Capacitors in Cary PH302 phono amp

I debated about posting this as it may be of limited general interest, but thought it may be of use to owners of the Cary PH302.

Following Reb and Dover's advice above I finally got to swapping out the Cary Audio 1 oil cap in the PS of the 302. While I was satisfied with the sound of the Cary with the output caps substituted, it did have a softness on transients that wasn't entirely to my liking. The integrated phono of the ARC SP16 was superior in this regard.
I was curious about whether this cap (not directly in the signal path) would have much effect. Due to space requirements choice of substitution caps was somewhat limited. The Multicap PPFXS (polypropylene/tinfoil) I chose fit easily and had a fairly good rep for PSU use. I used the same value .22uF/600V, though the voltage rating is overkill in this application.

The improvement in sound (after run in) was beyond my expectations.
Transient reproduction is massively improved - but without etch or over-emphasis. The soundstage is more open and tranparent with instruments and performers much more lifelike and 'in the room'. The phono amp retains its engaging beauty but now has realistic attack and decay.

There doesn't seem to be any downside, but agressive recordings don't get the same 'massaging' as they did with the oil cap in place. I don't think there is any doubt that the Multicap produces the more accurate and realistic sound in my system though.

Thanks again to Reb and Dover for the heads up regarding this substitution.

Tobes, just for me to get it clear. You removed the $90 Audio 1 oil capacitor from the PSU and put instead a $5 Multicap...Cary is now promoting upgrades to older equipment and one of them is replacing in older tube preamps the original Kimber coupling capacitors with the .22uF 600V oil Audio 1's (two of them)....I gather, given your experience, that the Audio 1's are not optimal or suitable for power supply use but, it appears, they may work rather well as coupling capacitors (with some kind of bypass, I would assume). Love to hear what Rob and Dover could comment on this.

Yes (I think those PPFXS tin foil caps actually cost around $10).

And it was a much bigger improvement than changing the coupling caps to the Mundorf silver-oil.
Its baffling that a capacitor in the power supply could effect the sound so much. From the midrange up the sound is so much more realistic: more transparent/faster/cleaner. The oil cap dulls transients and softens/veils the sound.
NOTE: I've only heard the PS cap change with the Mundorf output caps - ie I didn't go back to assess the PS cap change on its own.

If you do some googling I think you'll find quite a few people don't like the Audio 1 oil caps for coupling duties either.
If they really cost $90, maybe I should put mine on ebay - that would pay for the Mundorfs!

Tobes' findings didn't surprise me at all. I bought several Audio 1 oil caps from Cary many years ago and never found a place where I liked them. They had all the worst traits of oil caps (softness on leading edges, loose bass lacking in impact, and overall murky sound) without any benefits. In my opinion, etc. I am not a big fan of oil caps generally, but Jensen copper/oil caps sounded a lot better than the Audio 1s.

Thanks, guys. Tobes, you are right, it is $5.44. for the 400V version, $8.45 for the 600V, at Parts ConneXion. You can see Audio 1's $90 price (charged by Cary,instalation extra) here: http://www.caryaudio.com/upgrades.html

Selectric,your negative experience with Audio 1's, was with Cary equipment, wasn't it? As you can see in link, Cary's pitch for them is quite forceful (being cynical, a sizable unused stock, perhaps? [wink]). Otherwise, afer all this years, would it be possible that Cary discovered some positive synergy using Audio 1's as coupling caps in early Cary tube preamps? As you can see in link, Cary is also offering the coupling cap mod using the Jensen copper/oil caps you mention (in my case it would be for a stock SLP 98 Cary tube preamp)...any further thoughts?

Thanks again!