theaudiotweak
Tom I have heard that many times from people. I have not compared CAST to mechanical coupling. Have you?
Just back from a friends house hearing his speakers which are Khorns.
The difference is dramatic, grain, slow, plastic sound nowhere near same tone but polite. He is going to hook up a tube amp same as the one I have for better comparison. A huge difference in dynamics.
There was a post on here a while back from someone getting Tinnitus after getting CAST caps. I for one do not doubt it. In putting on a Rock concert video it is weird even though the total volume is not any louder the contrasts are extreme. When those mics are right into the drum set it is loud! Your ears ring like a real concert. VERY powerful. Maybe as one poster said almost to much or at least be careful!
I know Audio Note on there higher end amps uses no caps. I think Jimmy compared CAST to Mechanical coupling did he not? and is there differences in mechanical coupling quality. |
Volleyguy1
Mechanical coupling is just that and generally has no design bearing on capacitors other than maybe how they are wound and most importantly under the context of resonance control..how they are mounted. Direct mechanical coupling is a method where devices are hard mounted and coupled without the use of glues or soft mounting insulating materials. Tom |
Tom
Maybe I have misunderstood? I thought you meant amp designs that did not use coupling capacitors at all and used an interstage transformer?
Jimmy's page talking about what he preferred.
http://jimmyauw.com/2010/08/16/battle-of-three-capacitors/ |
Regismc,
You say you compared the JBX caps with Clarity MRs, Sonicap Platinums, CuTF V-Caps. Well, How do they sound compared to them? What does "play well" mean? |
Also does anyone know what Jimmy is talking about with this new electrolytic cap???
http://jimmyauw.com/2013/06/06/no-name-capacitor-revision-2/
Is it Jensen coming out with a new line? Electrolytic wrapped in paper? Anyone know anything? |
I also have Duelands Cast in my preamp. The JFX r small & lite. They
have slam & extension at both ends. They r spacious & airy. They may
lack the ultimate body of the Cast. For me, they seem a bit to 'literal' fronting my digital source, a Modwright Transporter. Hence I prefer the
'vocal prescience' of the Mundorf S/G/O. They do seem 'natural' & musical,
They pass what is fed 'em & instruments seem easily discernable within the
mix.
I lived w/all of the mentioned caps in my preamp. When I started to mod the conditioner, I used what I had. It was surprisingly easy to ID each caps
'signature', even though they r b4 the audio signal.
The Modwright Transporter runs both balanced transformer coupled out, &
capacitor coupled RCAs. I get the sense that the Transporter into pre w/Duelands caps via RCAs sounds much like the transformer balanced outs direct into my amp, a Yamaha A-S2000.
I've pretty much given up on getting the CuTF V-Caps to exhibit any sense
of air. Excellent tone & body but I haven't found a place where I think they
shine. I like the Sonicap Platinums as very musical & easy to listen, but
perhaps not as ultimately resolving as others. Clarity MRs r darn good,
neutral & well balanced, airy, but I didn't have enough room in the conditioner to pursue installing the larger values.
One needs to understand I compared all of theses, except the Duelands, in
the power conditioner. I mixed, matched, & rotated these 'dogs' over several months time. As I came to understand the tonal inflections &
character each brought to the filter/feeding of the digital, preamp, & amp
sections, I simply feel S/G/O 'plays well' on digital sources. It's a great cap. Killer vocals. Great soundstage. The JFXs take that & send it out via pre & amp w/aplomb. Now the Duelands may do that ever more so, but i already owned the Mundorfs & the JFXs size & cost made an easy choice for the larger values. They have an incisive spacious sound w/very good attack & decay, require little break in & represent exceptional value. |
Thank you very much for the detailed comparison of the caps....very helpful. |
Regismc
The conditioner... Well now I feel much better saying I could really hear the first cap in the power supply...
Interesting about the VCaps Cuft I have them as well and they are lightening fast but not sure where to put them. I have not sold them but do not know what to do with them? I was thinking a bypass cap on the power supply? |
Regismc
In your power conditioner I assume you used each of these caps as bypass caps?
Your post has really got me thinking...
