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

marknoir · « **Reply #580 on:** 9 Jun 2011, 09:37 pm »

Has anyone tried Solen Teflon caps (green)? They seem to be not too expensive. I wonder how they compare to Rel and Vcaps... I use russian teflons, and, though I like their resolution, I find them to be a bit gritty in upper mids/treble, and not very smooth. I may be mistaken, but they seem to have some resonances here and there, especially in upper bass. I use values of 0.047uf and 0.1uf.

SteveR · « **Reply #581 on:** 12 Jun 2011, 08:51 pm »

I am using .033 uf Solen teflon and tin foil as a bypass over Russian K75-10 output caps on a 1986 vintage CD player. As Jon L says the K75-10 has a scrumptious midrange, the teflon bypass extends the highs and sharpens the image. Most enjoyable.

peter61 · « **Reply #582 on:** 27 Jun 2011, 10:56 am »

WiesiekL: I have never seen such big Russian Teflon capacitors before!! Normally the biggest Russian Teflon’s are 0.22uF. Those are very interesting for tube power supply's also. I suspect working voltage is at least 600V. Does anyone know where to buy them?
Peter

WiesiekL · « **Reply #583 on:** 29 Jun 2011, 08:41 pm »

Quote from: peter61 on 27 Jun 2011, 10:56 am

WiesiekL: I have never seen such big Russian Teflon capacitors before!! Normally the biggest Russian Teflon’s are 0.22uF. Those are very interesting for tube power supply's also. I suspect working voltage is at least 600V. Does anyone know where to buy them?
Peter

The voltage is lower, about 125VDC (at 10kHZ). I use them in the tweeter sections of my TL crossovers. I bought them 5 years ago from a Ebay seller in Lithuania, "kwtubes" or something.

SteveR · « **Reply #584 on:** 30 Jun 2011, 02:03 am »

The largest K75-10 that I have seen on ebay is 10 uf with a 250V rating. It is a Paper and Mylar in Oil. No teflon here as far as I can see!

SteveR · « **Reply #585 on:** 30 Jun 2011, 02:16 am »

My comparisons between the Solen Teflon .033 and V-caps .01 are: The Solen are very, very smooth and do not quite reach the transparency of the V-caps, however the Solen did become listenable much quicker. The caps were burned in as bypasses on Power Supplies for close to the same amount of time and then switched to outputs on my preamp.

goldlizsts · « **Reply #586 on:** 5 Jul 2011, 02:02 pm »

Great thread.

Has anybody used Rifa? Opinion/comparison?

marknoir · « **Reply #587 on:** 5 Jul 2011, 11:38 pm »

Quote from: SteveR on 30 Jun 2011, 02:16 am

My comparisons between the Solen Teflon .033 and V-caps .01 are: The Solen are very, very smooth and do not quite reach the transparency of the V-caps, however the Solen did become listenable much quicker. The caps were burned in as bypasses on Power Supplies for close to the same amount of time and then switched to outputs on my preamp.

Thank you for your comparison

I have also tried 0.47uF russian teflons on the output of my Curcio tube DAC, that's the spec value, and I used them full range. Resolution is good, but tonal balance leaves a lot to be desired. I prefer regular films in there... And they were quite expensive, too! And HUGE - like Redbull cans...

marknoir · « **Reply #588 on:** 5 Jul 2011, 11:40 pm »

Quote from: peter61 on 27 Jun 2011, 10:56 am

WiesiekL: I have never seen such big Russian Teflon capacitors before!! Normally the biggest Russian Teflon’s are 0.22uF. Those are very interesting for tube power supply's also. I suspect working voltage is at least 600V. Does anyone know where to buy them?
Peter

Hello Peter

I bought and use 0.47uF on Ebay. Pretty expensive for a russian teflon, and HUGE - like cans of Redbull!

M

Dracule1 · « **Reply #589 on:** 9 Jul 2011, 06:13 am »

Has anyone tried the Dueland Alexander copper PIO cap for coupling? It's more reasonably priced than the other Duelands. Or are these just rebranded Jensen copper PIO?

http://www.partsconnexion.com/capacitor_film_duelund_alexander.html

bluemike · « **Reply #590 on:** 9 Jul 2011, 03:02 pm »

Quote from: Dracule1 on 9 Jul 2011, 06:13 am

Has anyone tried the Dueland Alexander copper PIO cap for coupling? It's more reasonably priced than the other Duelands. Or are these just rebranded Jensen copper PIO?

http://www.partsconnexion.com/capacitor_film_duelund_alexander.html

On a separate note did you ever get the duelands into your Sason Crossovers how did that fair ?

jrebman · « **Reply #591 on:** 9 Jul 2011, 03:14 pm »

My guess is that with a 900v working voltage rating, these are not rebranded jensens.

