Best Capacitors for Crossovers

I forgot to mention runin time  for cheap caps like standard Solen 50- 75 hours
for good Clarity  caps they they reach about 80% runin around 100 hours,
200+ to get close to full refinement . Mundorf ,Jupiter,Duelund 
3-400 hours sometimes longer.  There are several factors ,the bigger higher voltages take longer ,s well as the higher the uF - micro fared  longer .
and at what SPL volume all 3 factors come into play . You can cut this in 1/2
by using a top breakin cd . I like the Isotek breakin cd , which has on track-3 
a 5 minute tune up  you can use everyday or once a week. Purest Audio has a good one ,as well as Ayre. These all work even at lower volume and are great 
for electronics also.  Contact enhancer the best and endorsed by NASA ,is 
Stabilant-22 ,or straight . I use plain Stabilant last for years and without question 
a liquid super conductor in a sense ,and can be effective of past 10 years per 
applications .i clean tube pins and connections with 99% Isopropyl Alcohol first.
then apply thin coat, give it 30 minutes then use tubes for sure sound better good to over 400 degrees good for any tube. I use on AC even though they don't endorse this .it keeps my Copper contacts from Oxydizing ,as well as enhance 
conductivity. It is a solid tip including Digital contacts ,will not ark or short 
like these Nightmare Silver pastes ,and no residue like pro Gold, or contac.
te Best out there Period, don't comment what sumiko, used to sell it was cut    10-1. Stabilant 22 is 4-1 with Alcohol . I use it straight up you need very little .
$50 for a small bottle I sprung for the $120 you get 3 x the amount .tip of the day.

I've been rolling capacitors too and want some help, I got a handful of capacitors at 10uf from parts express. My speakers are ADS L620 two way with a 10 driver. 


Audyn Caps - Very rounded sound, the brightness is turned down, but still very good, very musical overall. Because they are so well rounded it, it did not go well with my sub. The dynamic range is not as aggressive as other set up. If I did not run a sub these would be the first pick.

Jensen - Sounds very similar to stock caps, in retaining the sound profile of the speakers, the highs are crisp and clean. Very lively sounding, very good imaging. This along the sub, sounds amazing.

Dayton - good caps too, retain speaker profile, the bottom is tighter or just more rolled off, seems like they would be great with a subwoofer. Similar to Audyn, but not as warm, it is a much flatter sounding. Lacks imaging and soundstage. Bass is tight and fast. Tonal qualities are poor.

Solen - good tonal characteristics, highs are clean, really great mids, has a very transparent feel to them. They have a really nice sweet spot, that just draws your attention with pieces that stay in that spot. Bass is quick and punchy, but not much extension. Nothing particularly stand out then the overall smoothness. Integrate with the sub very well.

So after that, I stuck with Jensen because they were the cleanest sounding caps, but I think I might like to roll capacitors more than tubes.

The Jensen after extended listening images very well, but I think I developed listening fatigue at higher sound levels and long sessions. I think I attribute to the listening fatigue to the high level of seperation and brightness. I think I want something a bit smoother across frequency and retain realism.  

I am tempted to rig my speakers where I can switch caps. Would drilling a small hole in the back of my speaker and leading wires out for cap switching be okay? 

TW,

It sounds like your only playing with one capacitor ?  If so you should try to charge couple the capacitor - basically for a 10uF cap you will need two 20uF capacitors, Just uses the Dayton ones they come in 20uF  put the two in series and install as the 10Uf cap, to the midpoint attach a 1M Ohm resistor - then use a 9V battery install between the crossovers negative post and the 1M Ohm resistor - you'll be surprised ?

You can google for more information


Best of Luck


Peter

thewatcher101,

Well at this point I feel I am a seasoned DIY selfer when it comes to crossovers.
I installed exterior crossover boxes complete with spiked feet in order to experiment. Having the crossovers out of the speaker cabinets may also help sound quality by eliminating vibrations.

I used the dual banana’s on the back of the speaker to connect a short bi-wire banana lead to the external crossovers. Of course this implies that you must first bypass the internal crossovers. After trying several brands I settled on Mundorf silver, gold, oil. Perhaps a little expensive but great depth and soundstage.
Also pay attention to the coils and the wires used in the crossovers. Everything matters...

P.S. I would like to try the high end Dueland caps but they are way to big for even my large external crossover boxes.


ozzy

When rebuilding my Dynaudio S25,s I posted this question on DIY forum and Eric recommended I try the Murdoff MPK,s , I took his advice for the mids and for the tweeters I used the VCap TFTF and CUTFs along with replacing the sand resistors with Mills with great success.

Thank you Eric for the recommendation.