When I had the vintage amp installed with a ASC poly caps in the power supply the "signature" was easily discernible. I was quite shocked. I am getting that amp re-checked by technician and will listen again. When I replaced the vintage power supply cap with the Jensen again very noticeable. I know this could upset people but putting in the Jensen electrolytic cap literally made me feel getting all the Duelund parts would not have been worth it without the right sounding power supply cap. (the vintage in this case)
I said at the time I think that the power supply cap may be the most important of all caps yet almost felt crazy saying so as it is not even in the signal path. How could it be? Now you are saying even in the power conditioner? (without a doubt not in the signal path)
Your post has got me thinking caps exert a "signature" somehow right on to the supply of electricity?
For a long time I have hoped someone on this thread would do a paper in oil power supply. Apparently Leak did this years ago to great success. |
My pair of 7.5uf CAST caps arrived today right on schedule. I will be trying them out this weekend as the main high-pass crossover cap in my high-efficiency speakers. It will replace a blend of 6.8uf Mundorf Supreme and 1.0uf Duelund CAST. That blend has been the best sounding cap to date in that spot, but I am hoping that the single large value CAST will be even better.
I was surprised by how big the cap is---6.5" in diameter and a little over 1" in height. Pictures don't quite do it justice. |
Volley, the conditioner is a passive type. It has 4 digital outlets. 4 preamp outlets. 2 amp outlets. 5 duos in all, 2 digital, 2 pre, 1 amp. These r the orange, hospital grade type that offer a good solid copper connection. Nothing too exotic. It is divided into two input sections. The digital
and the preamp sections r fronted by their own CMCs, (common mode chokes).
Each input has its own ground. The amp section shares a ground w/the preamp, but is not fronted by the CMC. Those chokes must be properly sized for the amplifier used... If the CMC was too small it effects the amps performance.
The 'bypass' you mention, is simply to connect the capacitor on the outlets from
neutral to ground. The Yamaha A-S2000, & CDS-2000 floats the ground. There r no ground pins, only hot & neutral, so by filtering the neutral to ground on the input, the amps only see a clean, filtered neutral.
Whatever 'type' of cap one uses, you can easily id its 'signature' sound downstream. Frankly to an astonishing extent. The conditioner offers an easily
accessible test bed to rotate & test this out. I have 3 dedicated 10g lines from
a subpanel for my audio system. So I use two of these to feed each the digital &
the amp/pre sections of the conditioner.
Cautions apply. Use caps that are rated high enough for the voltage required.
Foil type caps, like the CuTf & Dueland r supposed no-no's, as they won't 'fail'
properly. If one attempts to filter, from hot to neutral, & one uses a cap 'too large', anything over 'somewhere' around 3 or 4uf (take your pick), heat can become an issue and a cap can 'fail', explode. Filtering neutral to ground you don't have this problem, & quiet frankly sounds more effective. Do this & I would not think you would have any problems. It's easy & the impact upon ones
system is pretty dramatic... in a good sense. Blacker backgrounds, wider & deeper soundstage, more separation of instruments, more focus, less 'hash', ect... I started out using .22s I had rolled into my pramp over the yrs.
Caps 'colour' ones system in a similar way as different tube type 'colour' ones
components. Flavor to taste. What led me down this road, was borrowing a
conditioner from a friend & putting the unit on my mac mini music server downstairs on a different floor from my main rig. Within a day or two, the system developed a 'metallic oil sheen' throughout the whole frequency range.
When I brought the conditioner back to my friend & we opened it up, there was
a large oil in metal cap following the CMC to the outlets. So a music server, on a
different floor, connected wirelessly to the Transporter, effected everything downstream in the listening room. That, for me, was quite a 'rabbit hole' to tumble down.
You get the idea...
After that I opened up the larger conditioner on the main rig upstairs &
removed the little .01uf caps I found on the outlets & replaced them w/the
larger, various caps on hand, a bunch of .22s. Results; one can easily change the character of say, a dac, pre, or amplifier by rolling the appropriate cap, on the outlet, that feeds the component. Go figure...
As 'Uncle Jerry' said, "... what a long strange trip it's been." |
Salectric,
I'm looking forward to your findings with the speaker capacitor change and its impact on your fine system.
