caps are they really that important

[LRBacon]

I want to see if I am missing out on somethig. I just has a set of speakers built I think they sound awesome I am quite please with the results. but now I am thinking is this real can my speakers sound even better than they sound now! or is this for the the elite hearing folks . Is it worth buying a better grade of caps and if this is true how much is to much.

Hi dino,

Here a few months ago I replaced the caps in a pair of L110s with Jantzen Standard Z caps (good high quality I assumed). The original caps appeared to be in good shape with no leakage and the speakers sounded OK. After I completed one speaker I did a comparison listen with the other one with the original caps. I could hear no real audible difference between the two. I can't really say that the cash and effort spent was worth it when the original caps worked just fine.

Larry

[dino]

Hi dino,

Here a few months ago I replaced the caps in a pair of L110s with Jantzen Standard Z caps (good high quality I assumed). The original caps appeared to be in good shape with no leakage and the speakers sounded OK. After I completed one speaker I did a comparison listen with the other one with the original caps. I could hear no real audible difference between the two. I can't really say that the cash and effort spent was worth it when the original caps worked just fine.

Larry

thanks larry. I am happy with the finish product.

[ironman]

thanks larry. I am happy with the finish product.

What exactly does this mean ?? The reason I ask is I had been thinking of replacing the caps on my 110s/112's. I read Larrys post and decided to leave well enough alone - then I read the above response and I'm now confused ! Dino - are you saying you changed yours and prefer new caps to the
originals ? Were yours leaking ?? Any experience you can share would be appreciated as I'm not really in a position to toss out cash on an experiment. I know its all somewhat subjective but a little more detail would help. Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on the subject !

[dino]

What exactly does this mean ?? The reason I ask is I had been thinking of replacing the caps on my 110s/112's. I read Larrys post and decided to leave well enough alone - then I read the above response and I'm now confused ! Dino - are you saying you changed yours and prefer new caps to the
originals ? Were yours leaking ?? Any experience you can share would be appreciated as I'm not really in a position to toss out cash on an experiment. I know its all somewhat subjective but a little more detail would help. Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on the subject !

hello my xover are 4 month i never change any thing. they have a lot of info on caps on this site and I spent x amount of dollars on my project so i just wanted to see if I did every thing I could do for my new babies. I am happy with my finish product I am like Ian if it ant broke dont mess with it. Ian- mr widget or zilch- or rob3606 are the people u might want to ask about your issue with caps

[ironman]

...the quick reply ! Didn't even think I'd get this quick a response ! I'm retiring very soon and will be taking a pretty substantial hit on the take home $. I will be watching the pennies and no doubt the classifieds for JB...ooops, I mean part time jobs. I want my old schools to sound their best. By the same token, I don't wish to spend unnecessarily. Yes, I'm looking to "profit" (no, not selling anything) from others experiences. I'm not cheap - just close to broke LOL ! If I should invent the better mouse trap then I'll buy new. In the meantime (and most likely) I'll be "making do".
The background to this tale is that I lost my 110's in a break-up back in 1980. I've lusted after them for years. After re-connecting with "her" recently she gave them up to me - I only inquired as to their disposition and was told "I still have them but they are shot - you can have them if you want". I jumped in my vehicle and flew 180 miles (360 round trip) to get them back. I had to re foam but that was it ! However, they did not sound as I remembered. Not that I was used to better over the years so I figured there had to be something I was overlooking. While reading through the millions of posts here I discovered the "caps" subject. I bought an old set of x-overs on the cheap (ebay) to experiment with. Then I stumbled on a few posts that seemed to be saying "don't bother". Hmmmmm. What to do ??? As far as I can tell, none of the caps are leaking. No matter though as
a very highly regarded member here stated the older caps on these units were adequate "back in the day" but much better are now available and, in fact, the subsequent models came equipped with the newer caps/upgraded x-overs. At least thats what I got from the posts. I do not understand schematics, tech. jargon etc. I hope to learn more in my retirement. In the mean time I'd like to listen to music through speakers that are tweaked to their optimum (potential) while learning more here. I do hope to upgrade my collection some day - maybe something from the 43xx line. In the meantime though, as I said...well,to be honest, looking for the "short cuts" I guess. I don't mean to offend.

[jblsound]

To improve the sound to a point of knowing its better just by listening, requires more than just replacing caps, if the original caps aren't leaking.

Either adding small (.01)polypropylene bypass caps to make the speakers more dynamic, or going the much more expensive route of building Charged-Coupled XOs. That requires using quality polypropylene caps, throughout, that are twice the size of the originals, and also twice as many, as they have to be used in series pairs.

To give a point of cost reference, for my 3-way L212s it cost me $300/pr to build C-C XOs, consisting of 3 cards for each speaker, or one for each driver.
But the resulting sound was well worth the cost.

If I were to build C-C XOs for my newer PT800s the cost would be at least $450/pr, as the caps required would be much larger than for the L212s.

[toddalin]

...adding small (.01)polypropylene bypass caps to make the speakers more dynamic...

...and is not all that expensive. Each cap on the board will receive a by-pass cap. Just place them "piggyback" on the existing caps. The Theta Audiocaps are a good choice and will set you back <$40 to do both speakers.

In my experience, these give the music a nice "edge."



http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=027-700