Capacitors for BAT VK-60

Pauly,
Have you had an opportunity to evaluate the Sonicap Platinums? I would be curious to see how they compare to both the Dynamicap and V-cap TFTF in coupling locations.

Thanks, Paul. My amp only needs 1 pair of coupling caps. So I can afford v-caps! :-)

Can you describe the sound from various brands of coupling caps? A friend of mine prefers Auricaps and Hovland over Dynamicaps. So I'd like to ask people for their descriptions.

Thanks!!

I just replaced Hovlands Musicaps with Mundorf Silver/Gold in a line-stage and am impressed with the improvement. The Mundorfs are more detailed & refined in treble & suppler with a more expansive soundstage.

Vet93, Dynamicaps are as their name suggests, very dynamic. I would describe the sound as crystalline clear and sparkly. The sound seems to leap from the speaker. They also seemed to cure my system of sibilance, yet increase detail many many fold.

V-Caps beat Dynamicaps on all of the above hands down, but do everything else so very well that the above is not immediately noticeable. I am not very familiar with V-Caps (yet), so I share my most recent experience with them.

I replaced one out of four coupling caps in my phono. I always do one stereo pair at a time and audition at length before doing the next. The results were (are) astonishing. The soundstage has become totally huge (it wasn't bad before, but a lot smaller and static). Not only is it big, but also it seems to be alive; growing and shrinking and moving around as different instruments/vocals chime in.

I have a friend staying over, and he was looking around for the surround speakers. And I don’t mean the tired old knee-jerk 'I heard a sound behind me' BS; it was like the band was live on a stage right in front of us and we could 'see' them moving around onstage. He kept on asking me how I get the sound to do that. Personally I have never heard a system with such an 'alive' soundstage anywhere, ever.

I can go on, but I think you get the picture ;-). I will most certainly be replacing each and every coupling cap in my system with TFTF V-Caps.

I cannot comment on Auricap or Hovland sound, other than I did try them and did not think much of them. I also tried Jupiters and did not like them much either.

Regards
Paul

Damarado, I just saw a post where you mention you want to use a Dynamicaps and bypass it with another. My experience is that Dynamicaps sound best on their own, not bypassed. You could try bypassing a big(ish) Dynamicap, lets say 2uF with another Dynamicap of 0.01uF. I wouldn’t mix caps when using dynamicaps.

Also, if you want a slightly warmer sound with loads of detail, consider replacing your signal path resister with AN tantalums. I found that dynamcaps + tantalums gave a very detailed sound with a hint of warmth. A match made in heaven?

Use higher wattage than is required i.e. substitute a 2-watt Tant for a 1-watt resistor, and do a stereo pair at a time. You can warm up your sound incrementally till you hit the spot.

Lastly, I would hold of on tube rolling till you do the caps. You may find the exotic > $180 6sn7s are really not needed after you ‘rolled’ some caps.

Regards
Paul