2. amps-preamps
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Preamp Caps?Auricap,Mundorf, Hovland, jensen,solen

Hello,
I have a preamp with only 2 Signal caps directly in front of two tubes shot right out to the amps, extreme simplicity and excellent sound. This is the first preamp that came stock with Auricap's I have owned or heard, most in the past have always had Multicaps, Kimber caps in my previous pre's. I can say I think the Auricaps are quite a bit better but not that expensive or the end all-be all that I understand. Now I have had some crossovers and a Preamp with Solen fastcaps in it, and they are the best in Bass I have heard out of all of them, not that it makes them superior just an observation. I have also purchased Jensens oil and put them in Tube equipment in the past, not bad but did not blow my doors off.. And Finally Hovlands, not my Cup if you know what I mean, I found them the most expensive and the least impressive, could be the mix of component used in, but whatever too dry for me. Mundorf is a little newer on the scene to me and I thought the Hovlands were pretty obscene in cost, however these are the new Cost and hype leaders from what I can tell today. I am considering trying the Mundorf Silver in oil supreme caps at no small cost to see if they are gonna create more magic than the Auricaps. . What is the character of this cap? I want very 3d and open yet still have some intimate warmth and very powerful bass. Is this a cap worth venturing over all the other explanations I left here? Needs a liquid sound, and get that fairly deep bass solen seems to be capable of for only a couple dollars a cap, cause I do not want to soften the already slightly soft Tube bass. Thanks to all that know about this tweaking and expereance with these caps . . Again its only 2 Caps, very easy to install so its hard to keep my hands off, but do not want to go backwards or waste the cause if its not gonna be very significant in this specific application, Anybody know of any good tube equipment or preamps using these mundorf super caps? By the way my tubes are Mullards NOS. Preamp manufacture would seem to be irrelevant here and yes I am pretty dang happy with the sound for the money already, but there is always more right 
undertow
jeffreybehr's avatar
jeffreybehr
805 posts
 
I've used Mundorf Supreme S/Os as couplers in a couple pieces of equipment. Altho I'm no GEA who can hear all kinds of subtle differences, I found the MSS/Os to be rather clean and detailed (but never edgy) yet a tad warm sounding. You may well love their sound.

That said, I now use Cardas Golden Ratio as my 'affordable' cap and SoniCap Platinum as my best-money-can-buy cap. The CGRs are more tonally neutral than the MSS/O while not losing any of music's harmonic richness. The SPs are even cleaner and quicker than the CGRs. Since you need only 2 caps, do consider the SCPs. If you need a large value, say, more than a couple microFarads, you might consider a large CGR bypassed with a SCP.

http://www.soniccraft.com/products/capacitors/film.htm

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matrix
305 posts
 
Jeffreybehr, never knew about those. I will check them out, Thanks
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,793 posts
 
The V-Cap Teflon is one of the coupling caps in existance. There really aren't any paper and oil parts that challenge it. Paper and oil is nice, but in nearly all of them there is a slightly shelved high frequency character (mind you- not a rolloff) that causes them to have an overly delicate character. Nice for a lot of things but annoying if you play the complete range of music on your system.

Good Teflons like the V-Cap are also smooth, but actually have more detail without the price of a bright coloration. Certainly they are more detailed than paper and oils with considerably more neutrality. Paper and Oil caps can develop electrical leakage over time that can damage other parts- this is something that most other dielectrics including Teflon don't tend to do!

If you want a musical instrument (but not a musical reproducer), paper and oils will be a good choice. If you actually want music itself, you'll have to go with Teflon, and the V-Cap is one of the best out there.
jeffreybehr's avatar
jeffreybehr
805 posts
 
Under, YW.

What cap value is there now? Is there a grounding resistor following the cap? What value? What's the input impedance of the poweramp you're driving?

I love your "...there is always more right." You are SO correct! This is definitely NOT a 'if it's not broke, don't fix it' hobby.

You might Search for mentions of these caps on Audio Asylums' tweakers asylum, http://www.audioasylum.com/scripts/tv.pl?forum=tweaks .
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undertow OP
1,033 posts
 
Atmasphere, Yeah the V-cap forgot about that bad boy, could be a good choice and actually a little better pricing maybe, thanks.

Jeffreybehr,, There is Qty.2 (2.2 mF) 200 volt auricaps in there, not huge, pretty common value and easy to get it seems... Umm, Resistor... Not sure? Did not see anything in the way of resistors right there, but have some for setting the impeadance on the MC phono section in another part of the preamp... I believe the Output impeadance of the PReamp is 1000 ohm(yeah a little high I understand) and the amps are of solid state breed at 10,000 ohm input... I was originally concerned myself with Gain because its only exacly 10 times difference between the 2 and have heard the Times 10x rule, but I have had excellent results and never could ask for more gain so taking the risk paid off it seems even with the slightly high output impeadance. I have no problems in the functioning of the system at all, so new caps are just going overboard to see how much juice we can squeeze out of this rock.
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