Anybody familiar with Mundorf silver&oil caps


I am planning to use 3.9uF Mundorf silver oils as output coupling caps in my phono stage. ( The stock coupling caps consists of a paired 4.7uF and 3.3uf polypropylenes )

I have a couple of 0.022uF TFTF V-Caps lying around. Would there be any benefit in bypassing the 3.9uF Mundorf with the smaller V-Caps or am I just wasting my time?

Generally I do not like bypassing coupling caps, but the 3.9uF is somewhat big and I am concerned that it is going to be a little slow.

I know I can always try and see what it sounds like, but the V-Caps are unused, so if there would be zero benefit I’d rather leave them in unused state for the possibility of selling or swapping them out later on.

Comments/thoughts/experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks
Paul
pauly

Showing 3 responses by atmasphere

The more system resolution you have, the more you hear bypass caps smearing the sound due to their different speeds.

Instead you want to get the best cap you can to give it your best shot; frankly if I were you I would get a set of V-Cap Teflons to do the job instead. They are as smooth as the Mundorfs but actually more neutral and certainly less electrical leakage over time.
Hi Robert, it looks like we could not use the Duelands as the voltages are far too low.

I stand by my earlier comment about bypassing: bypassing any coupling cap with another will result in smearing and there is no way to get around this. The rather in depth comments about the V-Cap, Dueland and Mundorfs earlier refers to bypassing and does cause me to wonder how to take the comments in the face of the known/repeatable effects of bypass smearing.

BTW, we liked the top line Mundorf a little better than the V-Cap in some areas, but leakage issues kept us away from it. The question did arise whether it was slightly more romantic or not, as everything seemed a little more 'beautiful' with the Mundorfs (even things that were not supposed to be so beautiful). The V-Caps did not do this, but they did reveal other subtle differences we didn't hear with the Mundorfs. My personal opinion is based entirely on the use of circuits that we regard as the world's most transparent, lacking transformers altogether and using a fair amount of direct-coupling at both the output of the preamp and the output of the amps, both of which are all-tube.

So you will have to regard my comments in that light- that I regard a transformer in the way as presenting a synergistic effect with a coupling cap that may skew the findings!

My comments here are not intended to offend, but to give you a better idea of how we came to where we did.

We also believe audio should be fun and entertaining... and DIY is clearly one of those areas.