Regards, |
I have not listened to Mundorf or Dueland caps but I have always found that any cap larger than .33 needs a very small bypass cap for extended top end and detail. I know someone who just recapped his speaker with all Clarity Cap MRs and he then bypassed all the Claritys with the .1 and .01 Vishay Roderstein MKP1837s....mucho better highs and air. Large caps are inductive and therefore slow by nature. The Roderstein 1837 and the Wima small caps are fast as they are tiny by comparison. I just ordered some Wima FKP 02 .01s to try. These film and foil polyprops have only a 2.5mm lead spacing...very small(28 cents each at 100 from TAW). Audio Research has always bypassed all their coupling caps and power supply rails with .01s.
All film caps need to be marked for outside foil and oriented so the foil is to ground or the output. Also, you never want a cap dangling in the air or long bare wire dangling in the air....please hard mount the caps and damp bare wire with cotton sleeving. These things all make a sonic difference for the better. |
Ricevs
If I remember right Tony Gee said the same about (bypass) caps except maybe the high end caps you mentioned. When you find the right spot do give Duelund's a try.
You also mention any cap larger than .33uf needs a bypass. All of my amps are vintage and use .047 or smaller. Anyone know what caused the change in thinking for modern designs to be .47uf or .22uf? |
"Whatever 'type' of cap one uses, you can easily id its 'signature' sound downstream. Frankly to an astonishing extent".
I for sure can not argue with this.
Like Tony Gee had said Duelund has a Super Natual sound. I might be on my own on this but think the "signature" that caps gives leaves me wondering can you get to much of the Duelund "signature"? I know maybe my wallet can only afford so much "signature" but can my ears get too much of it?
I will re-check when the vintage ASC power supply amp comes back but those poly caps in the power supply seemed to overwhelm the entire vintage character of the amp and Duelund crossover to something totally different. Changing the coupling caps from vintage to Duelund CAST made the amp much beefier, faster and better but the character remained. Never did the amp change "character". The VCap Cuft changed the character of the amp as well.
I found the same on mix and match in the crossover. Change to just one cap to a poly cap and you change the "character"
That comes back to the Duelund power supply I wish I could afford to chance. My gut tells me if ASC and Jensen Electrolytic leave a signature a Duelund power supply would have a "signature" I would love and make a very big difference! |
Ricevs,
I am building a preamp and soon some amps and your post is quite interesting. The whole bypass cap argument has passionate debate on both sides. Some say they do nothing, others say they degrade sound and yet others love them like you.
Have you tried this approach in gear besides speakers? Tube amps? I am open to the idea and will most likely a/b with and without bypass caps to come to the truth for me.
Do you bypass power supply caps and coupling caps? If the tube amp is regulated, then have you found bypassing still helps?
Sorry for all the questions, but this is quite interesting.
Ok Volley and others those JFX JB Premium film caps are absolutely wonderful in electronics. Just try and see first hand. Goodness they cost $3 a $20 each! I call it the way it is regardless of cost as I learn. I love the Duelund CAST and I love these also! I could live equally with both and one cost near 100x less! Ha!
I have not tried them in speakers yet. To my ear they sound better than any Mundorf in electronics. |
Grannyring
I for sure am not against cheaper parts being just as good or better. I have said many times vintage caps can represent a very good bargain. (as they are in essence free) My original oil caps were bettered by Duelund in the midrange but not by a large margin.
I am only saying what is the science in these poly caps being better and I am not saying they are not? What makes them better than say any other poly cap?
Update on Duelund in series tweeter inductor. I have taken the Duelund inductor out again and the vintage wax paper inductor is back in.
Clarify what the two parts are one the vintage inductor thin gauge round wire wrapped tight around a paper bobbin in wax paper. The Duelund is of course 12 gauge foil wire. Why does the vintage inductor sound better? Is it the change in DCR or maybe the Duelund is just noisier than the vintage part which it seems to be???
In the woofer the vintage wax paper inductor was a very thin gauge wire with an iron core inductor and the air core 12 guage Duelund which had the same DCR was much better but the vintage was quieter than the North Creek.
Here I will say it. I suspect that resonance suppression in the tweeter inductor is more important than the gauge of the wire. If this is true maybe the vintage inductor is better? The comparison is based on Duelund VSF which does not have the same construction to deal with resonance that the CAST does.
