[whubbard]

Hi.

The caps are 22uF 250V FAST Solens.

For those that don't already know RonR has been nice enough to test out the Solens in his Gk-1 and he says the improvement is highly noticeable. I offered to run a group buy on this, so here it is!

We will need 25 people to join this group but to make it effective. However if people would like I will still be willing to do the group buy even though the savings will be less.

The cost per set of 4 Solens is $26.78 + shipping to me + shipping to you + paypal. If we end up with less than 25 people the cost will be $26.78 + shipping to me + shipping to you + paypal. The shipping to me will be split among all of us, myself included. The shipping to you will be done in the most economical way that is still safe, probably USPS in the US, and I will have to talk to international buyers and see how they want theirs shipped.

I will be matching the 4 caps for you as well which I guess will add some value to this group buy. The more people that buy, the more closely I will be able to get the caps. I would like to add this is non-profit and I will pay just as much as the rest of you.

If you are interested please PM or email me with your address, contact information, and also confirm that you can use paypal.

Right now the list is as follows.
whubbard
gerardo (Need information)
Kyrill (Need information)
curly joe (Need information)
PSP

Please spread the word as we still need a bunch of people, so spread it wide and far. While the difference will only be $6 if we don't get 25 people, the more people the closer the caps are match and also the cheaper the shipping will be from Solen to me.

-West

[RonR]

Hi West,

I think you'll be able to get away with something smaller (electrically and physically) than 47uF here. Philip's original mod used them, but my testing was carried out using 20uF 250V Solens, and Hugh has said:

In truth, a single 22uF should do the trick here.  I used 47uF electros because they are small, but a film cap may be more effective at lower capacitance so give it a try.

The thought of 25 people fighting to get the lids of their GK-1s closed just occurred!

Cheers,

Ron

[kyrill]

why can't i delete my own message?

[kyrill]

It would be hard and strange for me to believe any GK-1 owner bought the GK-1 not with
the hope and or expectation to have one of the best musical quality to price ratio
preamps in the market

to make a jump in transparency with this mod is something not to be missed
at least 100 Gk-1 owners should humbly and with respect join this group buy

On the other hand I would actually expect that a bit more expensive well known
cap will even sound better than the Solens which belong, as an audiophile cap, to a bit under mid level
performers. Almost any other high end cap should sound better.
I know I know, price and bigness is a concern here.
To me not the price ( to reasonable degree, say 60-90 dollars a cap) , but the bigness

[andyr]

Hi.

For those that don't already know RonR has been nice enough to test out the Solens in his Gk-1 and he says the improvement is highly noticeable. I offered to run a group buy on this, so here it is!

We will need 25 people to join this group but to make it effective. However if people would like I will still be willing to do the group buy even though the savings will be less.

If you are interested please PM or email me with your address, contact information, and also confirm that you can use paypal.

Right now the list is as follows.
whubbard
gerardo (Need information)
Kyrill (Need information)
curly joe (Need information)
andyr (Need information)

-West

Hi west .... sorry but I already have 4 x 47uF/400v Solens which were "liberated" when I changed my AKSAs to LFs recently.  (There was an AKSA PS tweak which involved 47uF Solens across the + & - DC rails.)

So I'm afraid I won't be part of your group buy ... unless you find some other caps which sound better than the Solens - since, as kyrill noted, they are not considered to be "top-sounding" caps. 

Regards,

Andy

[whubbard]

Andy, your off the list.

Okay.
Seems we have an issue. It appears the most people seem to want to go with the 20uF solens, so I am going to change the group buy to that.

It is now: 22uF 250V Solens!

I will need to get a price check, but it will be much cheaper.

-West

p.s. It really isn't THAT much smaller, the 47uF is only .3" x .39", but I guess that makes a difference to some. For me, since it has to be off the board anyways, it makes no difference.

[AKSA]

West,

Kyrill makes the good point that a higher quality cap might sound better.

I think this is true, particularly in the position of C7.

However, it's a question of how much.  The fast Solens have been praised before today as very good value for money, but they have the 'bigness' issue (they will look like dog's testicles dangling from the GK1 board, if you pardon the somewhat rustic image....) and THEY ARE VERY HIGH VOLTAGE!!

This application calls for around 10VW.  250VW is just crazy in this topology!!

So, aside from the Wimas which Ron has tried and found wanting, are there any other caps which offer lower values - say 100VW or even 63VW - which might do the job and would be a LOT smaller?  (The size of a cap is proportional to its voltage rating squared, so a 250V cap would be 6.25 units in size, while a 100V cap would be 1 unit in size, that's quite a difference).

I will do a little scouting around the passive pdfs on the web, see if I can come up with something.  A very good place to start would Arcotronics, an Italian components company (which might even be owned by Vishay now, who knows, they own almost every other passive components company!!).

Cheers,

Hugh

[whubbard]

Hugh,

I sent you an email regarding the giant cap size. I have a solution but I want to run it by you first.

