Hello every one I need advice...I have a balanced audio technology vk-5i preamplifier that needs to change the output capacitors they are rated 1mfd at 400vdc this use to be made by Jensen but they are no longer in business, I contacted Bat but they asked more than 450 us for changing them, can you recommend a substitute and what brand should I buy? Best Regards Albert Saadia
Digi-key shows Jensen caps... Not sure that they will have this series, but any Excellent Film cap will work... A Copper foil, A film and foil. Maybe a polystyrene.... These are inexpensive but still sound great with enough burn in time. Ebay sells Russian polystyrenes in that size. In this case, it is the cap value that is more important than the voltage rating. I normally like high voltage parts, but I can't see the circuit requiring 400 volt parts. Good luck, you'll find a good cap that will work fine. Tim
Michael Percy is the go-to guy for capacitors. His website isn’t slick. But, he supplies the best engineers in high-end audio. https://www.percyaudio.com/
Right. Caps are easily swapped. Think of it not as a repair but as an upgrade. Shop for your caps the same way you would shop for any other component- by listener impressions. If you want a silkier more liquid sound, buy those caps and that is what you will have. Do this and you needn't worry about maybe making it sound worse. Almost certainly the caps used were so cheap anything will sound better. Only question, by how much. Oh, and use a solder sucker to get that old solder out of there and use Cardas Quad Eutetic.
Hello every one I need advice...I have a balanced audio technology vk-5i preamplifier that needs to change the output capacitors they are rated 1mfd at 400vdc this use to be made by Jensen
I know they have a vague looking black line that "may" indicated they are electrolytic that would warrant changing them after >10 years, and the two would have to be back to back to make them "non polarized" which would mean you only have 1/2uF not 1uf.
They’re not electrolytic capacitors. Because it’s a balanced circuit the output is through two output capacitors. So there are two 1uF 400V Jensen’s on the positive/negative output. (These caps appear to have a history of failure in these amps.)
The key to changing out the capacitors is size. Some caps are just to large to fit in tight spaces so be careful. Increasing the numeric values for Power Supply capacitors will in general produces better bass so if you can fit them in, my recommendation is to do so.
I recently used the Milflex copper caps with very good results in sound reproduction - did not find them bright either.
Those look to me to be alum foil paper in oil.... I believe the miflex referenced above would be slightly better Paper in oil. Jensen still makes a copper foil, but I’m not sure its available in 1mic and I don’t think that they are paper in oil.... Either way, in general, I would prefer the copper foils. A good polystyrene would be excellent, but most likely just a hint cooler or less warm than a paper in oil. They should however be slightly more defined Good Luck
Vcap Odams are a better choice for both sound quality and fit. I directly compared to Miflex in both dac and preamp builds/upgrades and the Odam is clearly the better sounding cap. The Miflex sounds forward and a tad forced in the upper mids and highs compared to the Odams. The Odams just deliver better better top to bottom coherence while also sounding more real and natural. They are much smaller and will fit far easier making the job more enjoyable and neat.
The Odams are mid priced high end caps and nowhere near $1200 a set. They sound 2x better than $50 caps. Just giving the facts and the OP can decide. The Miflex caps I compared were $70 plus each. The Odams are around $90. The cheaper Miflex caps are simply not in the same league as the Odams. Cutf Vcaps are very good, but the Odams are very special and many feel no need to spend the Cutf price after using them. I am one such person.
I stand corrected. The ODAM are $90 from Vcap while the Miflex are $66 from Partsconnexion. The $1200 was for CuTF however and it should have been $2200+ Must be having a pre-senior moment.
@ausaudio Thanks for the info. I probably have in 150 different caps in my shop right now. My quotes as I thought that I eluded to are about the type of caps in general. I have a few different PIO, they seem to share a rich tone quality, but not as detailed as some other caps that I prefer. My note about Digikey having Jensen was only because I looked. I had no idea that they were out of business. 140208 Jensen Capacitors | Capacitors | DigiKey Marketplace
Right. Caps are easily swapped. Think of it not as a repair but as an upgrade. Shop for your caps the same way you would shop for any other component- by listener impressions.
Agreed with @millercabon. The most accurate source of listening impressions in my experience is humbleHifi. He's always right on the money to my ears.
An important consideration with that site is the listening tests were only done in speaker crossovers, not electronics. Typically just on the high pass circuit only. This is very important to remember. They will not necessarily sound the same in a preamp, amp or dac circuit.
@grannyring Good point. That said, I've used the site to choose capacitors for two duties, high pass crossover and output capacitor on my preamp. In both cases, I heard what he wrote.
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