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Thoughts on replacing caps in 30 year old speakers

Thiel cs7 to be exact . Worth the investment ? Upgradew internal wiring at same time ? Thoughts please .
128x128maplegrovemusic
maplegrovemusic's avatar
maplegrovemusic OP
1,113 posts
 
Around 40 caps per speaker . Solen . Could just redo with solen . Biggest cap priced out around $10 . Have zero experience with speaker building , can the solens be easily improved upon ? With the costs being reasonable ?
pryso
1,950 posts
 
From my reading it is the electrolytic caps which deteriorate with time and change value.  If your crossover contains any of those they will be the candidates for replacement.

"Upgrading" any other caps will more likely be a matter of taste.  As rcprince suggested, it may not necessarily be better than what the speaker designer chose.

jl35
4,083 posts
 
I like the idea of replacing with new version of same caps - remember too that you are used to the sound with the old caps and have sort of adjusted your listening to them...
timlub
2,042 posts
 

Changing caps to a very different part will be audible,  but it will not re create this speaker... It will be more like a difference in character of the speaker.... slightly more or less detail, slightly more rolled off or more extended,  etc,  but it will not be like changing speakers.  This speaker used very good parts overall and it would take a expensive upgrade to make a noticeable difference.  For me,  not worth them money,  For You?

Good Luck either way,  Tim

jsd52756's avatar
jsd52756
451 posts
 
There is a capacitor review on humblehomadehifi.com that you may find interesting.  He tested a bunch of them and wrote his impression.  I thought about replacing the capacitors in my Infinity Renaissance 90 speakers a few years back but never seemed to have the ambition or time.  Evidently Infinity tested each capacitor installed and if it wasn't up to spec they would add, delete or change until it read proper.  Two of the same crossovers may have different capacitors in them.  I figured there was more of a chance of me messing it up that fixing anything.
Good luck , John
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