Tweeter Capacitor Upgrade (Coincident PREs)

Thanks Erik. Also, just to be doubly sure. I don't need to worry about voltage rating as long as I meet or exceed the original value (100V), right?

@audioman58 And fortunately there's nothing else really to change.  The PREs only have that one 4.7uF capacitor on the tweeter.  The midrange is directly wired to the binding posts and the the bass just has a single inductor coil.  

Thanks for the recommendations everyone.

@justanotherhifiguy Isreal states that they use Mundorf in current models of the PRE, but my pair (I purchased used) just have Solens.  The frankenstein amps also have solens throughout... although to be honest I tried replacing with Duelund and didn't like the result.  

@erik_squires Lots to think about in there... I'm very torn.

Thanks again for all the conversation... All very useful.

At this time, I am not really inclined to do anything besides replace the tweeter capacitor, but clearly there's a lot to think about there.  I think improvement there is highly likely, but I'm a little less confident about the wiring/inductor/post changes. My soldering skills are improving, but I prefer not to touch what I don't have to.

And in regards to some of the conversation, I've looked inside the speakers and indeed, the only cap is on the tweeter. The mid-range is connected directly to the binding posts, and I'm pretty confident that the only component inside the subwoofer cabinet is the large inductor coil.

Ha.  I added them to my cart but didn't buy yet.  Very torn about the process.  I suppose experimenting isn't too bad, especially at $55 a cap for the CMRs.  I just worry that I'll fry my tweeters if I play around too much.  Would much rather solder once and be done...

Dammit.  The Jupiters are sold out at both PartsConnexiion and SonicCraft.  PC does have the Duelund RS Copper Foil caps, but I think you all talked me into the Jupiters... 

Not so much worried about the capacitors as the accutons... they have such tiny little tabs, so little room for heatsinks.

Talked me into it Erik.  Also gives me a chance to play some more in the future if I decide to buy some Jupiters or Duelunds.

Just an update. I did install the clarity cap cmr with a silver duelund bypass. A really nice improvement from the stock solens (Israel actually claims that stock is mundorf)... Much smoother and cleaner. 

I also found some Jupiters and will try them out in a week or two as well.  Apparently there is very little stock at the large values. I had to have them shipped from England, and they only had 4 in stock. Soniccraft said they may never get that value back in stock.

@d2girls Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to be around too many high end systems that might compete with the Coincident PREs (previous speakers were Thiel 1.6s, 2.4s, and Coicident Super Eclipse IIIs). 

As they should be, the PREs are in a different league from those other speakers.  It's been a real learning experience getting these set up, even coming from another Coincident system (I amplified the SEIIIs with their Franks).  It probably took me 6 months to really dial them in.  I had to replace my speaker cables, my 300bs & rectifier tubes, add new power cables, grounding wires, replace a "harsh" power strip, consolidate all my gear down onto one dedicated line, and am now adding new capacitors to the head units.  I've also tried four different amplifiers (the Franks, Atma-sphere M60s, the Pass XA25, and Lyngdorf TDAI 3400).   

At various points I've had almost no bass, harsh irritating high frequencies, and muddy imaging. Gradually, however, it's become clear that none of those problems were because of the speakers... just some other part of my system that had to be brought up.  Having persevered through all that I do think I'm committed to the speakers.  Obviously they're brutally revealing, but can also sound really warm and gentle once everything is setup correctly.  As I said, the process of getting them setup has been incredibly educational.  

That said, I believe your concerns about dealing with the company is also a real issue.  My speakers were damaged in shipping and so I had to interact a lot during the repair process.  I could go on and on, but do expect to be charged a premium fee for any parts or repairs.  And if there is ever any problems or conflict, do not expect Coincident to do anything to "make it right."      

And to go back to the thread... regarding the capacitors, I did decide to remove the Duelund bypass caps (.01uF AG) last night. They seemed to improve the tonality of the Clarity cap (a bit "richer" high frequencies), but I was also hearing some smearing that was irritating me.  I haven't done the full A/B, but I do think that removing them cleared things up a bit.  Curious to hear the Jupiters next week.

@alexberger  Yeah, everything's got about 150-200 on it.  

I'm open to bypassing, but do wonder whether I will always hear some smearing.  There's just that one capacitor between the amps and my accutons... introducing two paths of different lengths seems like it might always reduce coherence.  

@erik_squires Thanks for the suggestion on the Audyns Erik.  Depending on how the Jupiters work out, I may give them a shot.  My only hesitation is that I didn't have the problem of hearing "nothing" upon adding the lower value bypass... (see above comment)

@brownsfan  etc.  Finally got the Jupiters into my system this week (after burning in for 100-150 hours).  They were so big that I had to run a wire from the tweeter out of the rear port on the PRE's head units and fashion an external crossover, but wow do they sound great.  

It's a travesty that these speakers ship with solen caps at their list price.  I'd say this is a mandatory upgrade for any other owners.  

I also tried the Duelund bypass caps on the Jupiters and again thought it caused some phasiness and mild distortion.  So I'm with @grannyring that they should stay out of the speaker crossovers.

Thanks for all the recommendations.  It's nice to see that the top vote getter was also a great choice.

Again, for any other PRE owners out there, this is really a huge leap forward in performance.

@erik_squires I remember reading on humblehifi that the clarity cap was neutral and "ruler flat". I thought that was pretty descriptive. It was clean, but I lost some warmth and color compared to the original solens. The Jupiters brought that back in spades while also adding better imaging. 

@brownsfan And yes, the PREs are made to that tough to hit $30k (recent price increase) mark. Crazy that they can't spend an extra $500 in parts to make the speakers sound their best. Even crazier that there's a $20 cap in there. Just mind bottling.

@beetlemania  You should note that I did pair Duelund bypass caps (Ag .01uF) with the clarity caps in my PREs and didn't like what they did to the sound.  They added a little color, but also added some distortion and phasiness.  I also tried adding them to the Jupiters, but found no added benefit and again thought I heard the negatives.  Just pulled them out after listening to one song. 

Note that my main caps are 4.7uF, so perhaps that bypass is too small to induce the positive changes that Erik has heard...