[emailtim]

Does anyone that purchased the new copper caps have any runtime feedback on them yet ?

TIA

[Argoncat]

I don't have any feedback yet other than these are beasts!  Building a no-holds-barred NX studio crossover, Copper Caps, 12 AWG foil inductors, silver bypass caps and Path Audio resistors..  The size of the caps really took a long time to organize and arrange on a board; no easy task..  Felt like putting 10 pounds of stuffing in a 6 pound bird..  The NX studios have ~12 X 5 free space on the enclosure floor when considering the NoRez lining, this took just about every inch of it..  The Foil inductors are tricky to attach into the circuit, good flux pre-treatment ensures good solder wetting / flow on the foil leg into which the connecting wires can attach; I'm open to alternate attachment methods if someones got them..

Starting the burn in process, which should take a few weeks but I'm keen to see what develops..  I'll post updates here as I develop impressions / opinions.. 

[emailtim]

Cool, keep us posted on your progress.

[Skilly]

I know it says copper on the label, but it sure looks like a lot of gold to me.

[TexE4D]

What is the difference between the two bypass caps, are they each 0.01uF Duelands; the labels?
How did you handle the shield of the PathAudio resistors?
I like your use of the polycarbonate base.
Looking forward to hearing about your burn-in results.

[RonP]

Man do those things have a turbo charger installed too? How fast do they go from 0-60? 

[Argoncat]

What is the difference between the two bypass caps, are they each 0.01uF Duelands; the labels?
How did you handle the shield of the PathAudio resistors?
I like your use of the polycarbonate base.
Looking forward to hearing about your burn-in results.

The 0.01 uF Duelands are indeed different, Tinned-Cu on the tweeter circuit and Pure-Ag on the woofer per the commentary from http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html in his very extensive cap testing. 

The Path Resistors were connected in series to get the desired value, the shielding wires not used and were trimmed, protected with heat-shrink.  I don't have a chassis ground in my system else I might have considered a third tube-connector back to ground.

I used polycarbonate base for two reasons, being able to see though the mounting plate made attaching the zip-ties much easier and most importantly, reducing bulk.  These completed crossovers are just huge and anything I could do to recover volume w/in the cabinet enclosure seemed a good plan (1/8" Plexiglas is a little thin and required some delicacy but saved ~40 in3 over 3/4 MDF)

[VinceT]

The Unibomber called, wants his bomb back. 

Seriously can't wait to hear feedback on this crossover.

[TexE4D]

The 0.01 uF Duelands are indeed different, Tinned-Cu on the tweeter circuit and Pure-Ag on the woofer per the commentary from http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html in his very extensive cap testing. 

The Path Resistors were connected in series to get the desired value, the shielding wires not used and were trimmed, protected with heat-shrink.  I don't have a chassis ground in my system else I might have considered a third tube-connector back to ground.

I used polycarbonate base for two reasons, being able to see though the mounting plate made attaching the zip-ties much easier and most importantly, reducing bulk.  These completed crossovers are just huge and anything I could do to recover volume w/in the cabinet enclosure seemed a good plan (1/8" Plexiglas is a little thin and required some delicacy but saved ~40 in3 over 3/4 MDF)

The Dueland bypass caps are definitely larger than they appear online.
I've been studying the capicator tests by Humble Home HiFi, it's really comprehensive resource; I especially like the craftsmanship in his crossover designs and builds.

[TexE4D]

What were the criteria in selecting 12AWG foil inductors?

[Argoncat]

What were the criteria in selecting 12AWG foil inductors?

Availability..  Had a difficult time finding matching parts in the mH ratings needed, and even though PartsConnection showed these "in stock" it took a few weeks..  Many of these premium inductors are made to order or have limited availability. 

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Any update on how things have progressed?

[WarmColors]

I don't have any feedback yet other than these are beasts!  Building a no-holds-barred NX studio crossover, Copper Caps, 12 AWG foil inductors, silver bypass caps and Path Audio resistors..  The size of the caps really took a long time to organize and arrange on a board; no easy task..  Felt like putting 10 pounds of stuffing in a 6 pound bird..  The NX studios have ~12 X 5 free space on the enclosure floor when considering the NoRez lining, this took just about every inch of it..  The Foil inductors are tricky to attach into the circuit, good flux pre-treatment ensures good solder wetting / flow on the foil leg into which the connecting wires can attach; I'm open to alternate attachment methods if someones got them..

Starting the burn in process, which should take a few weeks but I'm keen to see what develops..  I'll post updates here as I develop impressions / opinions.. 

Hi all,

Which sound better sonic caps or these in the picture above copper caps?

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Copper caps for sure, but they're also much more expensive.
That said, these caps are no longer available.

I would consider looking at copper caps from Miflex, Duelund or Jupiter.

Miflex copper caps come in 3 forms:
-250V which are smaller and better used in box speakers, since they dont take up quite as much space.
-600V these caps get big fast, they need to be used in a large cabinet, external crossover or in OB
-600V same sizes as the other 600V version, but the leads are the same side rather than on opposite ends.

They also only reach values around 10uF to 15uF, so are best used for tweeters circuits.

A great compromise tho is using a Sonicap bypassed with a 0.1uFiflex cap.

Hopefully that give you some ideas to consider. 

[Stephen Scharf]

Does anyone that purchased the new copper caps have any runtime feedback on them yet ?

TIA

If you're referring to the new Miflex copper caps used as by-pass caps for the SoniCaps, they need 400 hours of burn-in to fully open up and come "on song." I know this from just completing the burn-in process on my X-LS Encores, and I closely tracked the burn-in hours data and correlated with speaker performance with a spreadsheet in Excel. BTW, this 400 hours is exactly on track with the number of hours that Danny told me the Miflex caps would need when we discussed burn-in for these specific caps on the phone some weeks back.

[mlundy57]

If you're referring to the new Miflex copper caps used as by-pass caps for the SoniCaps, they need 400 hours of burn-in to fully open up and come "on song." I know this from just completing the burn-in process on my X-LS Encores, and I closely tracked the burn-in hours data and correlated with speaker performance with a spreadsheet in Excel. BTW, this 400 hours is exactly on track with the number of hours that Danny told me the Miflex caps would need when we discussed burn-in for these specific caps on the phone some weeks back.

This jives with my experience on multiple speaker builds I've done.

[Stephen Scharf]

This jives with my experience on multiple speaker builds I've done.

Yes, Mike, I agree. See my post today for a topic on running-in/burn-in for X-LS Encores with the premium parts specification.