Capacitors in Cary PH302 phono amp

PPMFX is a very good base value capacitor by itself. Dont believe every shoot out that comes along on the internet. Bypassing that cap with an RTX or Russian FT-1 Teflon gets you excellent sound for little money outlay.

Tobes,

The RTX at 1uf is physically a large capacitor and IME the larger value RTX caps tend to have a noticeable bass overhang. RTX is best used IMO in smaller values ie .15UF-.22uf as bypass capacitors. Your best of using the Mundorf full range and changing the order for the RTX to .15UF and using that as a bypass.

Tobes, high quality capacitors such as the Mundorf silver-oil in a relativly small 1uf value generally are not "candidates" for bypass as already they perform at a high level. However, this is a hobby and I encourage you to experiment. How else are you going to "learn" what works in a given piece of equipment?

The PPMFX perform as well as any SOA cap when bypassed with the proper bypass capacitor IME.

A .22UF RTX would be more suitable as a bypass on a 3-5UF cap IME. I would go ahead and order the .10UF RTX and use that as a bypass on the PPMFX.

What you should hear with the RTX bypass of the PPMFX is foremost a 3 dimensional soundstage (depth/width/height) That is the sonic signature of polystyrene. Secondly, the bass will take on greater definition and prat. While the highs will sound both more open and sweeter. Lastly, there will be more harmonic overtones and tonal depth.

I make extensive use of both polystyrene and teflon capacitor bypasses in my equipment- signal path and power supplies.

The caps appear to be mounted too close to the 6SL7 tubes as Dover has noted. However, the glass envelope of the 6SL7 is where most of the heat is. The base just houses the pin-out, so your mounting position is probably fine.

FYI- An old trick when replacing passive components that take up room is to mount from the underside of the circuit board. Sometimes taller standoffs are needed to raise the board a sufficient height to fit the part. This would allow you to keep the leads short. ( and mount away from the tubes.

Tobes,

I would buy a roll of automotive gasket material (the grey multi-ply sheet) Cut a square and stand it up between the capacitor and tube. In a tube cd player mod that I installed Mundorf caps close to the tubes. The gasket material blocked the heat. Without the gasket material, just too hot for the long term.

+1 to the above post.
Also,

To the left of the Mundorf appears to be a Cary "Audio One" oil capacitor (the long silver cap). That has to go, along with the Solens that are probably bypassing the nearby electrolytic caps.