Capacitor Brands for Upgrades Please...

[soundboy]

I am a long time speaker nut/JBL nut, too....designed, modified many systems pro and home for longer than I can remember...I have tried a few capacitors, solen, sidereal (dating myself), old wondercaps, etc. I didn't like Hovlands, and I read somewhere that these and acouple others just made the timbre shift upwards, and made the top end louder....and a bit irritating...that was my experience...so, my question is, how many of you have tried other crossover caps on the "reasonable" side, compared to solens? Are the lower end Mundorf's better than the Kimber, or....how about the Dayton's??? I have bypassed the old mylars in JBL systems with .01 polyprope being good, polystyrene too clinical, etc...but I rather like a higher quality cap without bypasses. Are the Auricaps worth it? Are they that good???
Yes, I have read many threads on here (don't Giskard me for this redundant thread, hehe..) but there is no real consensus, and I don't want to spend hundred's of $$ on 6 or so caps....if the Dayton's are better than the Solen's, I may try them. Rich, smooth and musical is more important to me than bright, etched detail.
I have an all Solen crossover in a 3 way Dynaudio system, and I have been happy with them without bypasses (didn't like it..bright forward, not good)...never tried them (solens) with JBL horns, slot's, or the paper LE26's, etc. Perhaps some feedback from someone who has spent the money/time to compare??? Thanks for all the good reading...Pete

[Ian Mackenzie]

Hi,

Some people claim they sound all the same.

Its a very subjective, check out the Humble hifi comparions.

I have tried mylar, mylar bypasses and biased, and Hovlands and Auricaps and Solens biased.

There are also a number of environmental issues and these will effect the desired outcome.

Ian

[Zilch]

I have built many crossovers with Daytons bypassed with Thetas. Best I can characterize the sound with JBL compression drivers is "crispy."

I have switched to unbypassed Solens, partly because that's cheaper.

For biased crossovers, it's Solens, too, without bypasses. I only bias the HF portion of crossovers, though I can make a good argument that, unless I'm biamped, I probably should. It just gets WAY too expensive, both in $$$ and space....

[JBLnsince1959]

Clarity sounds like the best bang for buck..but you be the judge. I'm going to test them out shortly myself



http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html

[soundboy]

Thank you!! Yes, the clarity caps seem to be the ticket for the money, according to this shootout....the next closest were the Sonicaps at twice the price......I think I will give it a go. I feel a little putting $200 worth of caps in my 4301B's, that's why I posted...not that they don't warrant the improvement, as the bypassed mylars could be improved, no doubt. And the speakers do still have the factory tags, flawless veneer, and that blue baffle thing...I will keep ya'll posted after the swap and break in. I still have pretty decent hearing, and to me, these 25 yr old boxes sound pretty good....even with the paper tweeters and after listening to Dynaudio D260 tweeters most of the time in another system.....(yes, I can hear the difference, but they still rock)

[JBLnsince1959]

I feel a little putting $200 worth of caps in my 4301B's, that's why I posted...not that they don't warrant the improvement, as the bypassed mylars could be improved, no doubt. :

I would feel that too. That's about what it's going to cost to put Clarity caps in my PS series PT800's but it's a three way crossover. I'm sure that the Clarity would be way less to do your 4301.

Each person has to make their own call on DIY cost to improvement. If it were me I don't know if I would put $200 in caps into a 4301, but then I don't own one and haven't "fallen in love" with it.

Good luck with whatever choice you make....

[L100t Owner]

I am a long time speaker nut/JBL nut, too....designed, modified many systems pro and home for longer than I can remember...I have tried a few capacitors, solen, sidereal (dating myself), old wondercaps, etc. I didn't like Hovlands, and I read somewhere that these and acouple others just made the timbre shift upwards, and made the top end louder....and a bit irritating...that was my experience...so, my question is, how many of you have tried other crossover caps on the "reasonable" side, compared to solens? Are the lower end Mundorf's better than the Kimber, or....how about the Dayton's??? I have bypassed the old mylars in JBL systems with .01 polyprope being good, polystyrene too clinical, etc...but I rather like a higher quality cap without bypasses. Are the Auricaps worth it? Are they that good???
Yes, I have read many threads on here (don't Giskard me for this redundant thread, hehe..) but there is no real consensus, and I don't want to spend hundred's of $$ on 6 or so caps....if the Dayton's are better than the Solen's, I may try them. Rich, smooth and musical is more important to me than bright, etched detail.
I have an all Solen crossover in a 3 way Dynaudio system, and I have been happy with them without bypasses (didn't like it..bright forward, not good)...never tried them (solens) with JBL horns, slot's, or the paper LE26's, etc. Perhaps some feedback from someone who has spent the money/time to compare??? Thanks for all the good reading...Pete

I'm pretty sure that Auricaps are Sidreal caps. Just a newer version in yellow with the same guts.

I built L100T crossovers using Daytons bypassed with Audiocap thetas with very good results.

As far as harshness, I have used solens with horns many times without harshness. Of course, the source makes a big difference.