What capacitors sound like..

[Reeltarded]

Welcome to my mind trap. Discuss!

I want to order a bunch of caps. Two types for a special project that I will build on 2 boards so I can compare 2 worthy capacitors that are available, and aren't mustards or orange drops.

What else is there? Pretty colors are a plus, as are silly sizes. No, really.

[diagrammatiks]

vcap and auricap.

[rdjones]

To me this is the last great frontier of technical knowledge that wasn't taught in engineering school.

What I've gathered so far is that it's all about construction type and that polyester (or Mylar) film and foil is the way to go.
At least that seems to be the path I've found myself on.

Random bits:
"Orange Drop" is a generic term. They come in both metalized and foil varieties with either polyester or polypropylene dielectric.
So you really need to know a model number such as "418" or "225" or you're really just rolling the dice.

Some lines change construction with voltage. What might be polyester at 400V is polypropylene at 1000V.

If you're looking at vintage stuff like me, some types are much more prone to age induced leakage than others. Bumble Bees tend to be more leaky than the later similar Black Beauties.

Any of the molded types need to be checked for cracks around the area where the leads enter the body.

Sorry, I know this probably doesn't help answer the original question but I'm out here tip-toeing into these woods with a candle when I need a searchlight.

reddog

[Reeltarded]

I want to find something special, and actually notice.

[Cantplay]

Jensen PIO or Mumford silver/gold/oil.

Go read the captest on humblehomemadehifi.

John

Edit: Stupid spell correct. Mundorf.

http://humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html

[Reeltarded]

Oh that might help some, thanks..

'Yes, the tone is simply wonderful! - i used Mumford Brand Capacitors. Mumford, wonderful, simply. '

[briane]

mojotone PIO and solen.

[Structo]

I have been wanting to try those Russian PIO caps in an amp to see what they sound like.

Be cool to breadboard a simple two stage preamp, PI, 2x 6V6 output and clip in various caps.

I don't have enough ambition to try it though..........

[JamesHealey]

The Solen Metalized Polypropylene are nice we use them at Wienbrock amps and they deffo sound better than most caps I've tried.

I do like the 6PS (Polyester film foil) and LCR PC/HV/S/WF (Polyprop film foil)
but they're about as different as you can get from each other in terms of tone, depends what you're after in the tone.