Best Capacitors for Crossovers
I am now in the tweaking stage of trying different caps in my crossovers for my DIY homemade 2 way. I presently have and will soon try a 5.6uf 800 vdc +/- 2% Jantzen Audio Silver Z-cap.
I see that Mundorf, V Cap get a lot of accolades, and the Dueland are quite pricey.
Does anyone have a favorite?
I am trying to cross over at about 4500HZ at 6db.
Ozzy, Here is a link to the LM-1 speaker kit. This particular page discusses the crossover, and how the tweeter level is set. http://speakermakersjourney.blogspot.com/2016/05/lm-1-bookshelf-crossover.html Best, Erik |
Eric, I can't open your sample files. The woofer I'm using is 90db and crossing over at 4500hz seems to be quite fine. Perhaps the tweeter is a little too much but with my "old" ears sounds pretty good to me. Even at this early stage of breakin my DIY 2-way sounds better than many of my other high priced speakers including B&W's. I tried to limit the amount of components in the crossover networks. As I stated earlier I made the crossover in a external box. They were made bi-wired, with separate wbt posts . For the woofer, I used military spec cryoed 12 gauge silver/copper wire. The inductor is also 12 gauge. With the tweeters I used 14 gauge pure .9999 silver wire internally and the Jantzan Silver 5.6uf Cap. I just ordered a DEQX Premate, with my JL Audio F-113 subs this ought to turn into something really special. |
I like the Duelund Cast caps for speaker crossovers and use them on the tweeter / midrange panels of my Magnepan 3.6s. They sound amazingly clear and natural. They're almost as good as a Pass Labs 3 way active crossover used on the bass panels and subs. When you consider the benefits of extra amp power and direct drive of the latter, that's saying something. I'm glad I bought them years ago, as now they require a third mortgage! I recently added the Duelund silver foil wax and Oil .01uF bypasses to the tweeters. I'm not a big fan of silver. Much more subtle changes, but ok, so I'm going to leave them in. |
barrysandy, Thanks for reviving this thread. Those Duelund caps are verrrryyy pricey! I ended up installing Mundorf silver/gold/oil caps. And I switched to the Aurtum Cantus G1 tweeters. There is about a 14 db.SPL difference between this tweeter and the mid/woofers I am using. So, now my quest is to install resistors to pad down the tweeter. I will use a 6.2 and a 2 ohm resistors that are rated at 10 watt. Question: Most high end resistors are rated between 5-12 watts. This seems rather low to me, is that enough wattage? |
