Output Capacitor Upgrading Questions

[ZacharyP]

And today I replaced the last electrolytic with an obbligato PSU film cap, 100uf (I already have a choke installed).  Debating whether to now bypass the remaining two electrolytics with 2.2uf chinafilm caps, and bypass the obbligato with a higher quality, small value Teflon.

Upgraditis is a Helluva disease.

[Colin]

It's an awesome to find this 'capasitor rolling' in here. Iam a newbie, very enjoy my crack(stock) in a year. Looking for take some upgrade with capasitor for its first. Have read many reviews, mundorf  cap got many good reviews. Plan to buy mcap 100uf 400v & supreme 1uf(how about supreme silver-gold-oil, very expensive, is that worth?)BEFORE.

After reading on this, i got Mundorf cap are "overprice" in generally line up. Can anyone help to choose for me the caps with same or even better than mundorf with cheaper price? Or Mundorf worth in their price?

Thank You
Colin

[JamieMcC]

It's an awesome to find this 'capasitor rolling' in here. Iam a newbie, very enjoy my crack(stock) in a year. Looking for take some upgrade with capasitor for its first. Have read many reviews, mundorf  cap got many good reviews. Plan to buy mcap 100uf 400v & supreme 1uf(how about supreme silver-gold-oil, very expensive, is that worth?)BEFORE.

After reading on this, i got Mundorf cap are "overprice" in generally line up. Can anyone help to choose for me the caps with same or even better than mundorf with cheaper price? Or Mundorf worth in their price?

Thank You
Colin

I had some Mundorf Mcap 100uf 400v capacitors in my Crack for a while they are very nice sounding capacitors I picked mine up used for half the retail cost at the time off of ebay. The two disadvantages with them are their size they are significantly bigger than the 250V version and space in the Crack is limited in addition cost of buying them new is expensive. 

Performance wise I thought both budget Solen and JFX with a inexpensive Russian Teflon bypass sounded very similar and more preferable to my ears at least. I did think the Mundorfs where one of top sounding standalone MKP caps I tried. With my own cap swapping adventures I found I developed a personal preference for the paper in oil type.

For consideration Parts connection are still running a promotion on the Claritycap PX100uf 250v 52% off but they are big beasts so some careful measuring would be required to check they fit http://www.partsconnexion.com/capacitor_film_claritycap_px.html)

Some posts on my cap rolling adventures below.

http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?topic=5284.msg50963#msg50963

Some food for thought while the Mundorf are very good for a similar budget you could seriously hot rod your Crack with a budget 100uf film cap and Teflon bypass + stepped attenuator + choke power supply mod + film cap in powers supply, which ends up looking something like the pic below and sounds amazing.

If you don't mind waiting and doing a little hunting on ebay etc you can pick up some bargains. Like this ASC 200uf film capacitor for 0.99p 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Large-200uf-400VDC-300VAC-Foil-Capacitor-EC-Capacitors-New-and-Unused-/231438541917?rmvSB=true&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=oab3YTcegYaD4KrLU5J1AY0q4BA%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

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Have fun 

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[Colin]

Thank you JamieMcc. Great from seeing your reply. How about clarity cap px 100uf 250v bypass by mundorf supreme 1uf? Bypass cap must 1 : 100 value? Shoulf telflon bypass would an advantage?
1more confuse question, my friend told me to add a pair caps for coupling between pot to rca, is that true way? I see that should give resistors in here not caps. Thank you

[JamieMcC]

If you felt you needed to or wanted just to try bypassing the clarity cap then I would go straight for a Russian Teflon which seems a well trodden path by Crack users.  The 100:1 rule seems more for guidance sometimes bypassing doesn't work its just a case of trial and error to find combinations that do. Also a non Russian Teflon is hideously expensive around $300+ for 1uf! While the Russian ones may not be on par they do work and at a fraction of the cost are fun to try.

I have had some nice results with these ones you can find larger uf values but the size also increase quiet dramatically with the larger values. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/0-056uF-500V-5-TEFLON-Capacitors-K72P6-Lot-of-4-/201318145383?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2edf7f1d67

I have never seen capacitors between the pot and rca's on any Cracks resistors are sometimes used to attenuate and lower the volume so their is more range of adjustment on the volume pot before comfortable listening levels are exceeded.

[Grainger49]

Because bypass caps don't always sound just right I always suggest putting them in with jumpers (alligator clips and a short wire) first.  That would allow you to try 3 or 4 different caps before turning on the soldering iron.

[pingping]

Has anyone experience of bypassing the 100uf output capacitors with a much smaller .1uf or .01uf capacitor?

I was considering going with a 1/100 1uf bypass but I don't think I have the room in the case for the type I want, a high quality AmpOhm Polyester Film. I could fit a lower quality 1uf bypass and bypass that with an even small high quality .01uf or I could just use a single high quality .1uf bypass.

