Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ.

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Re: Question & Thanks

Posted by Roger Hill (A) on December 24, 2002 at 16:14:04

In Reply to: Question & Thanks posted by StevenACNJ on December 24, 2002 at 12:27:46:

Let me see if I understand how to do a bypass cap. I first install on the crossover board a regular cap like Solen with the exact value of the factory cap. Then I solder the leads of a high quality cap with a very minimal value to the leads of the new Solen.

(RH)yes

How does this work to benefit the sound? I am also not sure which caps on my factory crossovers are the mid & tweeter caps. Would these be lower value caps?

(RH)any capacitor may be regarded as an ideal (perfect) capacitor in series with a resistor. It is this series resistor that degrades the quality of the capacitor and prolongs its discharge time when the cap is called on to provide current. By putting another high quality capacitor in parallel you are adding new current path which has a very low resistance, allowing the whole capacitor to discharge quicker and follow the demands of the circuit.

Also is it safe to use the Mills 12W resistors to replace my current 7 & 20W ceramic resistors?

(RH)Certainly ok for the 7w, would be better if you paralleled two Mills having twice the value to get a 24 watt equivalent to replace the 20 watt.

Also if I cant find a Mills resistor to exactly match up is it better to take the closest lower or higher value?

(RH)if you are within 5-10%, no problem. You can also parallel two larger resistors to get a closer value. Calculate 1/R =(1/R1 +1/R2) where R1 and R2 are available values, each of which must be larger than the desired value. Start with trial values of R1, R2 that are each more than twice the desired resistance.

One more ? - some of my factory resistors have stamped on them 20W15R - which I understand what that meana - however two of the resistors are stamped 20W5(with the ohm sign after the 5 an upside down u with two little o's at bottom of u)then has 5% - does this just mean its a 20 watt resistor with a value of 5 (ohm) plus or minus 5% (so I would just get a Mills resistor with a value of 5?)

(RH)I think so but not sure about that nomenclature on the little 0's. Just unsolder one end of each from the board and measure the resistance with a DVM to be sure. You can get a very useful one from radio shack for $20.00.

Have fun

Roger Hill

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