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Replacement capacitors exploding

I replaced the capacitors in the crossovers in my Klipsch KSM-1 stage monitors.
There is a capacitor that runs parallel to the woofer which had blown in a couple of my dozen stage monitors. They are from the 90s, which is not ancient, but I figured maybe that age is a factor so I swapped them all out.

The replacement capacitors have all of the same numbers printed on them but are a fraction of the physical size, and in just one season almost all of them have blown. I don’t think they were being pushed harder.

Is there a way for me to order capacitors with the same specs printed on them that are also heavier duty in some other way?
jamesheyser
fiesta75
1,378 posts
 
I absolutely agree about Clarity caps, they are excellent. I'm not sure the benefit would justify the cost for "stage monitors", but that's up to him. I personally haven't use caps in my home speakers in many years as I like active crossovers so much better. Silver plated copper for me.
rodman99999
6,094 posts
 
     ClarityCap makes excellent capacitors.

     Matter of fact: I have four ESA25, 250V and two ESA 50, 250V caps looking for a home. Also: two Mundorf, CFC14 (14Ga), .46 Ohm, 2.7 mH, air core inductors, looking for a good home (someone that actually intends to use them), for the cost of UPS shipping, if anyone is interested.
     I was experimenting with a pair of Maggie MG12 crossovers and ended up going with some Emerald Physics speakers, some years back.

     ANYWAY: The OP’s systems are stage monitors. Whether vocalists or musicians: hearing themselves, on a stage, with everything else that’s playing around them, is always a challenge and ultra high fidelity, imaging, etc: never much of an issue.

     Not that I mean to put words in the OP’s mouth.   Just sayin’.

     The caps he needs: used from inductor output to ground, in a 12 dB/oct network.  Absolutely no need for such high-Dollar caps as Clarity’s.

     We’d been in contact, via PM, a few times and he’s disappeared, of late.  Perhaps: having found his caps?
rodman99999
6,094 posts
 
@fiesta- We must have been typing at the same time, but: you beat me to the punch, per the thoughts on stage monitors (to much editing, here).
fiesta75
1,378 posts
 
Maybe he solved his cap problem, I hope.
jamesheyser OP
3 posts
 
I’m mulling over what I’ve learned, here and elsewhere. I had 17 of these boxes in various stages of disrepair, a handful of them worked sort of OK.

So the first thing I noticed was these blown capacitors, so I posted, but I’ve had a lot of other work to do, assessing blown and not stock drivers, repairing jack plates, and cleaning compression diaphragms and painting duratex etc.

i’m not sure all of them had drivers that met the stock ohm rating, that may have been a factor, although so many of them were blown I have a hard time believing that accounts for everything.

My gut tells me that the bipolar capacitors, while rated at the same voltage, simply couldn’t take the same degree of abuse that the non-polar ones did.
I think I’m going to biAmping a lot of them and rebuild a few of them with really nice crossover parts for when I’m doing smaller gigs and just need a simple set up.
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