cheaper coupling caps on a budget

I would try a source like Madisound over here or Wilmslow Audio in England, they tend to have bang for the buck products and can give advice.Some of the prices I saw on the hificollective site were more than I paid for my main components. Take a look, what do they use these things for?

Parts Connection has 15% off film caps right now (V-Caps excluded) If you are looking for a Teflon coupling cap, cheap may not be an option. I would search the Tweaker forum over at the Asylum. Coupling and bypass caps are discussed there quite a bit.

This place seems reasonable on their prices.LINK>>[http://www.percyaudio.com/Catalog.pdf]

Obbligato (via DIY Hifi Supply) are tightly wound polyprop capacitors available in copper jackers or normal. For budget capacitors they are some of my favorites.

As mentioned above, I would also check out Michael Percy. There are also several capacitor threads comparing different brands. Google "capacitor shootout" and "capacitor comparison".

Apart from the shops above, you can also check out Solen in Canada -- prices are OK.

Claritycap ESA's.

Chrissain, is this the same issue you were working on last summer:

mundorf supreme caps vs m caps

I'm a fan of tweaking gear, but maybe you're looking for a different sound altogether. Have you thought about different amps?

Somebody just recommended these Ampohm caps here on Agon.Always keep the voltage as high as the old ones.If you need to stray away from the MFD value,a larger number usually gives more bass.A smaller number usually reduces it.That has been my experience.New caps I haven't tried.LINK>>[http://thetubestore.com/ampohm.html]

Thanks guys. Last summer I installed mundorf supreme caps in my amps [rogue audio m150s] liked the sound overall, but noticed less bass. original value was 2.7 and I put in 2.2s .there was an issue with space inside the amps so I installed the smaller value. that has to be what I am hearing.

Chrissain, can you give us a list of caps you've installed and listened to?

my amps started life with m-caps 2.7 value. I sent them to rogue for upgrades [ before there was an official m180 upgrade] they came back with cheap polystyrene caps bypassed with mundorf mcap supreme .47 value. did not like the sound, shure it was more extended in the highs and lows, but it lost the midrange warmth and smoothness it had before . after speaking with some experts in the industry the consensus was that the bypassing of two very different caps was not optimal for better sound. out came the caps ,this time replaced by a single mundorf supreme 2.2 value, this was much better than the bypassed caps, but I could hear less bass from my system. so I don't know if I should bypass the 2.2 value with other mundorf supreme .47 value, or try a different cap all together , there is an issue with space inside the amps. This has opened a can of worms for me, because now I realize just how much caps effect the sound. I dont want [and cant afford] to try all of the different caps out there.

If a cap is a little brighter,it may sound like its lacking in the bass.It would be nice if they had affordable diy test gear to see the results too.One thing about paralleling caps I've experienced years back was the signal may follow the path of the smaller value cap.There is nothing to back this up,but it happened to me with electrolytic caps in parallel when I was taking an electronics course.The teacher said this can happen sometimes,but you never read about it.Doing this with different brands of coupling caps may give all kinds of results.I have an old tube amp with speed clip connectors on it just to get an idea of the different sonics to see if is good enough to try in the better amp.I definitely know about the cost of the caps too.Solen are about the cheapest and sound good in some amps,boring(less musical) in others.I
heard a triode amp that sounded awesome with them in it.I don't like the idea of paralleling them,but have seen it done in amps from the factory.I can't remember the brand though.Going up to 3.0 may work,or be a little bass heavy?The Solen most of the time seem neutral,but still may sound a little lifeless.They are cheap in compare to the others though.An other problem is if you ask 10 different people about the results they got,you may get up 10 different answers.People do sell used caps too.I guess they go through the same as yours and my trials to get what we want.I looked at some V-Caps,$500 each.Yikes!The wrong value anyhow.I hope you end up with something to your liking without going broke.

This place has decent prices on Solens,but I never bought from them.That is about the only 2.7 I see there.[http://www.percyaudio.com/Catalog.pdf]

Chrissain, if you search the web, you'll find all the tube techies say:

"Changing the coupling caps to smaller values reduces bass, while changing to larger values adds more bass."

I recommend getting closer to the original value (2.7 uF). I understand you can't fit a large cap in the chassis which is why you went with 2.2, but this is probably causing your bass problem. You should have eight .47 M-cap Supremes laying around that you pulled out. Solder them in parallel with the 2.2 so your total value comes to 2.67. You don't have to buy anything to find out how it sounds. It might solve your problem.

If you want expert tube mod advice, contact Jim McShane. He's very well respected and a pleasure to work with.

Best of luck with your project!

Since you have the others,try paralleling.You do sound like you have anything to loose.It may get you back into music for now,or may sound good.

Since you want save money.How about capacitors made by ELECTRONIC CONCEPTS.Polypropylene capacitor 3.0,600 volts.That is close to original value of 2.7.Since space is an issue these are few milli meters smaller than mundorf 2.2.For 8 capacitors about 80 dollars.This is where i order all my capacitors.They are located in USA.If you want more info just send me a email.

Thanks

thanks guys !

Not cheap but very good. Jantzen Superior Series Z- capacitors. 2.7 at 800 VDC $17.64 a pop at Parts express.