2. speakers
  3. 194507-13640

Don't Neglect to check your Caps!

Lately, my system has been sounding oddly dark.

At first, I wondered whether my recently acquired VooDoo Dynasty ac cords were still settling in, then it occured to me that it might be worthwhile having my 18 year old Silverline monitors checked out. 

I found a local tech (Mike at Neal’s Speaker Service in Colfax, CA) who told me the tweeters were fine but the caps were on their way out. I gave him the go ahead to replace them and wow, what a difference!  One advantage to waiting as long as I did is that the contrast is dramatic and immediately apparent, not that I’d advocate this as a deliberate strategy.

I guess it’s like the slowly-cooking frog analogy. Our ears can adjust to slowly degrading sound and we won’t necessarily notice it until it reaches a tipping point. 

 

 

 

 

stuartk
stuartk OP
3,587 posts
 

@waytoomuchstuff 

You could be right about the "twofer".

I was doing a lot of running around that day and neglected to ask what, exactly, the tech used as a replacement. Sure made a big difference, though. 

AlI I know, is the sound is improved from bottom to top. 

Before the replacement, I was aware the mids were compressed and highs were rolled off. But now, the bass sounds better defined than before, as well.  It’s as though frequency has been enhanced over all audible frequencies. 

Maybe you can explain why? 

 

stuartk OP
3,587 posts
 

@waytoomuchstuff 

I meant to say, it's as though transparency has been enhanced...

waytoomuchstuff's avatar
waytoomuchstuff
1,255 posts
 

@stuartk 

I'll to do my best here, but I'm not an engineer.  Anything in the signal path changes the signal.  Upgrade a component, and the sound will change.  We can throw in a thesaurus full of relevant audiophile terms here, but more of what you want, and less of what you don't want is a fairly standard result when better stuff, or more integrity i the signal path is introduced.

stuartk OP
3,587 posts
 

@waytoomuchstuff 

OK. I was specifically puzzled by the fact that I hadn't noticed degradation in the bass and was surprised to discover it was better after the re-cap, too. 

More to discover