My Capacitor comparisons: Mundorfs, VCap, Sonicap Platinum, Auricap, etc

Jon L · « **Reply #280 on:** 18 Apr 2009, 02:33 am »

Quote from: Joey B on 18 Apr 2009, 01:54 am

I used a 2uf Audiocap Theta and a .1uf FT-3 . It is a Peter Daniel premium gold nos dac .It feeds a Bottlehead -- Extended Foreplay III . I'm running 13d5 tubes and Mundorf SIO coupling caps in the Foreplay .

The original caps that the dac came with are 4 uf Blackgate n's . I've used the Mundorf's since about the second or third month after I built the kit . It's always seemed like I've had a slight upper midrange bump that I couldn't get rid of .

My source is a computer server using cplay or j River , M-Audio revo 7.1 card ,to PDPG NOS DAC ,Extended Foreplay III, Audio Research HD 100.2 amp , MG IIIa speakers , Velodyne Sub .

That's a tough one. One of my DAC's is a NOS one with passive cap output. NOS has its advantages, but upper-midrange ethereal smoothness is not exactly one of them, and your Maggies are not cushioning that effect, either.

My Theta is 0.22 uF, so yours is 10X bigger including the Teflon. I'm guessing your sound is too crisp and crunchy, maybe even hard right now. If Mundorf SIO had upper midrange bump to begin with in your system, big Theta/teflon is perhaps the last choice in that NOS DAC. Luckily, you're the perfect candidate for the AmpOhm cap, and their 2.0 uF cap is still only about $30...

OR.. I would try taking off the Teflon bypass first. If that doesn't help, bypassing with something else, maybe even a small PIO or some other small smooth cap you have laying around may be something to try.

whams · « **Reply #281 on:** 18 Apr 2009, 06:43 am »

Just discovered this thread (don't know how I missed it). Very well done Jon L....massive effort

I noticed there has been lots of talk about the V Cap Teflons but I didn't see anything on the V Cap OIMP's? (please forgive me if I missed it....this has become a 'LARGE' thread)

I think I also going to get myself a C meter. The points made by Van Alstine about cap matching, checking values etc seem very valid indeed.

Great work

Joey B · « **Reply #282 on:** 20 Apr 2009, 05:51 pm »

Hi Jon

I think you misinterpret my post . I'm happy as a lark with the caps . I just want to know what the approximate breakin time is

The sound is smooth with slammin bass right now and less upper mid range hump and glare than before with the mundorf , which is exactly what I wanted to accomplish . Don't anyone freakout that I said mundorf's are glary or anything , i'm just trying to match the cap to my speakers which as Jon pointed out have a little upper mid range hump also . I'm , also , still using mundorf SIO in my preamp still. When I posted last the bass had not filled on the new caps out to the extent it has now . I have about 125 hrs on now them now .

I broke in a v-cap one time as a power supply bypass and that took about 400 hours , it was
actually very good after 250 hrs .

The ratio of Audiocap Theta to FT-3 on your rig is 10/1 . My ratio is 20/1 so my FT-3 is less influencing than yours . I Think

Thanks For Your Help

Joey B.

Jon L · « **Reply #283 on:** 20 Apr 2009, 08:13 pm »

Quote from: Joey B on 20 Apr 2009, 05:51 pm

Hi Jon

I think you misinterpret my post . I'm happy as a lark with the caps . I just want to know what the approximate breakin time is

Ah..That's better.

As far as break-in, let me put it this way. While some people would even say one's lifetime isn't long enough to break in some of these things, I usually find that if something hasn't started to sound at least decent or good after a couple of weeks of heavy use, then the chances of euphoria is very slim no matter how much longer you burn them in

jrebman · « **Reply #284 on:** 23 Apr 2009, 08:35 pm »

Just received my ampohm tin foil PIOs and a pair of their metalized poly caps as well. Really top notch construction. When the time is right, these will find their way into a bottlehead s.e.x. amp.

-- Jim

dweekie · « **Reply #285 on:** 24 Apr 2009, 12:37 am »

I'll be getting my the Ampohm in tommorow. I plan to drop it in place of some Obbligato Gold caps (my current budget favorite) in some class D amps. It should be a fun comparison as I haven't purchased different brands of caps in a while.