Any opinions on which would be the better option? My output caps are already polyprops.

Cheers

I tried some 100nf poly-p caps across the stock +/-'s. There was a change for sure, and they're still there whilst I sort out getting round to ordering some M-Caps or whatever, so they're not ruined my enjoyment.

I'm sure you'll find somewhere else to use them if you don't like it anyway

[pingping]

I tried some 100nf poly-p caps across the stock +/-'s. There was a change for sure, and they're still there whilst I sort out getting round to ordering some M-Caps or whatever, so they're not ruined my enjoyment.

I'm sure you'll find somewhere else to use them if you don't like it anyway

Oops - skipped back in the thread somewhat further than I thought!

4 years later I reply 

[properlydeafened]

I just finished adding some Mundorf film caps (MKP 100uf 250v) to my crack and I thought I'd post some pics in case it helps someone else. I debated how to mount them and then followed someone else's lead and built some stands.  I got a small polycarbonate sheet from Lowes and a knife to cut it.  I cut it into a single strip and then cut that into 6 squares.  I used some Loctite epoxy to glue three squares together to make each stand.  After that dried, I scraped the double sided tape off of a pair of zip tie cable mounts and glued them to the stands with the same epoxy.  Once dry I mounted the caps and then glued the stands to the Crack making sure they would clear the sides when it went back together. 

Pretty simple really...making the stands is by far the most time consuming aspect of the swap.

[Rhok]

I just finished adding some Mundorf film caps (MKP 100uf 250v) to my crack and I thought I'd post some pics in case it helps someone else. I debated how to mount them and then followed someone else's lead and built some stands.  I got a small polycarbonate sheet from Lowes and a knife to cut it.  I cut it into a single strip and then cut that into 6 squares.  I used some Loctite epoxy to glue three squares together to make each stand.  After that dried, I scraped the double sided tape off of a pair of zip tie cable mounts and glued them to the stands with the same epoxy.  Once dry I mounted the caps and then glued the stands to the Crack making sure they would clear the sides when it went back together. 

Pretty simple really...making the stands is by far the most time consuming aspect of the swap.


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Very helpful, thanks for sharing - this is next on my agenda.

How was your personal experience with the swap?

[Adrian]

Like properlydeafened I have replaced the Crack output caps with Mundorf MKP 100uF caps and this post will be somewhat redundant.
I burned-in these caps using a Gainclone amp for a full 8 days (about 200 hours) before putting them in.

I very much like what these have done to my HD600s.  If there is the "Senn Veil" (and there is), then these caps have lifted it and I have discovered a deeper, more prominent bass and cymbals that sound like cymbals.  Brushes on the drum head, the wood of the doublebass, and the breath of the trumpet are right.

I'm glad I did this.
Here are a couple of pics (I did this late at night and put a burn mark on the left channel!)

[Tom-s]

Bypassing the standard electrolytics costs about 1/10th of the price of film caps.
Would just bypassing do anything positive for the sound? Using Russian K75-10 and/or FT-3 caps.

[JamieMcC]

Bypassing the standard electrolytics costs about 1/10th of the price of film caps.
Would just bypassing do anything positive for the sound? Using Russian K75-10 and/or FT-3 caps.

The caps you mention only cost about the same as a fancy cup of coffee. I have used them as bypasses for films and found they made a very noticeable difference but have not tried them as bypasses to the stock electrolytic caps.  If you a are patient 100uf films often turn up on ebay old stock or used etc for a fraction of their cost new.   

[Tom-s]

Thanks for the reply.
I see you've done a bit of cap rolling yourself.
What is your preferred cap combination? How do the Russians compare to other bypass caps?

[JamieMcC]

Thanks for the reply.
I see you've done a bit of cap rolling yourself.
What is your preferred cap combination? How do the Russians compare to other bypass caps?

The Russians worked well but its a subjective subject and not all combinations are going to work so it is very much a case of trial and error.

I have a couple of favourite cap combinations which are not *audio caps*. On of my favourite combos are these mgbo pio with Teflon bypasses (thanks Geary for the inspiration) total cost was about £20 I found them preferable to a pair of Mundorfs which cost £80 a pair!

Something to think about is that the teflons take simply ages to burn in before revelling their true nature  200-500hrs is not uncommon.

With the Russian caps getting them to fit in the Crack is a challenge. If you don't want to experiment have the budget then get the Mundorf MKP these are a cut above the likes of budget Solen, JFX, Dayton, (I have tried them) but  if you add a Teflon bypass to the budget caps it can bring them much closer to or even preferable to the Mundorfs. 
 

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Most of these have been tried in the Crack at one time or another.

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