-- Jim

SteveR · « **Reply #592 on:** 10 Jul 2011, 02:16 am »

Quote from: marknoir on 5 Jul 2011, 11:38 pm

Thank you for your comparison

I have also tried 0.47uF russian teflons on the output of my Curcio tube DAC, that's the spec value, and I used them full range. Resolution is good, but tonal balance leaves a lot to be desired. I prefer regular films in there... And they were quite expensive, too! And HUGE - like Redbull cans...

SteveR · « **Reply #593 on:** 10 Jul 2011, 02:27 am »

Quote from: marknoir on 5 Jul 2011, 11:38 pm

Thank you for your comparison

I have also tried 0.47uF russian teflons on the output of my Curcio tube DAC, that's the spec value, and I used them full range. Resolution is good, but tonal balance leaves a lot to be desired. I prefer regular films in there... And they were quite expensive, too! And HUGE - like Redbull cans...

I know what you mean by Redbull cans. On a very dated cd player I have experimented with 10uf K75-10 PIO on output caps and have had to mount them outside the chassis. I use a passive 10,000k preamp so I need large value. Although I don't really like bypasses on output caps I have added Solen teflon .1uf piggyback and have achieved a reasonably balanced clear sound. As Jon L says the K75-10 has it own quite unique presentation.

Dracule1 · « **Reply #594 on:** 12 Jul 2011, 04:28 pm »

I found a little more out about the Dueland Alexanders. They are, as I suspected, made by Jensen for Dueland, but only Dueland can sell these as these are Dueland design with thicker copper foil with beefier construction (hence higher voltage rating) and resonant damping case.

I'm very happy with Duelands in my speakers.

jrebman · « **Reply #595 on:** 12 Jul 2011, 06:13 pm »

Thanks for doing the legwork on these. I have to say though, why do audio companies always insist on obscuring or embellishing the truth? This from the PCX site:

To quote Duelund themselves..."Investments in larger production machinery have made
it possible to do a high volume series of Duelund Capacitors, at much lower cost
than previously possible". The upshot is, that Duelund now offers a range of lower
value, superior quality, pure copper foil / paper in oil caps (at a 900VDC rating),
at prices far below our "industry leading" handmade VSF and CAST series. As always,
the inside of the cap itself contains no plastic whatsoever, and due to increased
paper thickness, and long oil impregnation "soak" time, these caps share the Duelund
"family" characteristic, of addressing resonance damping as a key design parameter.

Specifically I'm talking about the "investment in new production machinery" above. Did Jensen invest in the machinery, did Duelund? Seems llike it was Jensen, and if so, why is Duelund makingg it sounds as if they did this? Sure, it's nit-picking, but what the hell?

Another recent similar thing is a company who makes connectors who claims to use a "copper alloy" for their connectors -- again I assume, attempting to cash in on the people who for their own reasons are looking for real copper connectors, only to find that theey are made of brass -- which is technically, a copper alloy, but not the more typical tellurium or beryllium copper as somebody in audio normally would consider a copper alloy to be.

RRant over.

-- Jim

Dracule1 · « **Reply #596 on:** 12 Jul 2011, 09:12 pm »

BTW, the Dueland CAST and I think VSF are also made by Jensen. The design and research done by Dueland, I believe.

poseidonsvoice · « **Reply #597 on:** 13 Jul 2011, 02:23 am »

I e-mailed Frederik of Duelund, in order to avoid any misunderstandings. Here is what he said:

Quote

Dear Anand,

Thank you for writing me.

The Alexanders are designed from the ground up by Duelund. As is the case with our caps Jensen does some work and we do some work. Our part is less on the Alexanders than on the VSF and CAST, which makes a lower price point viable. These are not rebranded Jensens, which the 900v rating will testify. It may be a bit confusing for people, but Jensen and Duelund are in the same building working together everyday, so a lot of cross work happens in all areas of business: sales, production and development as befits the available ressources.

Best regards,

Frederik Carøe
Duelund Coherent Audio

Personally, I don't care who makes it, cause the Duelunds sound extremely nice. I'll look to see what the reviews are like on the Alexanders as more diy'ers use them.

You guys do know that Mundorf is made through the high end arm of the german company F&T capacitors (Heinz Fischer and Alfred Tausche) right?

Best,
Anand.

jrebman · « **Reply #598 on:** 13 Jul 2011, 02:36 am »

Anand,

thanks for that -- really. True, I don't care who makes them but I had no idea of this co-location and loose partnership. And honestly, it makes no difference to me, just glad to have the larger picture. And I like Mundorfs too -- whoever makes them

.

ow did those big ol' ampohm copper foils work for you?

-- Jim

Dracule1 · « **Reply #599 on:** 13 Jul 2011, 02:52 am »

Hey I'm a fan of Duelands, my speakers are full of them. I plan on using the Alexanders for output coupling for my amps also. I didn't mean to give any negative connotation regarding the CAST or VSF. Alexanders looked too much like stock Jensens to give me pause, but my understanding now is that the Alexanders are entirely different animal than the standard Jensen copper PIO caps.