your favourite bypass caps

[bill poster]

[djkest]

Re: your favourite bypass caps

I think the value of a bypass capacitor in speaker crossovers is of dubious value. I talked to an electrical engineer who surmises that adding a small bypass capacitor in parallel essentially adds that % of attributes to the total capacitance. So for example, if you are using 0.1 uF Sonicap and 6.8 uF Solen Cap, your total capacitance circuit will have 98% the characteristics of the Solen and 2% of the Sonicap. What's worse, using 2 very different capacitors in parallel can lead to smearing of the signal.

Here's some reading for you:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/power...ml#post2257381

I know that Danny Ritchie recommends Sonicaps as bypass capacitors and they are relatively affordable. His opinion and experience (personal and professional) dwarfs mine. Troels Graveson uses pretty high-end caps in his designs, and I've never seen him using a bypass. YMMV, etc.

[bill poster]

Re: your favourite bypass caps

Thanks, it makes a lot of sense but its all a bit over my head. I can't help noticing a few Tech Talk guys swear it offers dramatic improvements. Thinking to go with basic Evo caps for now and if inclined, experiment at a later date with small value PIO's

Read this earlier which made the whole thing sound quite hit and miss http://audiophile-musings.blogspot.c...apacitors.html

[Sydney]

Re: your favourite bypass caps

Despite shift in Dollar to pound value: I've never spent that much on a cap.
Over the decades I've acquired bags of caps; including ones on sales like small value Polypropylene, Solens etc. which I've used to trim up.
Sometimes from Madisound.

[bill poster]

Re: your favourite bypass caps

I've never spent that much on a cap.

I don't intend to either! The pain of having to go with a 3rd order over a 2nd

[dcibel]

Re: your favourite bypass caps

I once purchased a handful of 0.1uF PIO caps on ebay to try as "bypass" caps. They were sprague "vitamin Q". I found the difference they made pretty negligible, that was quite a few years ago and not used on quite the hifi system I have today. I may try them again sometime, they're just sitting in a drawer collecting dust now.

Recently I haven't bothered with bypasses and just use whatever inexpensive poly cap is available, for me its usually the Solen brand. For larger sizes, I go with electrolytic, but I find that using several smaller caps in parallel is better than using one single large one. Differences in tolerance average out and you get closer to your intended capacitance.

[Sydney]

Re: your favourite bypass caps

I don't intend to either! The pain of having to go with a 3rd order over a 2nd

Understood: I used to externalize passive crossovers w node points, to facilitate quick value change. They make commercial devices that allow for crossover prototype ( read expensive ).

[fpitas]

Re: your favourite bypass caps

Decent fairly high value polypropylene film caps are available as motor-run capacitors. They have no audio pedigree, but for larger values they offer some economy, especially if you find them surplus on eBay etc. I have several and have measured them, they are very high quality low loss etc. Be aware that motor-start caps are often electrolytic, not polypropylene.

Some examples:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...citor&_sacat=0

[Face]

Re: your favourite bypass caps

Give this a try: http://www.hificollective.co.uk/cata...ne-p-5224.html

If you want to go for the gusto: http://www.hificollective.co.uk/cata...ne-p-8698.html

[bill poster]

Re: your favourite bypass caps

Yes ESA's or EVO oil are good caps and good value.

or this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Capacitor-PI...-/131050392270

Rike S caps are what I wanted to try but an 18uf is out of my budget. Thats when I thought about bypass caps

[Face]

Re: your favourite bypass caps

There's also this: http://www.hificollective.co.uk/cata...ne-p-7784.html

Never been a fan of bypass caps.

[ngjockey]

Re: your favourite bypass caps

http://www.parts-express.com/audioca...citor--027-710

Thought it worked well for a tweeter high pass.

[Æ]

Re: your favourite bypass caps

Not all of us agree with Danny Ritchie.

I think the value of a bypass capacitor in speaker crossovers is of dubious value. I talked to an electrical engineer who surmises that adding a small bypass capacitor in parallel essentially adds that % of attributes to the total capacitance. So for example, if you are using 0.1 uF Sonicap and 6.8 uF Solen Cap, your total capacitance circuit will have 98% the characteristics of the Solen and 2% of the Sonicap. What's worse, using 2 very different capacitors in parallel can lead to smearing of the signal.

Here's some reading for you:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/power...ml#post2257381

I know that Danny Ritchie recommends Sonicaps as bypass capacitors and they are relatively affordable. His opinion and experience (personal and professional) dwarfs mine. Troels Graveson uses pretty high-end caps in his designs, and I've never seen him using a bypass. YMMV, etc.

[killa]

Re: your favourite bypass caps

I'm wondering, say you use a 4uf cap bypassed with a high dollar fancy 1uf cap, wouldn't the "magic" only be in what the 1uf cap lets through? Kind of similar to what djkest was saying.

[Face]

Re: your favourite bypass caps

I'm wondering, say you use a 4uf cap bypassed with a high dollar fancy 1uf cap, wouldn't the "magic" only be in what the 1uf cap lets through? Kind of similar to what djkest was saying.

No, in my experience, what you have is a cacophony of sound.