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Re: TWEAKS - WHAT SOUND-CARACTERISTIC DO DIFFERENT TWEAKS HAVE???

24.128.190.214

Posted by Joe S on May 2, 2000 at 06:40:37

In Reply to: TWEAKS - WHAT SOUND-CARACTERISTIC DO DIFFERENT TWEAKS HAVE??? posted by Capt. Z on May 1, 2000 at 16:57:08:

I dont know if its generalizable to amps but I've played with several of these caps in my speaker crossover networks. Generally among those I've tried I hear something like this:

Solen - The caps which came in my speakers. Good all round performer for the price (which is quite a bit less than all the others). Trades off some transparency compared to all the other caps I tried, however.

Hovland - Significant increase in transparency relative to the Solens. Does a great job with vocals giving them a nice sense of body and palpability - also brings them forwqard a bit in the soundstage. A bit sweet on top, lacking just a bit of high frequency extension. One of my favorites.

Multicap RTX - Exteded and lively, quite detailed and transparent. Lacks a bit of the midrange magic of the Hovland, but it has the extended top end that capacitor lacks. Another personal favorite.

REL Teflons (I think these are now called Exoticas) - a bit warm and creamy sounding with dark backgrounds and a little loss of extension on the extreme high end. These sound interesting but in my system, but not particularly neutral. Might be phenomenal in a bright sounding rig.

Audionote Copper foil paper & oil - In my system these sounded a bit shouty and hollow in the mids and lacked a bit in terms of body while also being a bit dull on top. I was surprised by these after all I've heard about paper and oil caps.

Infinicap - Good overall but for some reason I never connected with the music quite as well with these as I did with the Hovlands and MITs. Just lacking slightly in the breath of life department, but still one of the better ones I tried in my rig.

Vacuum Tube Valley Silver foil paper and oil - Sorry, another expensive cap that I've heard good things about but in my rig these sounded dull.

Now all of these comments relate to use in my speakers (VR6s) in my system so what works for you could be completely different. An interesting note however - you might want to try combinations of caps to get the sonic character you want. I found I wanted the mid and low end of the Hovland and the high end of the MIT but I didnt find a cap that did both. Speaking to Paul Marks (the guy who runs Thor, and a man who sweats such details) he told me he mixes exactly these two brands in different parts in electronics and gets a sonic character better than either one alone. So thats what I tried in my crossovers too and he was right - The sound of this combination did prove to be quite synergistic. I would expect you could do the same with any of the above and tune the sound of your amp quite a bit if you were so inclined...

joe

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