What would I like to see Duelund do? Maybe a thinner gauge wire option for the tweeter and cheaper price but still CAST? Inductors are a VERY big deal.
I am not so sure at this time that I can say a Duelund VSF inductor is good enough for the tweeter. |
Volleyguy1, That's interesting about the vintage inductor. While I am waiting for my 7.5uf CAST caps to break in, I plan on trying some old Altec iron core chokes in place of the Jensen choke in my high-pass crossover.
I notice that no one in this thread has mentioned the importance of mounting of crossover components. I was reminded of the importance of mounting after installing the new Duelund cap. Initially I had the cap lying flat on its bottom surface and I was a bit concerned that the cap sounded so dead and dark. I know from past Duelunds that they can start out this way so I wasn't too upset but I did want to do something to make it sound better while it broke in. I tried various objects under the cap to raise it off the wood surface it was resting on such as felt, rubber, wood and a brass cone. The cone started out as the perfect antidote making the treble sharper and more lively. After a few hours, however, it was too bright and I went to a 3/4" cube of Baltic Birch plywood---just a single cube under one edge of the cap so the cap is at an angle resting on the cube on one side and on a single point of the cap on the other side. The little cube now has just the right balance.
My point in raising this is not to endorse a particular mounting as the best way to attach a CAST cap, but simply to highlight the importance of the mounting. I haven't made any final plans for how to mount my crossover components, but my tentative plan is to attach them to a thin Baltic Birch plywood panel (1/2" or less) which in turn will be attached to the outside of the back panel of my speaker cabinet, probably with some type of rubber damping gaskets so the crossover board does not actually make direct contact with the speaker cabinet. The crossover components themselves will be secured to the plywood panel by some means that elevates them off the panel so they are in free-air mounting as much as possible. The CAST cap is so big and heavy that I am thinking of using (3) 3/4" Baltic Birch cubes under it and maybe (3) dowels on the circumference to hold it in place. |
The best way to mount crossover parts is in an outboard crossover box. It is hard to believe how many crossover components are placed right inside a bass cavity with the woofer and cab throwing all kinds of vibrations etc. at the components. I removed a pretty extensive crossover from a bass cab into its own high quality vibration dampened box and the improvement was startling to say the least.
At least make sure it is very secure and I like what Salectric said. |
I bypass everywhere....tube and solid state electronics and speakers. Have since 1980. Now using the smallest (5mm lead spacing) stock film and foil Wimas, modded Metalized Wimas and Vishay Rodersteins as they are the smallest and therefore fastest caps. I will be listening to the .01uf (2.5mm lead spacing) FPK-02 Wimas this week...just got them in. The metalized Wimas need to be modded as they have steel leads on them. I dremel off the sides and leads and attach my own copper leads. Most of these small caps are only rated at 63V or 100V so tube preamps/amps are a no no. However, some are made at 400V (low values like .01 max) but are hard to find. I mark all caps for outside polarity before use. |
For another perspective, I avoid bypass caps whenever possible for the simple reason that I can always hear them. They add a discontinuity very similar to adding a super-tweeter to a full-range speaker system. There is a heightening of treble extension and speed, and the soundstage seems larger and more dramatic, but after a while I find the effects of the bypass cap to be distracting and unnatural. Often, but not always, the bypass cap also causes the bass to become lean. These effects are audible whenever I try a bypass---coupling caps, power supply, speaker crossovers, etc.
Obviously, some folks do not react this way since otherwise no one would use bypass caps, but I am just pointing out that there is another perspective on them. In my view, you should always use a single cap with the correct value, and if the application has important sonic implications (and most do) then use the best sounding cap you can find. |
Don't know where this leads, but something 4 the holiday reading list.
