BEST HARMLESS/SIGNATURELESS SPEAKERS CAPACITORS.

Dear friends all of you : " finally " I think I'm done for now and I want to thank's that I did not received the support and advice I was looking for in this Agon forum as I'm accustom to in other Agon forums when I needed for some help.

All those encourage me  to made all the research about capacitors that thinking out of the box carry on to the " poor/humble/ or non-high end " caps as WIMA, KEMET, VISHAY TDK and many others.

That was and is the best  even happened to me in all my old audio life because gave me the opportunity to learn really deep with first hand experiences ( several experiences, both with high end-/snake oil caps and the ones mentioned. ) to find out the true and real :

BEST HARMLESS/SIGNATURELESS SPEAKERS CAPACITORS.

nothing more and nothing less.

I finished using WIMA FKP 1 and KEMET along VYSHAY resistors.

For I can get there was more easy to say that doing due that all these type of cap manufacturers offers hundreds of models in their catalog and I mean it.

Is there a best quality performance cap model between WIMA/KEMET VISHAY ? not really.
My choice for the different manufacturer models in different speakers crossover filters could been a different choice because the " ONES " from those manufacturers are all at the same level.

Yes, Duelund, V-caps, Mundorf Jantzen and the like are nice caps but far away from true. All of them are way colored, all of them makes more harm than help and all of them comes with very bad signatures and no one has the extremely high quality design and excecution to that design than Wima, Kemet or Vishay where against all them the high-end caps looks as been designed and builded by not amateurs but almost a rookie ones. Sorry to tell it but it's true and if something has a white color then we need to say is white color and not black one.

WIMA, KEMET or VISHAY ( KEMET is the usa answer to the other two germany manufacturers ) are not a challenge for the " high-end heavy pricey caps " but outperforms it really easy, there is no contest down there in any single way or qualioty performance characteristic.
No matter what because I try everything.

Now I can say with out doubt that I'm nearest to the recording and that my full compromise with MUSIC it's near to be achieved.

Yes, a very hard task where we need a lot of time ( around 7 months. ) to learn and test items that for me were totally unknowed and where we need the unbiased attitude to do it.

Now I can confirm why N.Pass or D'angostino or M.Levinson or the name you choice use in their top rank electronics caps as Wima and not Duelund .

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

Raul, thanks for the insights.  However, be aware that in critical signal coupling positions, Pass Labs uses capacitors from another capacitor vendor that we both know well.   

Dear @dgarretson : Yes in some models.

Dave, I arrived to WIMA/KEMET/VISHAYS caps by just an " accident " because that’s not what I was looking for when started this thread.
I was looking for the best high end caps no matters what and that’s what I asked to all those gentlemans experts that partyicipated in this thread.

However through the posts I did not find out the rigth kind of advices I was looking for to my specific speaker crossovers caps values because in one crossover filter the cap must be 100uf.

So and due that I had several Wima caps that I had in the closet when I changed by " better " caps in my electronics I ask my self: Wima?, why not ! . Always thinking out of the box.

You can read the different posts I posted here to understand why I’m HERE and why I’m so deep founded in my today crossovers caps in the same way I was deep founded in the high end ones.

In this video you can take a look on Pass electronics and check at 2:31 minutes and you can see those small red and blue color Wima caps and at the 2:56 minutes those grey color Kemet caps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytqk_9z0KMQ


In this other check at 3:25 minute for Wima and at 3:34 minute for Kemet:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytqk_9z0KMQ


Here you can look at 2:20 minute Wima caps used in a phono stage board by SimAudio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytqk_9z0KMQ


Another Simaudio, now an amp. From 1:50 minute to the end:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytqk_9z0KMQ


For those gentlemans that not really know whom Simaudio can look something about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytqk_9z0KMQ


One gentleman in this thread pull the triger and tested a Wima cap somewhere in his system but he really did not like it and I understand him about.

Dave, when you have a little time you can try Wima and Kemet caps in your speakers, normally these caps settle down really fast.

What could be your expectations doing that kind of extreme test?:

first your attitude is not wait the same kind of color signature your speakers already have because through Wima/Kemet you can’t find out that color signature improved one, it's not " improved more of the same ".

