Bottlehead Forum

Bottlehead Kits => Eros Phono => Topic started by: mwaller on May 12, 2016, 05:57:29 AM

Title: Capacitor upgrades for shunt regulator?
Post by: mwaller on May 12, 2016, 05:57:29 AM
In an earlier post, Caucasian Blackplate mentioned that it may be worth upgrading the 0.1uf caps in the shunt regulator circuit.
These are the brown rectangular caps, correct?
What kind are the stock capacitors, and what qualities would one seek to improve upon? 
Any suggestions for what type of cap would be "better" in this application?
Thanks,
Mika
Title: Re: Capacitor upgrades for shunt regulator?
Post by: rockpassion on May 12, 2016, 12:26:35 PM
Mika,

I replaced the .1uf capacitors with same value Russian FT-3 Teflon caps.  I also replaced the .47uf Solen caps with .22uf Russian FT-3 Teflon caps.  The change was noticeable, the sound was clearer, more distinct soundstage and just a more musical output.  However, I could not tell you which change made the difference.  I did both because they were easy to change and the Russian caps were fairly inexpensive. 

Good luck and keep us posted. 

Richard
Title: Re: Capacitor upgrades for shunt regulator?
Post by: mwaller on May 12, 2016, 01:21:04 PM
Thanks for input!
Any idea whether it is acceptable to use a larger value cap on the shunt regulator board?  Once I upgrade the output capacitors, I will have some spare .47uF Auricaps...
Thanks,
Mika
Title: Re: Capacitor upgrades for shunt regulator?
Post by: Paul Joppa on May 12, 2016, 02:17:40 PM
No. The R and C values are chosen to compensate a specific corner frequency inside the regulator chip, to maintain stability. It's not super-critical; a +/-20% variation in capacitance is reasonable.
Title: Re: Capacitor upgrades for shunt regulator?
Post by: mwaller on May 13, 2016, 05:32:13 AM
No. The R and C values are chosen to compensate a specific corner frequency inside the regulator chip, to maintain stability. It's not super-critical; a +/-20% variation in capacitance is reasonable.

Thanks for the info!
Mika