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue65/reader5.htm |
The audio game is very subjective. Some are always looking for "tone and density".....some want speed and clarity....others are looking for "transparency....ie no sound". The only way to know if something works for you is to try it. And when you try something make sure you are covering all the bases: various brands, sizes and types, damping of part, isolation of part, damping of bare wire, orientation of part (outside foil), burning in of part, etc. etc. If you do enough playing around then you will come to your own conclusions based on your subjective criteria. You will be making your stereo sound the way you want. We need to please ourselves.....so please do not believe anyone.....including me. Please do your own experiments. |
Based on my experiences with bypassing coupling and crossover caps, I'm in the same camp as Salectric. I have always preferred using one only of the highest quality cap( within one's budget and tonal preferences) with the suggested value. I always hear the bypass cap, giving the illusion of this false airiness in the highs, almost like a tilting up or shelving effect. I also believe that good quality caps, i.e. film and foil, need much more break-in time than some people might think. I don't have enough experience with comparing small bypass caps on large eletrolytics in power supplies. That could be another story. By the way, the top caps like Mundorf's SIO and the Duelund VSF copper, need a minimum of 200 hours before they show their true colors. This is just my personal opinion and your mileage might vary. :o) |
Thanks to all and good follow up ....... I am going to try some on large can, computer grade electro's in a power supply. We will see. I don't like tilted up highs or mids, but greatly prefer a warm tone with good detail. |
Salectric,
Your point regarding bypass capacitors makes intuitive sense. It would seem a single cap of the correct value and high quality is the path to better sound (which for me means natural). If this increased speed comes with an artificial hyped character, I'd personally forego the small value bypass cap option. The different opinions here are interesting and appreciated.
Charles, |
Like most things it comes down to execution and the results may in fact be in the details. I will report back on my findings as I must learn first hand ... |
Here's one man's review of a few caps in a Magnepan crossover. Note at the bottom his opinion on bypass caps.
http://10audio.com/sonicap_oimp_multicap.htm |
I followed Volleyguy's lead regarding vintage chokes and swapped in some old Altec iron-core chokes from the late '70s or early '80s. They replaced Jantzen 15g. P-Core (ferrous powder) chokes as the shunt element in my high-pass crossover. The values are not identical----the Altecs are 2.0mH and the Jantzens are 2.2mH---but close enough. The Altecs do a number of things better. They are faster, more dynamic and more detailed; but they are also a bit lean. For now I am leaving them in but the real take-away for me is how important this shunt element is sonically. I really had not expected this magnitude of change merely by swapping chokes of basically the same value and same DCR. In my low-pass crossover I use North Creek 10g air core inductors. I may look into something similar for the high-pass. |
"That's interesting about the vintage inductor". Salectric
I not so sure the vintage beating the Duelund VSF inductor is so surprising. I have been shocked how many times when you think about how the parts work that results are logical. The vintage is a hard wire wrapped very tightly in wax. The Duelund is a foil. If you ask yourself which will move easier? It is hard not to think the foil. The Duelund likely has 100x as much top to bottom surface area on the foil over I think around 28 guage solid wire.
Since the frequency is high the benifet of 12 gauge is maybe low?
It is just crazy how many times the part sounds like it looks. The North Creek woofer inductor has no resonance control it sounds hard like it looks. It lets through signal but the noise is to high. The vintage 28 gauge iron core wax paper was quiet but did not let through the bass the Duelund VSF had resonance control compared to North Creek was 12 gauge unlike the vintage which was 28. The Duelund made a huge improvement. I bet the CAST even much more so.
Regrets so far.
1 I wish I bought CAST woofer inductor vs. VSF.
2 Duelund VSF for tweeter not good enough. CAST or nothing and I wish smaller gauge and CAST might not be worth it as the vintage is a lot better than VSF.
3 Jensen Electrolytic way to noisy. (too lightweight and no wonder everyone like those big heavy Black Gates)
In hindsight these are all logical to me now.... |
Sherwood posted a link to an older review of caps. Again to the what it looks like. The reviewer said the Mundorf was not much better than the Soncicaps and I have to disagree and have heard both of them quite a bit. The Mundorf sounds similiar to Sonicaps as it is being poly but is MUCH more dynamic. Is the Mundorf Supreme not 2 caps in one or something? |
I don't have any trouble seeing how important the woofer inductor (low-pass) is sonically. What surprised me was that the high-pass inductor is also very important.