BillB · « **Reply #286 on:** 24 Apr 2009, 03:41 pm »

I need some 10uf caps for my newest project...tin foil ampohms dont come that big, are the aluminums pretty good or should I stick with the Obbligatos for half the price?

This will be more money than I have ever spent on a cap so I don't want to wonder.

Jon L · « **Reply #287 on:** 24 Apr 2009, 06:11 pm »

Quote from: BillB on 24 Apr 2009, 03:41 pm

I need some 10uf caps for my newest project...tin foil ampohms dont come that big, are the aluminums pretty good or should I stick with the Obbligatos for half the price?

This will be more money than I have ever spent on a cap so I don't want to wonder.

10 uF?! Must be building some Aikido's or something

I have some Obbligatos on their way to me, and I've been pushing myself to replace the tin AmpOhm with aluminum AmpOhm for days now. Forgetting about the usual audiophile stuff for a momet, when music sounds correct in timber and tone, it's hard to change things... Will report when I can.

BillB · « **Reply #288 on:** 24 Apr 2009, 06:55 pm »

A high current low-mu preamp designed by Peter Millett.

Its a sweet honkin' design with only 1.49dB of gain and uses EL34s as CCS driving a single 6as7 as pre-tube.

Parts are adding up pretty fast (every damn resistor is 1w+ so you go from .14c parts to 1.38 parts...adds up fast) so I want to be sure I don't feel a need to change anything!!

BillB · « **Reply #289 on:** 24 Apr 2009, 07:23 pm »

Crap!

I just realized the Ampohm in that size are only 300v

B+ is 320v so no go there.

Their metalized PP are cheap and fit the voltage, not sure if they are any good, only a buck more than a Solen.

jrebman · « **Reply #290 on:** 24 Apr 2009, 07:43 pm »

Bill,

I'm going to try the PP, but as I need at least a 600v rating, I can't bypass them with teflons as I wanted to do -- at least not sonicap platinums, but at 400 v the platinums should work as a nice bypass for your project.

On the other hand, at that value, why just not an ASC or similar oil/motor run cap?

Just FYI, the leads on the ampohm PP caps are solid but with insulation -- the tin/oils are bare solid wire.

-- Jim

BillB · « **Reply #291 on:** 24 Apr 2009, 07:54 pm »

Thanks Jim,

Haven't given much thought to motor/run caps. Will look around...won't they be as much or more than most of the choices in this range (the reasonable ones). I was looking at Jantzen Z-superior as I have used them in several projects but might as well try something different!

jrebman · « **Reply #292 on:** 24 Apr 2009, 08:06 pm »

An ASC 15 uF 600 v oil filled poly cap should be about $10 or so. Still pretty large though -- probably approx 2" dia by 4" or more tall.

HTH,

Jim

BillB · « **Reply #293 on:** 25 Apr 2009, 03:13 am »

I picked up some Ampohm PPs...needed a bunch of other crap from the tube store anyways.

BillB · « **Reply #294 on:** 1 May 2009, 12:48 am »

Jeez the ampohms are huge!!

Here is the Ampohm PP 10uf next to a Solen 10uf and an Epcos 390uf 450v electrolytic: (And an 6CA7...which it is almost as big as)

dweekie · « **Reply #295 on:** 1 May 2009, 02:20 am »

Wow, I wonder what makes up such a large difference in size.

BillB · « **Reply #296 on:** 1 May 2009, 03:10 am »

You need that much space to put a Solen inside, wrap it and cap it.

Jon L · « **Reply #297 on:** 1 May 2009, 05:12 pm »

Quote from: dweekie on 1 May 2009, 02:20 am

Wow, I wonder what makes up such a large difference in size.

I wonder that myself. More = better?

Anyway, I've been listening to the Aluminum Foil PIO version of late, and I must say, there's nothing wrong with aluminum !

clouis · « **Reply #298 on:** 2 May 2009, 03:27 pm »

Is there any body who have try to evaluate the impact of the decoupling capacitor (generaly made of plastic film) of the PSU unit in an amplifier by example.

shawnds · « **Reply #299 on:** 5 May 2009, 12:15 am »

HEY Jon If you had to pick between the ampohm alum or the tin bassed on vocals wich do you think has the more natural or real sounding midrange? I plan to order some to take place of jensen aluminum. I have tryed the copper jensen and it is to thick sounding no air compaired to aluminum . Mundorf sfo to thin sounding in the midrange.
Thanks shawn