2. amps-preamps
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Capacitor Size

I'm curious to know about current capacitors vs. vintage caps...

Are current capacitors physically smaller than equivalent capacitors from back in the day?

The reason I ask is b/c I had an old amp recapped and the new caps are quite a bit smaller than the old ones. The tech said that new caps are physically smaller than old style caps of the same capacitance... He also went on to say that the ones he used in my amp are of even higher capacitance than the old ones... (even though they are only about 2/3 the size of the old ones).

Have I been snowed, or are new caps actually smaller than old, equivalent versions? (i can't physically see the caps' specs because of the way they are mounted).

Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!
loose

Showing 2 responses by hifigeek1

hifigeek1
770 posts
 
Are you asking about power supply aluminum electrolytic caps or film capacitors???
hifigeek1
770 posts
 
The reason caps had been able to shrink in size is do in part to over etching the aluminum foil to increase its surface area. When you do that, less foil is needed and the body of the cap can shrink. Up until recently, when compared to their larger cap brethren, the smaller etched aluminum cap did not sound as good. I tried this experiment with the same manufacturers cap, just different case size. It was missing the relaxed quality of the larger cap. Note that both caps had been broken in. Although caps now still vary sonically from manufacturer to manufacturer, I believe the days of over etching the aluminum are over especially if the cap is designed for audio applications. You will note that caps designed for audio applications are usually a bit larger in case size for the same value.
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