I tried a number of different chokes on my woofer before settling on the North Creek 10g, and the type of choke used in the low-pass has a major effect on sound quality, perhaps even more than the cap in the high-pass section. Of course, I didn't try a CAST choke and I don't doubt that it could sound better than the North Creek but it's a question of where to draw the line. My woofer has a 3.0mH and the high-pass has a 2.2. The CAST versions would cost over $1000 each, i.e. $4000 for a stereo pair. The North Creek 10g costs about $200 each or $800 for all of them. This all gets rather expensive pretty quickly!
That said I do think the CAST caps have proven to be good value. In other words, the improvement in sound quality has been worth the cost. So I won't rule out the inductors but I am resisting. |
I read the 10Audio review of Sonicap Gen 1 vs. Mundorf S/O vs. V-Cap OIMP caps. I certainly agree with his conclusion about the problems with bypass caps. I don't agree about Silver/oil sounding like Sonicap Gen 1, however. I have used Gen 1 caps a number of times and they are a decent sounding cap. The Gen 1 is too lean for my tastes but the main problem is that its resolution doesn't extend deep enough; at first it sounds detailed but you quickly realize the detail is superficial. I suspect at the time the reviewer he did the comparisons (2005 and 2006) he hadn't heard what a truly detailed cap can sound like. By this I mean a V-Cap TFTF or CUTF, Duelund CAST or, at a somewhat lesser level, a large value Sonicap Platinum (such as 1uf). Without a quality reference cap like these, it is hard to judge detail retrieval capability. |
Salectric,
I agree with your statement concerning the Duelund CAST capacitor value. They are expensive but have given me very satisfying results and improvevment. Placing them in my DAC and Coincident speakers was money very well spent( a bargain in hindsight).
In High End audio more expensive does`nt always equate to better sound,this is one example where the cost is justified. The highest compliment I can give the CAST is its ability to increase the naturalness of sound presentation, more realism and less Hifi.What`s more desirable than that outcome?
Regards, |
Charles1dad, I agree with you 100%. More natural sound and less "hifi" hype is what we want. So far I would put the Duelund CAST caps in that category. The speaker crossover caps definitely. My only concern at this point concerns the .47uf CAST caps on the output of my phono stage. I have a nagging feeling that I may have lost something when I took out the 2uf V-Caps that I had there previously. The Duelund is faster and cleaner sounding, but perhaps a bit too cool and analytical. I need to swap them again to be sure. I am also wondering if my 1uf CAST caps may do better there than the .47. The .47 has different leads than my 1uf or the new 7.5uf. Both of the bigger caps have a copper braided leads but the .47 has solid thin-gauge leads. |
Salectric,
Yes,try the larger value CAST, cool and analytical is the last description I`d use for those capacitor`s contribution.
Charles, |
Charles, what value cap did you use on your DAC output? Does it have copper braid leads or solid wire? |
Salectric,
The Dac CAST cap is 1.0uf and has solid wire
The speaker crossover CAST is 5.6uf and has braided copper leads. |
I just received my Duelunds: three pairs of CAST-cu capacitors, three pairs of CAST-cu inductors, lots of CAST resistors. Total weight: 25Kg. Very nice looking and huge. |
I put in a photo of the Duelund caps, inductors and resitors in my Virtual System page, under "Duelund CAST external crossover". |
Vn101606,
I saw the picture. OK, I'm drooling...are you happy now? |
Vn101606,
I would like to hear your feedback regarding the inductors. I use an all Cast xover and found it to be money well spent. |
Irish and I are both in the inductor camp. (as in I can not believe how much difference they make)
A friend was over who has Khorn's and subs and he could not believe how much bass was coming out of my Lascala's a bass shy speaker. His speakers are rated for 20hz lower, his system is home theater based with subs and yet mine which is two channel has more bass. (not deeper but much more)
I know the reason and it is the Duelund inductors. I only have VSF inductors and the thoughts of going from them to CAST has enter my mind many times... |
Hi
I have taken the plunge and ordered CAST PIO-cu + VST-cu caps and CAST copper inductors for my speaker (satelite- see my virtual system) 1.order serial crossover (at least i think it is 1.order. Serial filters is quite complex and i have an expert doing the filter design). One cap and one inductor in signal path (and a L-pad). The CAST components will be the only components in series with the signal. The VST cap will be in paralell to tweeter signal. All resistors are already Duelund CAST. Paralell caps for midrange will be either Mundorf supreme or SIO (open for suggestions) mixed with some Mundorf SGIO that i already have and use in the crossover.
