Anyone Tried Solen Film & Foil Teflon Capacitors?


Looking at upgrading the coupling caps in my tube preamp. Considering V-Cap TFTF (teflons), but am also looking for less expensive alternatives. Can't find much on the Solen FEP Film & Foil Teflons, but they apparently compare well with V-Cap TFTFs. The values needed are 0.68 & 0.22 mfd. Any thoughts?
slhijb
In an Audio Research SP14 I am using a Solen Teflon .47 bypassed with a .033 of the same with superb results. They replaced the stock .47 and .01 Bypass which were Wondercaps at the input of the Line Stage. This improved clarity a great deal. I then used a Jantzen Superior Zcap 4.7 bypassed with a .01 V-cap to replace an aging 5.0 Relcap. This provided a much more noticible improvement in the amount of air and 3 dimensionality. By far the most dramatic improvement was replacing the Sprague Atom 100 uf Power Supply cap with an equivilent Poly Mundorf Tubecap shunted with a 10 uf Solen Fastcap, .1 Solen Teflon and a final .033 Solen Teflon. The bass tightened and is tuneful now. The music extends wider and deeper and on some good recordings extends forward into the listening space. Quite remarkable. This does not surprise me as it has been said that the Power Supplies in the SP14 and SP9 were weak and poorly designed for the price. I expect that I can make some more improvement on it in time.
Getting back to the Solen Teflons I use a .22uf and .033uf to bypass a 3.9 Mundorf Supreme in my Speakers which are (don't laugh)are a pair of Totem Dreamcatchers. Now I have been told that Teflons do not match with metal domes, however the speakers are far superior to stock in imaging and it has removed some colouration I had noticed in Womens vocals together with liquifiying some of the glare that is present in some of my recordings.
Now as yet I have not replaced the coupling caps in the Phono section in which the only tube exists , however I am considering Solen Metalized Teflons with Solen small value teflon bypasses in the future.
I am impressed enough with the performance of the FEP Solens that I will be replacing all the bypasses in my Audio Research Amp in the future!!
Cheers
Steve
Steve- Try replacing your bridge rectifier, with a FRED rectifier block from IXYS. Low cost and very fast/soft(low noise) recovery. It's ALMOST as good as having a tube rectifier in the PS.
Thanks Rodman99999,
What kind of improvements can I expect? Any special care to be taken in the installation etc. IXYS DSEI 12-12A for replacement of 1N4006 and 1N4007?
Steve
Hello Steve- 1) One of the most apparent improvements should be a cleaner high end(less glare/grain). 2) Just the standard carefulness not to overheat during soldering. 3) Yes, that IXYS FRED will work(although way overkill to replace a 1A, 800V diode). Have you already installed an IEC connector, and upgraded your powercord? Easy to do, with the SP14's aluminum chassis, and well worth the effort. Greatly improved dynamics with the right PC(ie: A Synergistic Research A/C Master Coupler, or Zu Mother).