I am very glad this very long thread has worked out so well for so many of us...
The actual cause of the start of this thread was when I installed a full new crossover into my speakers on one side with Sonicaps vs. the vintage foil caps. Like most people I think I wanted to believe that my work (time) and money was making things better. The new caps with all this progress (of 30 years) were much smaller. I had my wife come down almost grudgingly to listen. I wanted a blind test listener. She listened blind to the 30 year old crossover and the brand new one. She went WOW that one is clearly way better! She said that one just sounds sooooo much better and real you must be really happy?
The problem was and I did not tell her (she was really impressed) she was picking the vintage foil in oil caps!!! That caused the start of this thread as I went this is not just bolt in new parts sound better. The thread started as just a sharing of thoughts.
I was under the impression all new caps better than all old ones? So I said I have to go up the quality scale and get some Mundorf Supreme's (which were better) and Duelund was the same style as the vintage but much better!
Oddly enough for someone reading this thread VSF was not chosen as a snooty exotic cap it was the only one that was better in all ways to the vintage caps. In fact the VSF might fit the bill of being 10-30% better in the midrange (not super huge) the tweeter caps were a 100% better!
I was impressed and shocked (by all of this) and started to read all of Steen Duelund's writing that I could and that I could understand.
Then I tried the CAST tweeter caps putting one speaker against another a VSF vs. CAST comparison. I was ready to really put my ears on to see if I could hear a difference. I literally thought I wired something up wrong going to the CAST tweeter speaker putting my ear to it to see if it was still working! To my shock there was just sooooo much less noise. People had told me (including Frederick) that of course the difference was not going to be like vintage to VSF but it was at least as big to my shock!
Now let us all be speaker manufactures for awhile. The common number I hear is $12k in the speakers allows for $2k in manufacturing costs? We are a very small market caring about sound quality rather than appearance. Steen talked about this in some of his papers on why there had been so little progress on sound quality yet stunning finishes on new speakers but this is for the eyes not the ears.
Thanks for all the nice comments about this thread but we really all owe a lot to Steen (now Frederik) for making these improvements and it goes to show the money must be in sexy speakers...
Now for the second blind test.
I took the amp in knowing not guessing something was wrong with the sound but not knowing what is was? In seeing the leaking CAST I went wow it had not been leaking that long either.
The amp builder (who is an absolute great guy!) said "that is why I do not like these exotic caps". He meant it like it was all a farce, waste of money or maybe that he has not had failures in his machine made caps? I have talked about having him over to hear the speakers but am worried...
I already know it sounds better than any amp I have heard in his store for repair and he has had some good ones!
His comment guys are exactly why we do not have high end parts in many speakers or amps. He has a vested financial interest in NOT thinking expensive caps sound better... (or heaven forbid if they were not as reliable)
To me I can deal with wiring in another cap I have only had one go bad but I can not handle crappy sound from a cap that lasts forever...
The actual cause of the start of this thread was when I installed a full new crossover into my speakers on one side with Sonicaps vs. the vintage foil caps. Like most people I think I wanted to believe that my work (time) and money was making things better. The new caps with all this progress (of 30 years) were much smaller. I had my wife come down almost grudgingly to listen. I wanted a blind test listener. She listened blind to the 30 year old crossover and the brand new one. She went WOW that one is clearly way better! She said that one just sounds sooooo much better and real you must be really happy?
The problem was and I did not tell her (she was really impressed) she was picking the vintage foil in oil caps!!! That caused the start of this thread as I went this is not just bolt in new parts sound better. The thread started as just a sharing of thoughts.
I was under the impression all new caps better than all old ones? So I said I have to go up the quality scale and get some Mundorf Supreme's (which were better) and Duelund was the same style as the vintage but much better!
Oddly enough for someone reading this thread VSF was not chosen as a snooty exotic cap it was the only one that was better in all ways to the vintage caps. In fact the VSF might fit the bill of being 10-30% better in the midrange (not super huge) the tweeter caps were a 100% better!
I was impressed and shocked (by all of this) and started to read all of Steen Duelund's writing that I could and that I could understand.
Then I tried the CAST tweeter caps putting one speaker against another a VSF vs. CAST comparison. I was ready to really put my ears on to see if I could hear a difference. I literally thought I wired something up wrong going to the CAST tweeter speaker putting my ear to it to see if it was still working! To my shock there was just sooooo much less noise. People had told me (including Frederick) that of course the difference was not going to be like vintage to VSF but it was at least as big to my shock!
Now let us all be speaker manufactures for awhile. The common number I hear is $12k in the speakers allows for $2k in manufacturing costs? We are a very small market caring about sound quality rather than appearance. Steen talked about this in some of his papers on why there had been so little progress on sound quality yet stunning finishes on new speakers but this is for the eyes not the ears.
Thanks for all the nice comments about this thread but we really all owe a lot to Steen (now Frederik) for making these improvements and it goes to show the money must be in sexy speakers...
Now for the second blind test.
I took the amp in knowing not guessing something was wrong with the sound but not knowing what is was? In seeing the leaking CAST I went wow it had not been leaking that long either.
The amp builder (who is an absolute great guy!) said "that is why I do not like these exotic caps". He meant it like it was all a farce, waste of money or maybe that he has not had failures in his machine made caps? I have talked about having him over to hear the speakers but am worried...
I already know it sounds better than any amp I have heard in his store for repair and he has had some good ones!
His comment guys are exactly why we do not have high end parts in many speakers or amps. He has a vested financial interest in NOT thinking expensive caps sound better... (or heaven forbid if they were not as reliable)
To me I can deal with wiring in another cap I have only had one go bad but I can not handle crappy sound from a cap that lasts forever...