[cujobob]

I am having a pair of speakers built for me that come standard with Solen caps, what would be a good upgrade without breaking the bank?

In the tweeter signal path there are 1uF and 8uF values, and a 35 uF going to the woofer.  I may just stick with switching out the tweeter caps with Jantzen Z Superiors but wanted to hear some other opinions.  Also, I am not looking to bypass the caps as I've read differing views on that.  If this is the wrong forum, my apologies.




Dave

[JoshK]

You might want to try a motor run cap for the 35uf value.  You might be surprised!

I really don't care to comment on the rest as I think this is really a personal preference thing and everyone like their own cap but I think it is entirely system dependent.

[emac]

I really don't care to comment on the rest as I think this is really a personal preference thing and everyone like their own cap but I think it is entirely system dependent.

Agreed.  It does come down to personal preference in a lot of cases.  It also is sometimes more challenging than you'd expect to make sure that you come up with the values that were originally used.  So, 8uF and 35uF are not values that are made by all companies.  You may end up having to put 2 caps in rather than 1. 

The Jantzen Z Superiors are supposedly very good for the price (haven't tried myself).  Obbligato's are also often good choices. 

[face]

Sonic Caps would be a nice improvement over Solen, but as others have mentioned, it comes down to personal preference.

What kind of sound are you looking for?  Solen are harsh and grainy.  Are you looking for something smoother but still forward, something warmer, etc...

And what's your budget?

[cujobob]

My understanding is that while Solens aren't bad caps, there are massive improvements to be had with other caps available.  Dr. Geddes buys the Solens from Madisound so I can match the values based on what is listed there.  Jantzens are my likely choice mostly because the values match.  Just looking for opinions since I can't actually compare caps too well.

[face]

Maybe you should wait till they're done and broken in, and take things from there.

[cujobob]

I wouldn't trust myself to touch the crossover in this speaker so I'm having new caps be put in at first build.

[face]

For the money, it's hard to beat Sonic Caps.  But if you're looking for a more forward sound, Mundorf Silver in Oil sound great.  Duelund is the bee's knees, but just short of them and for a lot less Claritycap MR's are the most dynamic and natural sounding caps I've heard. 

[JoshK]

I haven't tried those Jantzens, but I did try some other Jantzens and like them (for crossovers too).  The tweeter caps make the biggest difference I think, but I haven't done the controlled test for that.   

I've tried SonicCaps, Auricaps, AudioCap Thetas, Solens, Jantzens and a whole host more, but in various places.  Like for instance, I've tried SonicCaps and Auricaps in a line stage coupling and liked the SonicCaps, YMMV.  I've tried the Auricaps vs Solen in one speaker, AudioCap vs Solen vs Jantzen in another speaker. 

The differences are subtle but they are there.  The thetas were the most revealing from memory but they were expensive.  I'd probably opt for the Jantzens.

[face]

If you decide to go with Jantzen, whatever you do, avoid their cheap like(blue caps, silver writing), they're very rolled off on both ends. 

[mgalusha]

I've become quite fond of the Jantzen Z-Superior. I need an 8uF but they did not have one available at the time. I used a 3.3 and a 4.7 in parallel. They are physically quite large, supposedly they have double windings to cancel inductance in the same fashion as the Mundorf but at a much lower cost. I have some Obbligato in my Meadowlarks and preferred them to the Sonicap Gen I that were in there previously.

[cujobob]

Any opinion of the Audiocap theta?

Should the 10% tolerance or somewhat low voltage rating be concerning?

[dweekie]

I would probably suggest Sonicaps, Obbligatos, or Jantzen Superior Z.  These seem to be safe choices with similar price ranges.  I lean towards the Obbligatos (haven't tried Jantzens but heard they were a touch brighter - or detailed depending on your word choice), but all of these tend to have a large number of users and positive reviews.  A lot of other caps seem to be hit or miss (or just plain expensive). 

There are a few cap review sites around, but these are completely personal opinions. 

http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html
http://www.tempoelectric.com/caps.htm

[markC]

I also like the z-superior, but my experience is in the coupling position of my dac. They replaced sonicap gen1 by passed with .1 platinum.
To my ears, a smoother sound, (less bark in vocals especially), without any percieved loss of detail.