even 805 based amplifiers. Unfortunately, we will not be able to hear what they would offer in crossover applications as they are not available in values above 1.0uF. Obviously, you can use the smaller values for bypassing or cascading to make lager values.

  Keep in mind that all my experimentation has been with tube gear as I do not own a solid state product to even try them out in. I also did not have enough time to do a proper burn in of the caps to get a true sense but I feel I was able to get a good idea of their characteristics.

  Do I think they are better than the originals? Absolutely not, just different. Do I like the Gen2's? Yes, very much. If it were up to me, I would like to see both versions remain available as the originals have their place. I think I will be good on the originals in the values I use most often for a while as I purchased a large number of the remaining inventory to continue having them available for my mods.

[BeeBop]

Could somebody post the web site these may soon be available at and mentioned on page 1 of this thread?

[StevenACNJ]

http://www.soniccraft.com/

Jeff is a great guy to deal with. I have been using his caps for years. Very helpful via phone or email.

[MttBsh]

After reading posts here about the improvement Sonicaps made in several members' speakers, I decided to give Jeff a call. He suggested that my Soliloquy 5.3s would particularly benefit by running his second gen 0.1uF sonicaps in parallel with replacements to my stock tweeter crossover caps.  I followed his recommendation, received the caps in a few days, then had a local tech install them (took him about 90 minutes).
At first, I noticed a subtle improvement in my speakers at best... it wasn't until at least 50 hours that the new caps really began to show their stuff. Now, after almost 150 hours, I believe they are fully broken in, and the improvements are anything but subtle.  The Soliloquys are fine speakers in stock form, but the Sonicaps have really improved their dynamics, providing deeper bass, increased detail (I can now clearly hear a marimba that I never knew existed on a familiar recording) and nice 3D soundstage expansion. I'm pretty amazed by how much these little caps have transformed my speakers. The total cost of parts including shipping was about $85, and the install about $60, so for a total of under $150 it is unquestionably the best upgrade for the money I've ever made.
 
Matt

[BobM]

I replaced the caps in my speakers with Sonicaps (from Axon's) about a year and a half ago. The change in dimensionality and inner detail was outstanding. Very musical too. I just ordered some of the Gen II's this week at .1uF to use as bypasses in the tweeter circuit.

One question, will adding the extra .1uF to the two caps in series alter the crossover in any meaningful way (i.e. perceptible)? Here's the tweeter circuit:

      6uF        15uF
+ ---||--------||---nnnnn----   +
            |                          Scanspeak 9305
            B                            tweeter
            B                          (B represents the inductor, n the resistor)
            |
- ------------------------------   -

Thanks,
Bob

[Danny Richie]

One question, will adding the extra .1uF to the two caps in series alter the crossover in any meaningful way (i.e. perceptible)?

Short answer, no.

Long answer, see link to measured responses.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=11132

Glad to hear you guys are all liking those caps!

[BobM]

Thanks, interesting results in your referenced posts. Always good to see a professional performing tests and openly reporting results without the marketing hacks getting involved.

Sorry about my crossover schematic - clearly things didn't line up as intended.

Bob

[hanguy]

The Sonicraft Platinum is simply amazing!!

I have rewired the crossover of my Revel F30 with Sonicap and mills resistors 8 months ago and had simply enjoyed the improvement since then. Jeff was great in helping to measure the crossover components and match them with new components. After learning that he has this new cap available from this post and exchange emails with him a couple of times, I ordered two 0.1uF and two 0.033 uF for bypassing the two caps of the tweeter section.

This is the best $70 I have ever spent in my experience. After 2 hours, the improvement was already jaw-dropping! The walls all of a sudden seems to disappear, the soundstage widens. New details emerge so naturally and everything sounds so effortless. I can't imagine how good this will get if Bill's comment is true that this teflon cap need 400hr to burn-in.

Thanks to Jeff for developing such an outstanding product!

Mike