speaker capacitors-----leave alone or does it open pandora's box ?

@Kosst_amojan     what type Audyn you mean ?
Red, white or pure copper?  Or better  because is better?

Gang,

Just FYI, I have measured capacitance, and ESR (equivalent series resistance) as I have modded speakers.

I have been fortunate enough to speak with capacitor manufacturers about this particular subject, and their experience mirrors my own: neither ESR nor absolute capacitance explains perceived sound quality.

For a while, there was a belief ESR mattered, probably because film caps were universally better than bi-polar electrolytic. From my experience it does not make a difference so long as you properly compensate for loss in ESR with additional resistance. Some high ESR films sound better than low ESR film caps. The original Clarity MR come to mind as relatively high ESR film caps(but my memory is now foggy).

@Kosst - See, your recommendation for Solen’s seems much more reasonable. I will say I’ve only tried Audyn’s top end, the TrueCopper, and these at the suggestion of SpeakerDoctor (RIP). At Solen's low end I have not been very impressed. I think if the OP wanted to experiment with top end Solen bypass caps, and maybe some Mundorf Supreme’s he’d learn a great deal.

If you look back at my first suggestions, I keep trying to suggest the OP spend moderate amounts and experiment for himself. I think that was the last paragraph in your previous post, right? How much is a pair of Solen top-end 0.1uF caps? Probably pretty easy to try out. 

Best,

Erik

Thanks @grannyring !

I will say, Mundorf top end caps are weird. Magico is a big fan of them. Now, as I often say, BUY WHAT YOU LIKE!

To my ears, the Mundorf supreme’s scintillate. They aren’t bright so much as they sparkle. Like they saturate the top end with color.

Again, BUY WHAT YOU LIKE, but that’s what I hear, and many, many love that. I prefer the calmer and translucent waters of the Clarity line myself, but that doesn’t prevent me from hearing the differences and understanding some are really going to want to bring that sound home.

Best,

Erik

It is amazing the level on sonic improvement that can be realized with smart cap, inductor and resistor upgrades in speakers. Most builders use run of the mill and “cheap” crossover parts in their $20,000 speakers. They do it to save money. That simple. 

This is something I’ve never quite accepted about high end audio. If the sonic improvement is “amazing” by flipping $1 caps for $40 caps, why wouldn’t the builder do that themselves? To fetch $20k for your speakers you gotta sound amazing; and the return on cost for being able to sell them in another tier should be huge. So why don’t they do it? The only answer I can come up with is that it doesn’t make a difference; or the difference it does make doesn’t fit the sound the builder is going for. 

If I can make my $10k speakers sound like $15k with $300 worth of parts... why didn’t the guy do that and sell them to me for $15k?