Capacitor question


I have BAT VK-150se amps powering SF Amati Homage speakers. I replaced the stock BAT/Jensen POI caps with CuTF V-Caps. There is a lot more detail now, however, the sound is thinner, brighter and fatig
davidbrinknyc
I did some extensive listening tests with about 15 different capacitors in the signal path. One of my main projects was the BAT VK5 SE preamp.
First I will say there are lots of good posts on this thread. They are very helpful, and are obviously from experienced members. Especially helpful are the experiments with power supply capacitors. I find they do make a positive difference, and are especially critical in SET amplifiers. SET amps are very sensitive to PS capacitors. Easy to ruin the sound with a polypropylene bypass. All polypropylene is a different story.

The stock BAT coupling caps are Jensen types, but with copper leads rather than silver leads found on the Jensen capacitors normally sold. This makes them quite a bit better than with silver leads. I have found this true on many, many types of capacitors used for signal. BAT has a reason for ordering them with copper leads, EVEN though they are cut off to 1/4"!

To make a long story a little shorter: the stock capacitors are hard to beat. Only the Duelund Alexanders, Aerovox, and some Russian capacitors were better in some ways. They also had the weight and tone in the lower range that all dry film capacitors lack. I have listened to just about all of those available except the Copper V-cap, and the Duelund Cast. The Duelund Cast will not fit without long leads and chassis modification.
I did not like the Tin foil V-caps, and this was after more than a week on a cable cooker, and another week or so on a tuner. But that's my experience. Many people like V-caps, but there are some who do not.

Without going into detail on interconnects, I would not recommend Nordost interconnects with the V-caps. I suggest Kubala-Sosna, Townshend Isolda XLRs, and MIT Oracle. These have worked excellent on the BAT preamp, both in stock form and after parts modifications. Final choice will involve the connecting component, as well as the BAT preamp.
That was a mistake and you hear the difference. The only upgrade that can work for you without "stepping on the toes" of the amplifier's sound quality would be to bypass thoses caps with .05-ufd CRC hermetic teflons that are available through eBay. And let's not forget tubes. Victor Khomenko BAT's designer is limited to what is readily available in terms of tubes. You don't have that limitation. Although there is only one brand of the power triodes, you have the option to experiment with the front-end tubes to dial in your amplifiers. I am a rabid audiophile with a BAT preamp that has those same caps. I can tell you that with those caps still in place and not bypassed, my preamp has yet to get in the way. Tubes on the other hand can make it glorious or crap.

My two cents.

Walt D'Ascenzo
I would recommend putting some small bands around them to stop them ringing. They will burn in eventually, but damping ringing has been found effective such as in my adcom dac that was "modified" in such a manner.
Wdascenz,
Might it be too early to say david made a mistake? Based on the replies from those familiar with the CuTF V-Caps they need many hours before one can draw accurate conclusions. Now it`s certainly possible that after complete burn-in david may find he prefers the original capacitors. Time will tell.
Regards,
Following a thread in 2009 of David Garretson about improving the BAT 150SE , I did all the mods in my two BAT 's VK1000 , ofcourse including the Vcaps.I also had to replace all the Nichicon 10000mFd caps due to not having anymore flat top caps.They have been replaced by 100V types
but we had to make a new capacitorboard.But the Vcaps did indeed take more time to run in , but after that all what was promised came true , ,improved definition , speed , ambient retrieval, more detail and better bas definition.So
Davidbrinknyc have patience , you will not disappointed