I am to the point where I am ready to have my crossovers done. I am not familier with Axon caps. How do they compare to the Sonicaps?
The Axon caps are a decent, inexpensive poly cap made by SCR. They are not at the performance level of a Sonicap but they have their place.
For instance Sonicaps are made as large as 30uF. Axon caps are available up to 100uF. When needing something like a 150uF value you can get there by using a large value Axon cap and then by-passing it with a smaller Sonicap to get very good results, and without the expense of bundling lots of Sonicaps. The application of using them in a shunt circuit on a large woofer that plays only low frequency information may make it difficult to discern between the combination bundle and a bundle of all Sonicaps.
Forgive my ignorance but what does by-passing caps do?
It speeds up the discharge rate by a very noticeable factor.
Think of a cap as an energy storage device. In many applications this is what they are used for. Large cap values can store a lot of energy and the speed at which it discharges it can be slow compared to a small cap that stores less energy and charges and discharges very quickly.
So by-passing a large cap value with a really small one can make the combination take on the discharge rate of the smaller cap as it basically shorts out the larger cap and discharges it as well.
The result in sound will be faster, cleaner detail levels with a reduced smearing effect.
With the suggestions that were made there will be more components in the network, should that be a concern?
Not due to by-pass caps or the use of bundles. This method can often be much better than a single cap alone.
Are the values that were suggested with the Axons available from Sonicap?
No. Sonicaps are available only up to a 30uF.
The cost is not really a concern, I just want the best quality which is why I've been led to Sonicap.
Then in addition to what I recommended above I might use a pair of 24uF Sonicaps paralleled to get a 47uF (this would be a matched set on the low side, like a pair of 23.5uF values). Since all of the midrange will be passing through these caps then it will be a good idea to use the best available in that location.
On everything else I would leave the same.
For added detail level I would also by-pass the Sonicaps in the tweeter circuit with a .1uF Gen.2 Sonicap.
