What brand of caps (electrolytic and film) would use to recap some
older solid state preamps?

I need to change out all the 30+ year old electrolytics (1 to 400 uf
at 25v) , and I'd like to find a few good sounding film caps for the
EQ section.

I was just browsing through Digikey's catalog hoping to find the HFS
series caps but no luck.

Thanks for the reply Scott.

Most of the electrolytics are axial, but I'm starting to give up on
the idea of finding decent axial replacements. I could make low
profile radials work but they'd be a little more of a pain to install.


Most of the film caps are in the range of 0.001 to 1.0 uf. What would
be your top choice(s)?

thanks



On 1 Aug 2003 18:32:34 -0400, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

Do you need axials or radials?

Some of the Panasonic films are okay but it depends on the values you need.
--scott

Stephen Sank wrote:

In my opinion, and I have done a whole lot of a/b testing, the Wima caps(and
their identical mates from Rifa & Ero) are not much good for anything but
power supply bypass &, sometimes, feedback EQ circuits. In the direct
signal path, they add a definite haze to the top end, and just plain don't
sound transparent. They're the first things I rip out & replace when I do
upgrades on Moscode, Levinson & other high end home audio gear. Ya' know,
it's pretty goddamn disgusting to open up a pair of $22,000 Cello(Levinson)
monoblocks & find it full of the same antiquated & cheap(relatively
speaking) Wima & etc. box poly caps that weren't even good enough for a
$1000 Moscode amp in the '80's.

Interesting. Which particular types are you talking about? "Poly"
what? I could imagine some cheapskates using Wima metalized polyester
film caps just because they LOOK like nice capacitors, but in a $22,000
amplifier they ought to be silver and teflon or some such nonsense.
I'm a firm believer that better is, well, better, and I think if you
take a look at the DF and DA on various WIMA caps you won't assume that
polypropylene film & foil caps will sound anything like metallized
polyester. Same goes for the Panasonic stuff from Digikey, if you
don't need a pretty square box to impress audiphile customers with Mad
Cash Disease.

ulysses

(Scott Dorsey) wrote in message ...

And if you think this is bad, you should SEE what electrolytics are like.
Though of course electrolytics also change value as they age and as the
temperature changes, so they are a really bad idea in any circuit where
values are critical.
--scott

Good point Scott

That's why I use solid tantalum caps (when possible) in place of
standard electrolytics. They don't age like paper caps.

That's why I use solid tantalum caps (when possible) in place of
standard electrolytics. They don't age like paper caps.

That hasn't been my experience; I've taken some decidedly aged solid tantalums
(tantala?) out of old Revoxes (Revoces?)

Peace,
Paul

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message ...
"R. Foote" wrote in message
om
(Scott Dorsey) wrote in message
...

And if you think this is bad, you should SEE what electrolytics are
like. Though of course electrolytics also change value as they age
and as the temperature changes, so they are a really bad idea in any
circuit where values are critical.
--scott

Good point Scott

That's why I use solid tantalum caps (when possible) in place of
standard electrolytics. They don't age like paper caps.

As long as you keep 'em adequately biased, no sweat!

I wouldn't use ANY large caps in the signal path unless I had to (you
know, preamps mixers etc) It would be better to block dc in the design
stage with input offset biasing.