Best Capacitors for Crossovers


I am now in the tweaking stage of trying different caps in my crossovers for my DIY homemade 2 way. I presently have and will soon try a 5.6uf 800 vdc +/- 2% Jantzen Audio Silver Z-cap.

I see that Mundorf, V Cap get a lot of accolades, and the Dueland are quite pricey.

Does anyone have a favorite?

I am trying to cross over at about 4500HZ at 6db.

ozzy

Showing 4 responses by audioman58

Munforf supreme is a good standard ,med vost nice imdging warm natural presentation for a xover for Tweeter 
Without question I have used many times the Munforf Silver oil.slightly warm and natural.Very good image depth and air . Best value hands down rated very high 
Is the Audyn True Copper caps.  Very large using a lot of Copper foil 
Big and bold nice and rich, open and excellent image depth 
Go to Humble homemade hifi capacitor tests .very accurate Tony has helped me several times while living in Europe.  How much room also is important. 
Inductors always loved the Jantzen  inductors from Denmark.
With resistors Mills are warmer, but for resolution the ohmite gold are very good 
As are thd Munforf white reference . The best and warm may be the Path audio 
Made in Poland .the same company that make the Khozmo volume attenuator. 
Solder very important . WBT,CARDAS,, Mundorf, Johnsons 4% silver very good 
And a best buy. Wire I use Neotech 0- Crystal Copper Teflon wire .
I forgot to mention runin time  for cheap caps like standard Solen 50- 75 hours
for good Clarity  caps they they reach about 80% runin around 100 hours,
200+ to get close to full refinement . Mundorf ,Jupiter,Duelund 
3-400 hours sometimes longer.  There are several factors ,the bigger higher voltages take longer ,s well as the higher the uF - micro fared  longer .
and at what SPL volume all 3 factors come into play . You can cut this in 1/2
by using a top breakin cd . I like the Isotek breakin cd , which has on track-3 
a 5 minute tune up  you can use everyday or once a week. Purest Audio has a good one ,as well as Ayre. These all work even at lower volume and are great 
for electronics also.  Contact enhancer the best and endorsed by NASA ,is 
Stabilant-22 ,or straight . I use plain Stabilant last for years and without question 
a liquid super conductor in a sense ,and can be effective of past 10 years per 
applications .i clean tube pins and connections with 99% Isopropyl Alcohol first.
then apply thin coat, give it 30 minutes then use tubes for sure sound better good to over 400 degrees good for any tube. I use on AC even though they don't endorse this .it keeps my Copper contacts from Oxydizing ,as well as enhance 
conductivity. It is a solid tip including Digital contacts ,will not ark or short 
like these Nightmare Silver pastes ,and no residue like pro Gold, or contac.
te Best out there Period, don't comment what sumiko, used to sell it was cut    10-1. Stabilant 22 is 4-1 with Alcohol . I use it straight up you need very little .
$50 for a small bottle I sprung for the $120 you get 3 x the amount .tip of the day.
I just bought the New Martin Logan 11-A speakers with dual 24 but active bass per speaker. It has one major crossover at 300 hz 
then free range  to 23k it only has 3 caps a Big 33uf Solen,for the Bass,and two smaller Poly cap. I got rid of all 3 and I tried a few combinations the Mundorf Supreme  and Clarity Csa- together 
bypassed by Mundorf Silver oil ,for Big 33uf cap Clarity Csa- which is 2x the diameter of the Solen. I can tell you for $ 300 retail 
these caps complement the stat panel very good since this crossover integrate the 2 smaller caps they complement each other 
it sounds very good space is maxed out .in its separate chamber 
the  Mundorf Silver oil .22uf caps are very good at giving a bit added 
depth and air. Image depth on these stats with this latest generation 
speaker is excellent,and with the 24 bit Active crossover ,and bass room correction seamless integration and no bass nulls in the rom area.  The other parts of the crossover was spot on Jantzen Copper inductors,and 1% resistors connected to a big metal heat sink.
having modded equipment,and speakers since 2000
no capacitor is ideal in every situation .Mundorf some may not like their sonic ,but many do ,and in my situation mixed with the Clarity
and Silver oil a very good and  cost effective Solid combination 
as good as other single caps at up to 3 x the cost. If anyone in New England-Ma area wants to hear this setup drop me a line .As a Audiophile I  Like the fellowship.
I have devoted 1,000s of hours running in and listening to capacitors from all over the world most recently several are from very good to Excellent  the new Clarity Copper S.A. cap gets my nod for best balanced capacitor at a very reasonable price. For money's not that much more then Solen these are very well balanced with a slightly warm character.
Next would be the Obbiggato Gold cap  slightly warmer still a bit on The rich side very close to a Mundorf Supreme  for less money.
The Big shock to this final cap was a total shocker. Sizes only .33uf
To 3.3. The  Fostex, caps from Japan they are Copper foil, as well  
As Tin foil. Using their own formula dielectric. In my new Martin Logan 11--A they will let you know exactly what is not right 
I replaced stock with Clarity Csa and Mundorf Supreme 4.7,and 5.6
Caps put .33 fostex, on them, had Mundorf Silver oil bypass,
I only put the 3.3 on low voltage in my DHT preamp.
I know 2 others who use these. The are exceptional ,very natural 
With tons of air around the instruments Bass noticeably better then Any Mundorf.  I think these are magical with the clarity and or Mundorf Supreme I recommend 10% or better with the Fostex,
They can go toe to to with any cap the Duelund Cast is the Only 
Cap I have found that us slightly better.
I have heard these in several settings,and now my own preamp
And Loudspeakers the engineers from what I was told spent 2 years on these the combination of Copper and specific amount of Tin foil  totally hit a home run . No more expensive then a good Mundorf cap. It proved to me sometimes looking at a well kniwn name ,known for their Drivers was worth checking out.
It is too bad they are limited in sizes .madisound seems to be the only sourse.