Many of the "problems" that one runs into when modifying speakers are that the "high grade" replacement caps are not oriented with the proper "polarity". While some will question the validity of a comment that states that non-polarized caps can be installed with the incorrect polarity, please read on.
Caps have an inner winding and and outer winding. As such, one can orient two caps, which look the same and have the printing facing the same way, in the opposite directions within identical circuits. The end result is a fuzzy mess with a lack of focus and cohesiveness. Another common side-effect is blurring of imagery and an increase in harshness. As such, one should go to the trouble of "polarizing" the caps so that they all share common directionality prior to installation. Bare in mind that, just because the labels / printing on the caps are all facing the same direction, the caps may not share common polarities / connections inside the cases. There is a trick to finding the correct polarity and once you do this, you will instantly know what i am talking about. One can see the differences in polarity on a scope once you learn the "trick".
Once this is done, you will find that having all of the caps polarized in one direction will sound different than if you reverse the polarity of all of the caps within the circuit. In such instances, there is no right and wrong, so choose which orientation sounds best to you.
On top of that, caps used within speakers can take a long time to fully break in. Due to the very dynamic ( read this as being "sporadic" or "non-steady state" ) signals that are applied to them, the caps don't really "form" like those that are used in power supplies or line level signals that are relatively constant. As such, one can "form" the capacitors prior to putting them into a circuit using a signal generator of high amplitude and speed the process up drastically. Once you've done this, the differences in "sonic polarity" with the cap facing one way in the circuit and reversed will become more evident also.
Besides all of this, every wire and resistor will impose their sonic signature into the circuit. As such, it is best to use wires that you already know sound good with those speakers and to keep the legs of any component ) cap, resistor, etc... ) as short as possible and make a good mechanical connection prior to applying solder. In other words, the connection should be solid prior to applying the "electrical glue" aka solder. This helps to minimize the influence / sonic characteristics of the solder. If you don't do this, the solder becomes the conductor rather than the actual leads on the components.
Other than that, each product is built to a price point and most engineers / designers have their own likings. If you like a product and it was truly designed to be as neutral as possible, adding passive components that are even more "transparent" by nature will only improve the product ( if done correctly ). Otherwise, taking a product that has a "built in flavour" aka "colouration" and trying to hot-rod it can end up in something VERY different. Whether or not it is an improvement is up to you as an individual and how much you liked that specific colouration. Sean
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Caps have an inner winding and and outer winding. As such, one can orient two caps, which look the same and have the printing facing the same way, in the opposite directions within identical circuits. The end result is a fuzzy mess with a lack of focus and cohesiveness. Another common side-effect is blurring of imagery and an increase in harshness. As such, one should go to the trouble of "polarizing" the caps so that they all share common directionality prior to installation. Bare in mind that, just because the labels / printing on the caps are all facing the same direction, the caps may not share common polarities / connections inside the cases. There is a trick to finding the correct polarity and once you do this, you will instantly know what i am talking about. One can see the differences in polarity on a scope once you learn the "trick".
Once this is done, you will find that having all of the caps polarized in one direction will sound different than if you reverse the polarity of all of the caps within the circuit. In such instances, there is no right and wrong, so choose which orientation sounds best to you.
On top of that, caps used within speakers can take a long time to fully break in. Due to the very dynamic ( read this as being "sporadic" or "non-steady state" ) signals that are applied to them, the caps don't really "form" like those that are used in power supplies or line level signals that are relatively constant. As such, one can "form" the capacitors prior to putting them into a circuit using a signal generator of high amplitude and speed the process up drastically. Once you've done this, the differences in "sonic polarity" with the cap facing one way in the circuit and reversed will become more evident also.
Besides all of this, every wire and resistor will impose their sonic signature into the circuit. As such, it is best to use wires that you already know sound good with those speakers and to keep the legs of any component ) cap, resistor, etc... ) as short as possible and make a good mechanical connection prior to applying solder. In other words, the connection should be solid prior to applying the "electrical glue" aka solder. This helps to minimize the influence / sonic characteristics of the solder. If you don't do this, the solder becomes the conductor rather than the actual leads on the components.
Other than that, each product is built to a price point and most engineers / designers have their own likings. If you like a product and it was truly designed to be as neutral as possible, adding passive components that are even more "transparent" by nature will only improve the product ( if done correctly ). Otherwise, taking a product that has a "built in flavour" aka "colouration" and trying to hot-rod it can end up in something VERY different. Whether or not it is an improvement is up to you as an individual and how much you liked that specific colouration. Sean
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