I have only one inductor in each serial crossover, a North Creek 8 AWG which i think performs absolutely superb (my BLH Nagaoka satelites do the job from 130-7000Hz). The NC replaced a good foil-inductor and was a significant upgrade soundwise. I didn't think of upgrading this before reading the rave about the Duelund inductors here... For my basstowers the boss inductor is a 6kg North Creek 8AWG. This will not be replaced!
My extremely positive experience with the CAST resistors is mainly the reason i go further with the Duelund replacements. This thread also helped with all inputs on Duelund components in different speakers and gear (for now the speaker crossover experiences are the most interesting). Starstruck with the CAST resistors i hope for more of the same effect with more/only Duelund components in the signal path! |
Hi...
Away for a very long time. Just heard the best capacitor ever. This was a 2a3 SET direct coupled. Which of course
does not use any caps at all.
It was playing music, on a whole new level.
The only drawback it's limited to 3.5Watt output. But I think with my 99DB speaker, I would match. I will have a listening session on my own speakers within the next 2 weeks, can't wait.
/Michael |
Micheal, can you give us any more details on the direct coupled 2A3 amp? |
Michael,
Are you referring to the Serious Stereo Audio amp by Dennis Fracker?
Regards, |
Meant to write Dennis Fraker. |
I have been following Jimmy's site on his testing of the "no name" electrolytic capacitor in the power supply. He says he could recognize the difference in a few seconds and that is over the Jensen 4 pole Electrolytic.
"on several seconds" I have not heard the Jensen 4 pole only have the 2 pole but on "several seconds" I could hear how much better the vintage electrolytic is. To me this means "if" the Jensen is considered a very good electrolytic by Jimmy and I am sure he has heard most all and within "several seconds" he could hear an easy difference we are nowhere near as good as we could be with electrolytics!
Occasions where I could hear the difference within "several seconds".
1 going from vintage foil in oil tweeter caps to Duelund VSF.
2 going from Duelund VSF tweeter caps to Duelund CAST.
3 going from vintage woofer inductor to Duelund VSF
4 going from Jensen Electrolytic back to vintage
5 comparing Sonicaps to vintage foil caps
Out of all the parts I have changed hearing the difference "in several seconds" happens far less than "needing hours" to hear the difference or admitting you can not hear the difference or are not sure what the difference is?
Parts that took time but differences can be heard
1 comparing a vintage foil midrange cap to a Duleund VSF
2 comparing Mundorf Supreme to Sonicaps
3 comparing Duelund Silver 2.0 to stranded copper for speaker cable.
4 comparing on a friends Khorns 20 yr old stock poly caps to Sonicaps. (I can't hear the difference)
If one can hear the difference "in several seconds" that indicates quite often a HUGE resonance reduction. I had mentioned on here before if a Jensen Electrolytic is an indication of a very good modern electrolytic then modern electrolytics are very poor! An area where MUCH can be done for improvement.
I know some will say how can you make big improvements over a top level part? Well Duelund VSF was considered the best cap in the world " super natural" and a CAST came along and is wayyyyyy quieter. |
Hi Again...
The Amp I have listening too, Is made but one of my good
friends who are an audio manufacturer located here we I'm
living in Denmark.
Unfortunately his webpage is in Danish, but maybe google
translation can help you.
The link is here : http://www.audio-classic.dk/index.php/forstaerker.html
He's asking 9500 DKR which equals 1600-1700 USD.
There a tons of good schematics on the Internet, and a lot
is DC based , no caps in the signal path at all.
All my amps are build by this guy, Because it's so easy for
me too be able to upgrade, 9 Km i distance from where I'm living.
I'll post a little more, when I get the 2a3.
All your Americans have tons of possibilities, fever if living in Europe, but quite some.
This amp is not going to replace my belowed 6c33 monos, it's
just meant as number 2 amp.
What I was remembering is the magic of the 2a3 Tube.
On Acoustic Recordings It's a whole new experience.
My recommendation is try a Direct Coupled DHT 2a3 if you have efficient Speakers, keep you existent Amps if you need to be able to play really loud.
/Michael
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