Newbie capacitor question

[earwaxxer]

Hey Adam - I think it depends on what size (uF) you are talking about, how much you want to spend what sound you are looking for etc.

The supremes are a good place to start as far as value and you can see if you like the Mundorf house sound. I keep going back to Mundorf because its a known quantity to me. For me to switch brands I'm looking at some serious coin, and I haven't got there yet. I think the upside of buying a super high end cap that everyone loves is that it gives you a frame of reference. Not all reviews and opinions turn out to be accurate, so I try not to be swayed by the "cap du jour". I don't think you would regret any of those on you short list. Personally, I'm curios about the Jupiter HT's. I wouldnt bite on the Jensens. The Mundorf silver/oil seems to be liked by many in the affordable high end bracket. IMO, to do significantly "better" it's going to cost you. From what I have read a about the ultra high end caps is that they get just about everything right, but they are not 5x better than the more affordable cap like the silver/oil.

 

[HF9]

- Mundorf Supreme
- Mundorf M-Cap Supreme Silver & Oil
- Jensen Copper Foil PIOs
- Jupiter HT-Series Beeswax Paper Aluminum Foil

The Mundorf Supremes are very good, low cost, all around caps. Nice clarity and slightly on the warm side. Probably one of the best value caps I've tried.

I tried the Silver Oils on the outputs of a NOS DAC, which increased the detail and neutrality over the stock caps. I also installed them in a Norman Koren SPICE circuit which was the best sounding pre-amp I've ever heard, however I didn't roll anything else into it.

The Jensen Copper PIOs are supposed to have a lush midrange and be good for vocals. Haven't tried them yet myself.

I plan on trying a set of Jupiter Flat stacks in my PreBee. People say they are natural, extended and ever-so-slightly colored in a beneficial way. Sounds like my cup of tea

 

[johnsonad]

"I plan on trying a set of Jupiter Flat stacks in my PreBee. People say they are natural, extended and ever-so-slightly colored in a beneficial way. Sounds like my cup of tea "

That's why I bought a pair for my BeePre.  I hope that they deliver.

 

[PassionForSound]

Someone on page 1 mentioned using film caps with (or in place of) the electrolytics in the power supply because they dump power faster. Is that about using them as bypass caps or actually replacing the electrolytics?

 

[Grainger49]

The Mundorf Supremes are very good, low cost, all around caps.  .  .  . 

This could be somewhat confusing.  There are at least 3 different configurations of Mundorf caps that are labeled Supreme.  The ones he is mentioning above are those linked here:

http://www.partsconnexion.com/capacitor_film_mundorf_suprm.html

I don't believe he means the Silver/Oil, Silver/Gold or the Silver/Gold/Oil.  Those all say Supreme too.  If you had clicked on those first you might have thought they were not so "low cost".

 

[Paul Joppa]

Because of their construction, the Supremes are 800-volt caps. I like the idea of that for parafeed output applications in power amps, especially the Paramount which has the highest voltage. (I'm talking reliability and longevity, not subjective ound here.)

 

[4krow]

  I saw a switch just for changing output caps. NOW I understand. Of course, it wasn't a special switch of any kind, just came with an attached circuit board.

 

[adamct]

The Mundorf Supremes are very good, low cost, all around caps.  .  .  . 

This could be somewhat confusing.  There are at least 3 different configurations of Mundorf caps that are labeled Supreme.  The ones he is mentioning above are those linked here:

http://www.partsconnexion.com/capacitor_film_mundorf_suprm.html

I don't believe he means the Silver/Oil, Silver/Gold or the Silver/Gold/Oil.  Those all say Supreme too.  If you had clicked on those first you might have thought they were not so "low cost".

Correct. And here I have to lob a complaint toward Mundorf and/or Parts Connexion. While almost every other cap brand / style (including other caps in the Mundorf line) makes it clear what the caps are made of, the Parts Connexion page for the "vanilla" Mundorf Supremes does not. Through some research on the web, I was able to determine they are metalized polypropylene, but the cynic in me thinks they are using the "Mundorf Supreme" name to charge a premium price by getting people to associate them with their more expensive oil/silver/gold caps.

 

[earwaxxer]

The way it worked, from what I remember anyway, is that the generic "supreme" came first. The others came later.

 

[HF9]

The ones he is mentioning above are those linked here:
http://www.partsconnexion.com/capacitor_film_mundorf_suprm.html

Yes that's correct, just the regular Supremes. As Eric said, they are a nice place to start. They won't set you back much coin and they are well regarded in pretty much every review I've ever seen.

 

[4krow]

  Not that I doubt my ears so much as my expectations. I wish that there was a simple way to blind test these caps, so that the prejudices could be better put out of the way.

 

[Grainger49]

I didn't want him to think that you thought $200 for each capacitor was a reasonable price.  That kind of skews a newbie's view of us.

I'm a big fan of the cheapest Obbligato caps.

 

[4krow]

  I don't have a lot of experience with different caps, but I am very happy with the Obbligato gold caps. I must admit that I suspect I will change out some small solen caps in my latest Q to Obbligato copper.

 

[Bonzo]

I'm a Russian aficionado!
I tried big k75-10 PIO and they are better than stock caps and MGBO ones, then I also try a mixed solution bypassing them with a 0.22uf K72 ones (teflon caps).
With bypass caps I experience more detail and dynamic, but I prefer them in my phono stage, letting my quickie smoothing a bit.

As said before it's a matter of taste...I learned that in hifi you have to understand technical basis first (frequency response, harmonic distorsion, PRAT ecc...) and then it's up to your taste.

Like a good sommelier, you can dislike a glass of Amarone, nonetheless you must know it's one of the best wine in the world!

 

[HF9]

I didn't want him to think that you thought $200 for each capacitor was a reasonable price.  That kind of skews a newbie's view of us.

I'm a big fan of the cheapest Obbligato caps.

Haha, yeah, that's only reasonable for the craziest of us. Agreed that the Obbligatos are a really great value.

 

[aragorn723]

What value cap did you use for the K72P6?  Thanks,

Dave