Foreplay III stock - coupling caps suggestions sought

[howardnair]

doc -i had some problems with the jupiter ht caps in a scott222-too hot in there not the jupiters fault-i let jeff glowacki from sonic cap know about this and he got back to me right away-from what i gathered from the short conversation we had-this was not common -so that is some feedback but i would contact jeff glowacki or elliott at soniccaps.com-i have had them in use for i am going to guess 5years with no problems except with the scott- i use them in my phono stage's on my scotts and dynaco's and in some of my speakers- if i had a seduction or eros that is also where i would use them-i put them in as a experiment -a successful one -they allow-uh they add--no-you cock your head and say -well listen to that!! would ya!!!----
howie

[Mr. Lin]

Yes. a bypass cap across the gas reg will give you a more quiet background. Bear in mind that a "vintage tone" (smells like old wax?) probably means that the cap's sonic character is a bit mellow. That might be the thing you want for a coupling cap if you need to tame the top. But for a bypass cap where you are trying to shunt off some noise you might want to consider a "modern tone" ( smells like polypropylene?) cap that is intended to work well at very high frequencies.

Speaking of Jupiters, does anyone know of any research done about their stability with time? The reason I ask is that I have begun to restore an old Hammond organ (ca.1942). One of the biggest issues with Hammonds of that era is that about 40 or 50 caps in the tone generator are wax caps used in tuned filter circuits to eliminate higher harmonics from the tones, and typically those caps have increased in value about 80% over the years, lowering the filter frequency and making the highs very dull compared to the mid and bass notes. Hammond switched to mylar caps in 1954, thus solving this problem, and the usual restoration procedure is to recap the whole thing with mylar caps, which creates controversy over the change in sound. Might be interesting for Jupiter to make wax caps just for this app if they remain stable with time.

Something labeled "Vintage Tone" is not typically what I'd go for, but I was already ordering a bunch of stuff from partsconnexion and figured I'd try it out for fun since they're inexpensive.  But this is what the manufacturer says about them:

"Construction is Aluminum Foil with Polyester(Mylar) Film Dielectric with tinned copper leads."

Interesting that you bring up the issue with the old organs and the beeswax caps.  It's not the first time I've read about problems with reliability with that type of capacitor, especially in a hot environment.  I would think the modern ones from Jupiter are designed to hold up better over the long-term. 

[Grainger49]

My first build, a Christmas present amplifier my brother got in 1965, had bees wax caps.  Luckily the horrible Japanese (no slight meant here, but it was not to ISO standards) kit (the instructions and the schematic were wrong) came with all sorts of extra parts - Caps included.  We blew several caps apart while doing the smoke test. 

The second and third time we had the amp wired to a switched outlet.  The sequence went switch on, bam and the laughter.  We ended up getting a family friend to help us.  He is the one that pointed out that neither the instructions nor the schematic were right.  At that date I couldn't read a schematic, 10 years later I could.

[Mr. Lin]

Earlier in this thread I mentioned that I had a new pair of Jantzen "Superior Z" capacitors (the red version with copper leads) on a Hagtech Frybaby to burn them in prior to installation in my Foreplay III - they spent just about 6 days on the Frybaby, although Jim of Hagtech suggests that only 48 hours should be enough for capacitors.  Well, I just installed them a little while ago and I am very happy with the results.  The sound has become more natural and seems to flow more easily, and I'm hearing more micro-dynamic cues that give you more of a "live" sense while listening.  Plus enhanced sweetness, more of what I find I really like a lot about the Foreplay.  Started off with songs by Clara Schumann (the wife of famous 19th century composer Robert Schumann), since I thought female voice would be a good challenge to throw at the new caps.  I won't get into too much more detail here, but suffice to say it looks like these will probably be something I'll recommend in the future for the Foreplay.

I should add that I was very, very close to pulling the trigger on the Obligato Gold caps.  The only reason I went with Jantzen is because I've used this exact model in a speaker crossover with good results, and I'm impressed with the build quality for the price.  Frankly I'd still like to try out the Obligatos some time down the line, whether in the Foreplay or the Paramours.  

Perhaps after a few days of listening with these new Jantzen caps installed I'll start a new thread here and describe the results in more detail.  Right now, so far, so good.  

EDIT:  If I had to summarize what I'm hearing so far, I'd say that everything simply sounds much clearer than before.  So, now on to some Webern...

[epistaxsis]

Hmm I would appear to have just had an accident with an American capacitor manufacturer which might involve the letter V and have tinfoil and teflon in there construction...

Ooops :-)

Question though is how do you burn in a capcitor? <-- these things take like 600hours :-o & I am an impatient person

[Mr. Lin]

Gee I wonder what in the world it could be?

Someone on this forum (sorry I can't remember their user name at the moment) explained in detail how to make a dummy load with a capacitor so you can just attach it by itself to the speaker binding posts on your amp.  Also there are system break in CDs that I imagine might possibly work for that, and cable "cookers," which is what I'm currently using, and is a convenient, simple, and effective method of burning in capacitors.  I've had a pair of .1mf Russian Teflon capacitors on my Hagtech "Frybaby" for nearly two months.  The forum member I mentioned above says Teflon caps take a lot longer to burn in, and about two and half to three weeks is fine.  I've only left mine like that for so long because I don't currently need them, nor do I currently need to use the Frybaby for anything else at the moment, and I figure it can't hurt.

[Grainger49]

  .  .  .   Question though is how do you burn in a capcitor? <-- these things take like 600hours :-o & I am an impatient person

The more voltage you swing across a capacitor, the more current you get through them. 

For Teflon caps I go for 300 hours, say 12 days continuous, should work for yours:

Fast Break-In Instructions

[earwaxxer]

a bit late to the party on this one...my pupils dilate a bit whenever I read about cap discussions. Rolled several caps through my system. Of course, I have not paid the "big bucks" for the Duelund Casts, V-caps etc., but my experience has been that the Mundorf Supreme/Silver-Oils have been my favorites. I have some Obbigattos that I had in my speaker crossovers for awhile. They were a bit "sloppy" IMO. Switched to Amphom paper/oils. Better. Ended up bypassing them with Mundorf silver/oils for the hell of it. Fantastic. I have some Mundorf Supremes in the Quickie. Much better than the kit caps. Not sure if silver/oils would be better? When I get my new power amp I will hack the silver/oils from my Mouse and try them in the Quickie.

Bottom line - caps are huge, and as expensive (or more) than tube rolling!

[epistaxsis]

Grainger:

Many thanks - I knew you had written about it, just couldn't find it!

The capacitors, surprisingly, arrived just before christmas - THEY ARE HUGE!!!

So it is new chassis time...

[Grainger49]

That post is buried in a Paramount thread.  I need to copy it to my folder and give a new link.  The subject will be easily searchable.