Suggestions That Won't Cost An Arm Or Leg

[Grainger49]

I am back at work and want to upgrade the $17 Obbligato Parafeed caps in my Paramours.  I have an iron upgrade and need 10uF@600 or greater volts.

The Clarity MR have been well received.  They are $133 each.  That is steep but I can probably bring my cheap self to do it.

Any other suggestions?

 

[ssssly]

Could go with the Duelund. Bigger than a Coke can and about $650 

Seriously, the Mundorf Supremes in that value are around $50 and very good sounding caps. Their silver in oil is also a very nice sounding, bit smoother to my ear, and isn't much more at around $190.

Haven't compared either to the Clarity but would consider either a step up from the Obbligato. Which is a nice sounding cap to begin with.

Enjoy

 

[debk]

Grainger

I really like the Clarity MR. 
I have a pair of the newer Solen Silver capacitor in 10uf I am not using, you can have if you want to try them.  PM off list and I will send them to you if you want them.

Debra

 

[coca]

Grainger, go to the Parts Connexion sight and on the opening page click on the capacitor shoot-out review when it rolls up. Lots of great information there.

Bernie.

 

[earwaxxer]

Hey Granger - I understand your dilemma - I have some obbligatos just like probably everyone else. I have had them in crossovers etc. ended up taking them out. Not very sophisticated sounding IMO. They supposedly get their films from Germany. I say, cut out the middle man, go with German caps from a company that knows what they are doing - you guessed it - Mundorf. In the 10uf I would go with the Supremes - $50/ each. You can always use them somewhere else (crossover) if they dont fit the electronics bill. If you like the basic sound it will give you a clear upgrade path - hint, hint - silver/oils!

 

[2wo]

Damn, lost my post. Short version, I am in the same boat with my SR-75 rebuild...John

 

[Alonzo]

How about just bypassing the oilers with a 1 uf Mundorf evo silver/gold and oil?  Also the 1uf Supreme would be good.  I have supremes bypasses in my 45 amp that has obligatto golds and evo bypasses in my 2a3 amp (with obligatto oilers) I like what the obliggatos do and the supposedly higher quality bypasses just add to the goodness.

 

[Doc B]

Have you guys listened with and without the bypass? I'm old and rusty math-wise but I think maybe you can do some math that indicates there might be phase differentials between the two caps that could actually make the sound less coherent. Not trying to make a stand, just suggesting we might as a community want to cook up some tests to help determine the validity of paralleled caps of an order of magnitude or more difference in capacitance. I have done some rudimentary listening tests along these lines many years ago that made me shy away from the approach.

 

[ssssly]

I have never left the bypass caps that I have tried in for very long.

They certainly changed the sound. But to me they seemed to either add or subtract in a very limited frequency range. Like a hump in a poorly designed crossover.

I do know people who love them though. I tend to like very flat response curves though. And many find the sound I prefer to be rather dry (alla AKG 702s).

 

[Alonzo]

Doc,
I didn't go the math route, I just took some caps that I broke in using Grainger's rapid-fire method and added them.  I liked the way it sounded so I left them in the amps.  Best part about it is that it sounds good for a minimal amount of work and it's cheaper.  It may be placebo but that really doesn't matter if I like the sound...

 

[earwaxxer]

From what I can gather, in the world of audiophiledome, cap bypassing is still in the realm of 'alchemy' compared to other more established disciplines such as power supplies, output stages etc. I have dallied in it a tad with my speaker crossovers. I tried bypassing three different brands of large caps with a small value Mundorf silver/oil and the only one that sounded better (actually much better) was a paper/oil. It was trial/error. It seems what most people do is buy a .01uf ultra expensive cap - ex. CuTF V-cap - use it as a bypass and hope for the best. Of course the reviews are most always 'glowing'. I remain a skeptic. 

 

[Grainger49]

Ok, I