Crossover Capacitors for Accuton Tweeters - Solen -> ClarityCap -> Jupiter -> Duelund


I've got Coincident Pure Reference Extremes with an Accuton ceramic tweeter and have moved through four different capacitors to provide my high pass filtering.  The speakers only have one 4.7uF capacitor in the crossover (no resistors or other components), so it was pretty easy to hear the sound of each cap. 

Started with stock Solen's, then tried Clarity Cap CMR, then Jupiter Copper Foil & Wax, and finally Duelund Tinned Copper CAST.  Just installed the Duelunds on Monday and despite not being broken in, they sound absolutely amazing.  Smooth, sweet, and detailed without any grain or harshness.  Just really spectacular, they let me hear more details while also preventing the tweeters from being aggressive, which has been a problem I've had to work hard on ever since owning the speakers.  

To comment lightly about the other caps I heard, I actually thought the stock Solens were pretty good.  They had a nice sense of color... when I changed out to the clarity cap, things got a little clearer, but felt too neutral.  I read that they are "ruler flat" and found that a good description.  I liked the cleanness, but missed some of the tone & color from the Solens... felt like I got a good combination of those two traits when upgrading to the Jupiter Copper Foils.  After about 6 months of the Jupiters I finally bought the Duelunds as a self-birthday present, and they completely lived up to my (very high) expectations.  Just beautiful, organic music.  Can't wait to see where they go over the next 200 hours.  Only have 10 to 20 on them so far.  

If you've got an accuton tweeter and can handle the stupid cost (and size), I concur with everyone else's recommendations (thanks humblehifi, jeff's place, @charles1dad, & @grannyring), they will make your speakers sound better.
128x128cal3713
Dear @charles1dad  : I'm not saying I'm just rigth because if our reference is live MUSIC then no one can be rigth in any room/system combination no matters what.

I know I'm away from that target and I know too that every single link in the roo/system chain has its own distortions and colorations.
Diastortions/colorations that goes according each one priorities.

Each one of us fine tune our room/system according to those priorities that at the end is what we like it but several of our room/systems has its own limitations, limitations that preclude to really stay " there ".
Always exist beterr electronics or cables or speakers or whatever and no one of us already listening all the options out there so the best we can do is try to do our best effort to stay nearer to our targets.

Duelund's through my speaker tweeters just does not performs as I expected and where the Alumen and Mundorf makes a better job.

The Jantzen Alumen is extremely humble cap against the Duelund/Jupiter/Mundorf and many others and it's not Cu. Talking with Jantzen people told me that in this second part of 2019 they will have the Cu version and certainly I'm waiting for after the good results I achieved with this non Cu Alumen version.

Sweet or smooth characteristics are not in my MUSIC vocabulary, maybe at low SPLs but not at 87db-92db SPL at seat position and certainly in a live event seated at near field listening ( 92db-105dbs+! ).

In the other side same audiophile words has not the same meaning for each one of us and maybe could be an explanation of some of my comments.

Btw, I don't try to say that I'm rigth and he or " you " are wrong. Just different ways to " see the life ".

I'm not try to be condecendent with any one and agree with @cal3713  in his statement:

"""  Definitely it's a journey trying to get them to where I think they can go.  ""

Dear @grannyring  unfortunatelly for all of us our room/systems are different and certainly with different room/system whole signature. As @cal3713  and you and other gentlemans I'm where I like to stay where I enjoy the better my listening sessions and this is the must important fact for each one of us.
At the end my opinion is only that: just another opinion with no single attitude to fend any one or diminish anything at all.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.
Hello Raul,
I appreciate your last post and the clarification of your stance. I do not disagree with anything that you have just written. My only point was This topic/area is by default purely subjective. Each one of us will pursue what we think sounds right/best based on our respective perspectives.

Sweet and smooth is  not part of your music listening vocabulary and I can respect that as it is simply based on “Your” Live music listening experiences. Ironically sweet and smooth are characteristics I immediately notice in the presence of live musicians playing un-amplified instruments. As you note it's quite possible that these terms have different connotations to us individually. 

You and I are just an example of two music lovers with extensive exposure to live music who perceive things differently. I appreciate your contributions to this site.
Sincerely,
Charles
"enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS."  Friends, Raul has said a lot with that statement.  

Forgive me, but I've been down an epistemological rabbit hole for the last couple of years with respect to in home reproduction of music.    So I am going to challenge what might seem like an indisputable maxim.   Now mind you, I replaced my dearly beloved 300B Frankensteins with my equally beloved Atma-Sphere M-60's, precisely because the Franks, in my system and room, were driven to OBJECTIONABLE levels of distortion.  It would seem clear, would it not, that I would accept Raul's premise?  Sorry.  I have to ask, "What is wrong with enjoying distortions?"   If a 300B amp delivers an engaging listening experience with 3-4% 2nd harmonic distortion, so what?   What is wrong with that?  Does a 300B with all of its glorious midrange bloom deliver a typical live venue experience?  I would answer that question no, but clearly others would answer that with an emphatic yes!  I don't frequent the same venues as Charles, and those venues with which I have experience don't even deliver a consistent voice.  Charles isn't objectively wrong or right to prefer his Franks over other amps he has tried.  Cal3713 isn't objectively wrong or right to prefer the Duelunds over something else.   The have gotten what they sought from the choices they made.  That means they made good choices.

I'm not so sure that accurate reproduction of a live venue is even the desirable target.  I once heard Isaac Stern performing a work in a venue that was dead.  Somehow, he managed to emulate the death cry of a tortured cat with his violin.   I would not be interested in reproducing that performance in my listening room. 

We all listen critically to music for a reason, but I suspect we do not all listen to music for the same reason.  In fact, I as an individual listener don't always listen for the same reason.  Sometimes, I want Beethoven.  Sometimes I want Chopin or Schubert.  Sometimes, most of the time actually, I want Bach.  Why?  I won't take the time to provide the answer.  If you know the music, you understand my point. 

There is a place for first principle knowledge, and there is a place for experientially (or experimentally) gained knowledge, and there are different types of experiential knowledge.   Those who achieve their goals have usually done so by balancing the science and the esthetic elements. 

Sorry for the rant.  Too much intolerance of intellectual diversity has become the norm.  
Hi Bill,
I like your "rants" they’re grounded in logic and stimulate thought. Given the gist of Raul’s 2nd post I believe he’d agree with you. No room, system or component is without fault and we as listeners choose and live with our accepted/inevitable compromises. A couple of years ago I heard jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove perform at a local jazz club. My table was at the very front of the stage. I could have reached out and touched his horn. While playing some ballads with his fugelhorn the tone was  utterly full, warm and saturated with beautiful richness. Just sheer beauty. This is what I hear, I can’t speak for what others may hear. In my humble opinion many components strip away this very real warmth and harmonic richness in the chase for so called accuracy and detail.

A live vibraphone, tenor saxophone or cello for example are just undeniably rich and tull of color and richness in my live listening experiences. It seems in current High End audio these qualities are to be shunned and have taken on a negative connotation. This mindset doesn’t work for me. For me a good 300b amp doesn’t add color, it preserves it.
Charles
This thread took an interesting turn... always good to hear everyone's opinions.