Also, I too am thinking that we just might want to go for a really nice cap. If it turns out its only about 10 of us, and we're willing to do it, we could go with a Sonicap Gen I, or if we were all willing to, an Auricap. They are big (and expensive), but if its just a few of us that really care about our GK-1s, it might be worth it. I for one am highly considering it. Also, my 'solution' might be viable among us as well.

-West

p.s. After looking at a bunch of 'audiophile' caps, the lowest volatage that we could get at 20uF, 22uF, or 47uF is 200V.

[AKSA]

West,

Have a gander at this cap from RelCap:

http://www.reliablecapacitors.com/audiocap_1.html

Hugh

[whubbard]

Hugh,

That looks like a pretty good cap. I will contact about prices.

-West

[LM]

West,

I hugely welcome your enthusiasm and efforts but in thinking about whether (or in reality when) to get on the buying bandwagon, I can’t help but think that the Solens at least on the face of it appear to be a proven quantity and whilst logic says there are probably better sounding caps out there, that may not eventually prove to be the case.  So I am personally tossing up as to whether to go with what 2 people now say sounds good, or sit back till someone finds better (or fails to) which might take a while.   Of course, a further alternative is that I could actually get off my butt and try something different myself.  Hmmmm.

[whubbard]

I think this group buy will have no choice but to go with what the majority wants, so that is how it will be done. It might be a bit complicated for the next few days, but hopefully it will figure itself out. Seems that some might want to give some high end caps a shot!

-West

[stvnharr]

West,

Have a gander at this cap from RelCap:

http://www.reliablecapacitors.com/audiocap_1.html

Hugh

I've used PPMF caps in speaker crossovers.  A 20uf PPMF cap is pretty big, bigger than a Solen!
However, PPMF's are thought of more highly than Solens in speaker crossovers.  For electronics, ?????
Yet, in the Tempoelectric, I think that what the site was, that had the big cap comparison, neither the Solen nor the PPMF was thought of too highly, FWIW.

Steve

[whubbard]

I believe Hugh was just pointing out a cap considered to be more 'audiophile' and under 200V as I had said I couldn't find one. Size was not a factor here...because yes, there are basically as big as the solens.

-West

[AKSA]

Ah West, Steve,

The vagaries of choosing components - it's a nightmare, isn't it?     I go through these logistical contortions every time I do a new product, and when you lay out the pcb, you have to settle on difficult choices and hope that for the life of the product those choices are still viable in the market in the years ahead......   

Sometimes you have to buy up 2K of the component because it's obsolete and you know renewing will be impossible.  This applies to the 100V Rifa 216Z I use as charge suckout on my amps - these are just wonderful caps, but are no longer made.  Aside from the cost issues, there are then shelf space problems....  ah, life is grand, no?   

Back to my emails,

Hugh

[Felipe]

Hello there,

I will not miss the group buy but my thoughts are with Kyrill, we should get Caps as good as it gets.
I will go wherever the group goes... i'll send you PM.

Lets tune that GK!
Felipe

[whubbard]

We should get Caps as good as it gets.

I'm liking the way this is headed!! 

-West

[whubbard]

Alright,

We need to figure this out at somepoint so I can actually start to get organized.
I am going to wait until Ron gets back with his Gen I comparison, but I'm guess that we will actually be going with 20uF Sonicap Gen I. I think that the group we have here is willing to spend $108 (at most, before any discout) on a mod like this. I will once again match the capacitors as close as I can given the volume. I am basically going to turn this into a discussion thread for deciding what the group buy is for. Once we have decided I will create a new thread so it will all be organized.

If you are interested in the group buy you can easily let me know here or by email and I will definitely add you to my list. Also, please feel free to join in the discussion on cap choice.

-West

Wow! Great news on the Gen I:
At this point (25+ Caps): $76.3 + Shipping
50+ Caps: $65.4
100+ Caps: $54.5

Not bad...not bad...

[andyr]

Alright,

We need to figure this out at somepoint so I can actually start to get organized.
I am going to wait until Ron gets back with his Gen I comparison, but I'm guess that we will actually be going with 20uF Sonicap Gen I. I think that the group we have here is willing to spend $108 (at most, before any discout) on a mod like this. I will once again match the capacitors as close as I can given the volume. I am basically going to turn this into a discussion thread for deciding what the group buy is for. Once we have decided I will create a new thread so it will all be organized.

If you are interested in the group buy you can easily let me know here or by email and I will definitely add you to my list. Also, please feel free to join in the discussion on cap choice.

-West

Wow! Great news on the Gen I:
At this point (25+ Caps): $76.3 + Shipping
50+ Caps: $65.4
100+ Caps: $54.5

Not bad...not bad...

Hi West,

If Ron reports back that the Gen Is are better than the Solens ... then I'm in, mate!   

Regards,

Andy

[kyrill]

me too
and i assume the S.Gen.1 will sound better
I just bought 2 x 22 uF Gen 1 to "pimp" my silverline Duet speakers
and the caps were rather big