[jcg0322]

I hope I am in the right forum for this problem. I wanted to replace the components in my crossover network because the system is very old (1974?).
It's a Jensen 3-way with a 15" woofer 4" midrange and a couple of tweeters.
There are two capacitors and an inductor inside the box. There is a 4 micro Farad 25 volt and an 8 micro Farad 30 volt capacitor. I cannot tell if they are electrolytic or have any polarity. If these components are non polar then it would be very difficult to find replacements.
Newark electronics has these values but they have polarity (electrolytic).
Does anyone have any knowledge or experience on upgrading these components?
Thank you in advance for your input.
Jack

[Æ]

Probably not the correct forum. . . Never use polarized electrolytics in a passive crossover. If you choose to use electrolytics, use NP (non polarized) electrolytics. However a true capacitor is an AC device and as such has no polarity. That bit about polarity applies only to electrolytics, either wet aluminum electrolytic or dry tantalum electrolytic. Go ahead and use film capacitors instead. Practically any grade of film capacitor is going to be better than an electrolytic. Don't worry about the voltage of the capacitors when using film capacitors, because film capacitors are rated so much higher than you'll ever need for passive crossover use. Electrolytics can be borderline with their voltages, which is another good reason to stay away from electrolytics in passive crossover use. Places such as PartsExpress and Madisound stock plenty of crossover components at affordable prices. If you are unable to locate exact value capacitors, you can always add them together. For instance a 10uf capacitor paralleled with a 12uf capacitor totals 22uf. It's not difficult to locate a wide variety of good film capacitors suitable for crossover use. Go to the PartsExpress website and look around there. I absolutely cannot stand electrolytics for crossovers, stay away from them. Use polypropylene (film and foil).

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-loudspeaker-precision-1.cfm