You will find out a totally different signature quality performance with no " artificial/unnatural " signature.
What you will find out is a totally COLORLESS speaker MUSIC reproduction with only the natural color MUSIC has.
So, you have to remember exactly how live MUSIC at near field performs because it’s exactly this what you will listen through your speakers.

You can like it or not but this issue is another matters. If your room/system has some kind of non adequated " distortions " ( every kind of it ) in some system chain links you will hear it you will detected because with colorless caps just there are no place to those " distortions " can hide.

Wima/Kemet caps let pass the signal unaltered ( believe or not . ), are direct no was or paper on oil and the like but only true easy engeenering that from many years made it that these kind of caps been and be the overall industries standard even in milatary and aero space applications.

About critical coupling electronics caps use I let you know that almost when started to test the Wima I took a really serious challenge for it.
As you know I use the input coupling cap in my Levinson monobloks not only to coupling but I use that cap as the cap ( along a naked Vishay resistor ) to crossover filter for those monobloks can work only from around 80hz and up.
So, I was using a 0.033uf V-cap teflon Cu down there that for to much the best cap I tested in that couplink/filter.
Well I changed it by the Wima FKP 1 and this industry standard cap outperformed easily the extremely expensive V-cap teflon Cu device.

Btw, I know Pass electronics and admire it from many years since NP was in Threshold even I still own a FET 10 and his active crossover too. I know very well the quality performance level of today Pass phono and line top of the line stages and the designed Essential 360 phonolinepreamp that I own and that was designed and builded by a friend and me even today beats the Pass ones and in my unit in the critical signal boards I used teflon caps and you know hat? I´m thinking to change those teflong caps ( inverse RIAA eq. ) by Wima/Kemet caps.
What sttoped me is that the Essential 360 boards are 4 layers and it’s not easy to make that change and the other issue is that each of our units is individually calibrated and not an easy task too because those caps goes along that RIAA eq resistors too. Anyway I want to do it, I don’t know when but is one of my pending targets in my system.


Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

Dear friends: After all these 3 months that time passed ( I hope all of you are in good health. ) finally arrived the Wima caps that you can buy by order only ( normally the wait time is around 16 weeks, so I was lucky and have to wait only 12 weeks. ) and the Kemet’s that are always in stock.

The Wima caps were hard wired in the mid range crossover instead a very good Kemet and before these last Wima and Kemet I had there other Wima model, Mundorf, Duelund and the last of the " boutique " ones were the Jantzen Alumen Z.

Just from the begining with these latest Wima happens something truly incredible that I believe only because I experienced and still I’m:

-listening through the Phono MC selector in my phonolinepreamp and with a 0.22mv MC cartridge the room/system noise floor not only goes lower but " disappeared " yes as you read it just: disappeared because at full volume with the 95db high speakers efficiency and my ears at 5cms. from the midrange/tweeter drivers exist no sound at all.

If I switch off the phonolinepreamp there is no kind of sound at all and I told my wife that she switch on the PLP with my ears at that close distance and you can perceive nothing but as if the PLP was switch off ! !
The gain in my PLP is 82dbs.
With digital source the listening experiences are impressive for say the least.

I have not an explanation about. Any one of you can figure out why that incredible great fact?

Other great advantage was that the normal female shhh that comes in the recordings just vanish too as the LP surface noise.

Those are some great new characteristics that were added to my room/system and welcomed but the whole quality level perporfamnce goes beyond " imagination " something unexpected that could happens at this very high resolution levels where the boutique caps has nothing to say at all.

Now, that was followed when I received the 28 Kemet caps that in a " crazy " out of the box way of think I decided to use at the woofer? crossover where the value of the cap is 100uf.
Well I connected 14 Kemet caps in parallel at each speaker and voila !, it works wonderful.

Finally after more than one year that I posted this thread finally I can say for sure that I find out the:

" BEST HARMLESS/SIGNATURELESS SPEAKERS CAPACITORS. "

and no one of them is " boutique " one that showed his notorious inferiority by a wide margin.

Finally I’m where I’M and where I never imagine could happens.


If you don’t try with the patience and time need it you will never know what you are losting because the " real " MUSIC is truly hidden in your room/system and is crying for you can disclose it.

Take care all of you along your family.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

Dear friends: In the mid-range crossover I used 4 caps in parallel and only in the band-pass/tweeter filters used single caps. The manufacturers in the choosed models are way limited in the values they handle.

R.