Thank you for your feedback. I realize this is a subjective question to ask. Some have suggested North Creek Crescendos. I've heard good things about them, but the cost is $430 for my project, hence putting it out of my price range. The Obbligato's look interesting, but there isn't much information aside from their website. I'm leaning toward Kimber caps. I think they're a safe choice and reasonably priced. Thanks again! -Mark
Need help choosing capacitor upgrades in crossover
I'm in the process of rebuilding a pair of Dahlquist DQ-20i's. For those that have heard the 20i's, you know they have a warm, detailed sound. Some consider them a best buy in the under $600 vintage market. I like their sound, but I want to see if I can improve on a good thing. I plan to rebuild the crossovers with:
- Mills wire wound resistors 12 watt
- 10 AWG inductors (custom made)
- 10 AWG oxygen free wire
I'm looking for advice in choosing capacitors. The stock caps are Solen PB metallized polypro 400 VDC. There are four caps I'm looking at replacing (3, 5.1, 13 and 24 µF). I understand that Solen's are a great value and widely used in the mid-priced speaker market. As you know, high-end caps are very expensive. If I need to spend $450 to hear an improvement, it's just not worth it to me.
After price shopping, I've narrowed down my choices to: Sonicap, Kimber and Auricap. I've heard good things about Kimber and Auricap, but will they be a significant improvement over the stock Solen's? I know very little about Sonicap. If you have other suggestions, please let me know.
If you had to choose between Solen, Kimber and Auricap which would give the best bang for the buck?
Here are my total costs for each brand:
Sonicap $144.60 @ Sonic Craft
Kimber $237.22 @ Sonic Craft
Auricap $250.50 @ Parts Connexion
AudioCap Theta $442.92 @ Sonic Craft
Mundorf Silver/Oil $1186.30 @ Parts Connexion
Solen (exact replacements) $37.60 @ Parts Connexion
I hesitate to mix brands, even though North Creek thinks it's okay:
"We feel that most film-and-foil capacitors and many metallized film caps have a sonic signature that is a little inhomogeneous and with an over-emphasized or ragged treble. For most of these caps, bypassing with a 600 Volt Crescendo cap will do wonders for the combination's harmonic balance. Capacitors with an overly soft treble (such as polyester film or low frequency polypropylene film caps) will benefit from a 1µF Harmony bypass cap, and can be further upgraded with the addition of a 0.10µF Crescendo cap."
http://www.northcreekmusic.com/CapacitorFAQ.html
A conflicting opinion from an AGon member says:
Make sure you use the same type of caps thruout. I would not mix and match these different films as they have different speed and respective signatures.
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1126890142&openflup&5&4#5
FWIW, my electronics:
Anthem Pre2-L
Parasound HCA-1500A
Rega Planet 2000
Thank you in advance for any advice and thoughts you might have.
- Mills wire wound resistors 12 watt
- 10 AWG inductors (custom made)
- 10 AWG oxygen free wire
I'm looking for advice in choosing capacitors. The stock caps are Solen PB metallized polypro 400 VDC. There are four caps I'm looking at replacing (3, 5.1, 13 and 24 µF). I understand that Solen's are a great value and widely used in the mid-priced speaker market. As you know, high-end caps are very expensive. If I need to spend $450 to hear an improvement, it's just not worth it to me.
After price shopping, I've narrowed down my choices to: Sonicap, Kimber and Auricap. I've heard good things about Kimber and Auricap, but will they be a significant improvement over the stock Solen's? I know very little about Sonicap. If you have other suggestions, please let me know.
If you had to choose between Solen, Kimber and Auricap which would give the best bang for the buck?
Here are my total costs for each brand:
Sonicap $144.60 @ Sonic Craft
Kimber $237.22 @ Sonic Craft
Auricap $250.50 @ Parts Connexion
AudioCap Theta $442.92 @ Sonic Craft
Mundorf Silver/Oil $1186.30 @ Parts Connexion
Solen (exact replacements) $37.60 @ Parts Connexion
I hesitate to mix brands, even though North Creek thinks it's okay:
"We feel that most film-and-foil capacitors and many metallized film caps have a sonic signature that is a little inhomogeneous and with an over-emphasized or ragged treble. For most of these caps, bypassing with a 600 Volt Crescendo cap will do wonders for the combination's harmonic balance. Capacitors with an overly soft treble (such as polyester film or low frequency polypropylene film caps) will benefit from a 1µF Harmony bypass cap, and can be further upgraded with the addition of a 0.10µF Crescendo cap."
http://www.northcreekmusic.com/CapacitorFAQ.html
A conflicting opinion from an AGon member says:
Make sure you use the same type of caps thruout. I would not mix and match these different films as they have different speed and respective signatures.
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1126890142&openflup&5&4#5
FWIW, my electronics:
Anthem Pre2-L
Parasound HCA-1500A
Rega Planet 2000
Thank you in advance for any advice and thoughts you might have.