Bottlehead Forum

Bottlehead Kits => Legacy Kit Products => The Fix => Topic started by: Grainger49 on December 21, 2013, 09:17:10 AM

Title: Capacitor Leads
Post by: Grainger49 on December 21, 2013, 09:17:10 AM
I'm reading over the manual.  There is a warning that the capacitors are sensitive to heat.  Would leaving the leads long create unwanted noise?
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: Paul Birkeland on December 21, 2013, 01:14:17 PM
The capacitors don't like the heat from your soldering iron, and won't be happy touching a 5 or 10 Watt resistor.

Leaving the leads really long on the caps in the Crack won't lead to noise issues, but it will increase the probability that the cap will twist and the leads will short against each other. 
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: Grainger49 on December 21, 2013, 02:52:17 PM
Thanks, that is clear to me. 

I'm a little under the weather today, a cold or something.  So I didn't do anything but mount the RCA jacks and switches.  As is my practice I bent all the leads on the switches out like I do on tube pins.  It gives extra room for my fat fingers to make connections.

I will hopefully get into it more tomorrow.
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: Paul Birkeland on December 21, 2013, 03:02:09 PM
So I didn't do anything but mount the RCA jacks and switches.  As is my practice I bent all the leads on the switches out like I do on tube pins.

There's a fair amount of risk in doing that, as the switch contacts are molded into those switches, and torquing on them can move them around. 
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: Grainger49 on December 21, 2013, 11:56:40 PM
I'll check continuity if I feel good enough to work on it today.  I couldn't talk when I got up about an hour ago.
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: boulos on January 15, 2014, 09:10:40 AM
How would one know if the capacitors were affected by the heat of the iron?  I was very careful, but when there are three capacitors connected to a large terminal which is also connected to the drain wire, the time the iron needed on the terminal+leads to adequately apply the heat was not as short as I like.
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: Paul Birkeland on January 15, 2014, 10:16:36 AM
How would one know if the capacitors were affected by the heat of the iron?

The cap will kind of fall apart. 
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: boulos on January 15, 2014, 12:05:33 PM
ah, I see.  They got warm to the touch.  If you look at this picture, do they appear OK to you?
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: Paul Birkeland on January 15, 2014, 12:19:39 PM
Looks good.
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: Grainger49 on January 15, 2014, 02:50:55 PM
I rang everything out, including the switches.  It works perfectly.  I'm using the 5k Hz. filter at 4dB.

It seems to work.
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: boulos on January 21, 2014, 04:35:33 AM
Here's my Fix with the Hammond base. I used small rubber strips at the corners so that the plate does not slide. My speakers are on a shelf among books. I feel the fix lifted the midrange, and I'm enjoying it in my system.  I wonder what I should do when I plug the headphones in the S.E.X. ... Should I set bothe treble and bass to 0dB, or try it out as is? Currently, the settings are narrowest baffle, 4dB, 10kHz, 2dB.
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: Doc B. on January 21, 2014, 05:41:58 AM
Yes, try setting the control flat for headphones. Then adjust it to taste.
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: JamieMcC on January 21, 2014, 11:21:02 AM
Do you think the fix will have much effect on headphones? Please could you post back your impressions of using this with your headphones Grainger I meant boulos while using with the sex.

Thanks Jamie
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: Grainger49 on January 21, 2014, 11:45:56 AM
Jamie,

I use the Fix with my Orca/Dungeness speakers.  I don't listen to headphones.  Well, not since some time in the 1990s.
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: Paul Birkeland on January 21, 2014, 11:46:36 AM
Do you think the fix will have much effect on headphones? Please could you post back your impressions of using this with your headphones Grainger.

Headphones can be somewhat bass-heavy, so I wouldn't expect the BSC aspect to be all that desirable.  On the other hand, there are those cans that roll off a lot on the top end, and being able to bump that up a bit could be nice.
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: JamieMcC on January 21, 2014, 12:11:12 PM
Do you think the fix will have much effect on headphones? Please could you post back your impressions of using this with your headphones Grainger.

Headphones can be somewhat bass-heavy, so I wouldn't expect the BSC aspect to be all that desirable.  On the other hand, there are those cans that roll off a lot on the top end, and being able to bump that up a bit could be nice.

Thanks Paul

Jamie,

I use the Fix with my Orca/Dungeness speakers.  I don't listen to headphones.  Well, not since some time in the 1990s.


Yep, I had my posters muddled up it was the post by boulos on using headphones with the sex sorry for confusion I have edited my previous post.
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: boulos on January 23, 2014, 06:24:47 AM
Hi Jamie,
I have the ATH-AD700 headphones.  People seem to agree that these are light on bass, and definitely the BSC made a very audible difference. The lower registers are much more apparent, and the spectrum was filled.  The same levels I used for my speakers worked best here (narrowest baffle, 4db).  I had a much harder time discerning differences with the treble compensation.  I ended up setting it at 20kHz, 4dB.  At this setting, I could hear the ringing in the higher notes (e.g. classical guitar harmonics), but it's very subtle.  I hope this is a reasonable description.
Title: Re: Capacitor Leads
Post by: JamieMcC on January 23, 2014, 07:49:52 AM
Hi Jamie,
I have the ATH-AD700 headphones.  People seem to agree that these are light on bass, and definitely the BSC made a very audible difference. The lower registers are much more apparent, and the spectrum was filled.  The same levels I used for my speakers worked best here (narrowest baffle, 4db).  I had a much harder time discerning differences with the treble compensation.  I ended up setting it at 20kHz, 4dB.  At this setting, I could hear the ringing in the higher notes (e.g. classical guitar harmonics), but it's very subtle.  I hope this is a reasonable description.

Thanks that is good to know that there is an audible difference on with headphone I was thinking it would be interesting tweaking and seeing what effects can be discerned to suit individual phones and tastes I quiet like the idea of being able to apply a little fine tuning if needed.