FYI: Goertz Zobel Networks

Hi, Gthrushl!
In my experience with various Zobel "Networks" the "best" (soundwise) place to aplicate them is on the speaker side (I use my Zobels' on the speaker side with "bananas"). Also, experiment with the "polarity" of the Zobel's - the sound changes when you rotate the ends of the Zobel's to the speaker terminals. So its jut two "ways" of connecting them and it shouldn't be too difficullt finding the better sounding solution. Don't ask me why it sounds different but it does...
Don't get scared "off" spades, bananas are more practical but there it ends. And you surely can make a tighter connection (not to mention more contact surface) with spades than with bananas.
Hope this helps a bit.
Cheers!

Non-polarized capacitors are polarized, so you can orient them one way and get one sound / reading and flip them around and get different sound / readings.

As to mounting the zobel's at the amp or speaker, at the speaker is always the preferred method. Some amps have built in zobels right at the binding posts inside the amp.

As for using spades, bananas, etc... I've found that it is very convenient to connect the speaker wires with spades for the tightest connection and to use decent quality bananas for the zobels. Each allows a solid connection without interfering with the other. Obviously, one would have to have "5 way binding posts" on the speaker to take advantage of such a method. Sean
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Non-polarized capacitors are polarized, so you can orient them one way and get one sound / reading and flip them around and get different sound / readings.

Really? I guess I have learned something then. I just had Andy Bartha, who does mods over for a DAC shootout and he showed me the guts of his mods to a Musical Fidelity upsampling DAC (BTW - the Perpetual Tech with Dan Wright's mods sounds better IMO). Andy swears by non-polarized black-gate caps. However, he uses them in the power-supply and decoupling, which is polarized by definition. Is there a way to tell which way to install would be best?

Hi!
Audioengr you are talking about electrolythic caps (that are used mainly in power supply's) if I got it right. I can't give an advice on that subject(if the caps polarity isn't marked).

Sean said it right: " Non-polarized capacitors are polarized, so you can orient them one way and get one sound / reading and flip them around and get different sound / readings. " - but there's more when it comes to Zobel's.
A thing that is even more important than the "right" polarity(of the caps) is the orientation of the cap and the resistor. Much timeconsuming experimentation brought up a "rule". And that is: the capacitor "must" be on the positive(+) side and the resistor on the negative(-) side if the best(soundwise) results are to be achieved. That's very easy to check - turn it around and listen.
Why it sounds better that way - I don't know, but it does.

And Zobel's do affect the sound - for the better (if "right" values are applied) or worse (if "wrong" values are applied). The "right" and "wrong" values for the capacitor and resistor are a cable dependant matter.

Hope this helps.
Best Regards to all!

Audioengr: I shouldn't have phrased that the way that i did. Let me say that non-polarized capacitors have a specific orientation to them and each orientation will have a sound of its' own. The key is to find which orientation sounds best to you in that specific circuit and then to install all of the capacitors in the circuit(s) with that same "polarity" or orientation. Mixing the orientation of caps from channel to channel or within the the same channel will result in a less consistent presentation with increased "haze" or "fuzz". When trying to orient non-polarized caps, one can't "ass-u-me" that the printing / orientation is the same from cap to cap, so each cap must be checked individually. Sean
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