Auricap, Solen, Vishay 1813, PIO, or some others?

A

Aloha AC

Active Member
Greetings everyone,

I have been wondering...how much sonic improvement or differences can an average guy likes me to discern from the various brands or types after a recap, given a vast price difference on the web among these brands for same/similar capacitance/voltage/tolerance?

I'd love to hear from your hands-on experience. You see, the power supply cans were already updated in my C22 and I am now thinking about the next move onto the sonic path :D Or should I just leave the bumble bees alone?

Thanks in advance!
 
I haven't used a lot of caps but what I do know so far in using these are, the Solen
are bit bright, I have Sonic Caps in my Fisher and there pretty neutral sounding.
In my Eico HF-81 I went for PIO which I heard so much about and there great
they smooth the sound and to me they slow the music to a realistic pace not HI-Fi.
If your Bumble Bee's are still good you could leave them in but a lot of guy's here would
change them out because of leakage and you don't want that. Just get the best
caps you can afford, I'm sure theirs a lot of Mac fans here and they will chime in soon.

Tube
 
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I have replaced vintage caps in some gear and find the USSR K40Y9 PIO or larger FT-3 teflon caps are a great sounding safe inexpensive replacement.
It is my opinion any Bumble Bee caps should be replaced due to their age. Not everyone would agree and I have read some Japanese gear uses NOS Bumble Bee caps in new gear.
My experiences are same as you found with Solen caps sounding edgy Aura caps or Orange drop 716P are better but still have some grain or dullness to my ears.
 
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I use K40 Russian NOS PIO with fantastic result.

It takes 100 Hours to mature then it's all good for decade.

Auricap XO also is good.
 
Brice said:
I use K40 Russian NOS PIO with fantastic result.

It takes 100 Hours to mature then it's all good for decade.

Auricap XO also is good.
Click to expand...

Mossback said:
I have replaced vintage caps in some gear and find the USSR K40Y9 PIO or larger FT-3 teflon caps are a great sounding safe inexpensive replacement.
It is my opinion any Bumble Bee caps should be replaced due to their age. Not everyone would agree and I have read some Japanese gear uses NOS Bumble Bee caps in new gear.
My experiences are same as you found with Solen caps sounding edgy Aura caps or Orange drop 716P are better but still have some grain or dullness to my ears.
Click to expand...

tube-a-lou said:
I haven't used a lot of caps but what I do know so far in using these are, the Solen
are bit bright, I have Sonic Caps in my Fisher and there pretty neutral sounding.
In my Eico HF-81 I went for PIO which I heard so much about and there great
they smooth the sound and to me they slow the music to a realistic pace not HI-Fi.
If your Bumble Bee's are still good you could leave them in but a lot of guy's here would
change them out because of leakage and you don't want that. Just get the best
caps you can afford, I'm sure theirs a lot of Mac fans here and they will chime in soon.

Tube
Click to expand...


Thanks very much for your input everyone. I would prefer something less bright and more neutral sound. I listen mostly jazz and classical types of music. So has anyone had any experience or thoughts on Vishay MKT 1813? I was actually looking at them since they are relatively inexpensive from other. I was thinking the Russia K40Y9 PIO but not sure where to locate a reliable source/vendor for them.

The issue on Vishay is it's currently on an 18-weeks backorder for one of the sets I need - the 0.22UF 250V 10% cap and I need 6 from Mouser. The rest are ready to be shipped. Should I proceed still and wait for the backorder which mean I can't complete the re-cap in one time?
 
I ordered them from Ukraine and Romania. Never had a problem or a bad one.
I just check them first prior installing but so far, all were good.

The PIO are good for Jazz.

If you want to stay away from NOS, why don't you try the XO? They are very good. Stick to the XO and not the other cheaper line.
 
Brice said:
I ordered them from Ukraine and Romania. Never had a problem or a bad one.
I just check them first prior installing but so far, all were good.

The PIO are good for Jazz.

If you want to stay away from NOS, why don't you try the XO? They are very good. Stick to the XO and not the other cheaper line.
Click to expand...

Thanks Brice for the additional info. After more researching and comparing price on the web, I ended up ordering the Cornell Dubilier - CDE polypropylene from Mouser...hopefully they will arrive just in time before the Labor's Day weekend :D
 
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Please let us know the result with those caps.

You can always change them if you don't like it. :yes:
 
CohibaJoe said:
Nice thread on Caps from Parts ConneXion link:

http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html
Click to expand...

It's kinda funny about the timing of your link...I actually came across the very thread after the order was placed with Mouser earlier today...and the author of the link did include Cornell Dubilier in his tests but on the effects on loudspeaker crossovers...

So how relevant of the author's observations/reports can be applied in a preamp recap circumstance?
 
Aloha AC said:
It's kinda funny about the timing of your link...I actually came across the very thread after the order was placed with Mouser earlier today...and the author of the link did include Cornell Dubilier in his tests but on the effects on loudspeaker crossovers...

So how relevant of the author's observations/reports can be applied in a preamp recap circumstance?
Click to expand...
I have used WIMA MKP10/4, Mundorf MCap EVO Aluminium/Oil, Mundorf MCap Supreme, REL AudioCap RT, Sonicap GenII in some of my recaps. They work GREAT in areas in the Audio Path.

Marantz 1060 Recap: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=568728

Frankintosh 1900: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=458357
 
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Aloha AC said:
Will do. And thanks again for your time and input to my inquiry.
Click to expand...

I finally have a chance to recap my C22 today...here are some before and after photos...

And I have been listening for over a couple of hours so far tonight...it's quite nice with more depth and dynamic, and the best thing is phono is working fine for both channels and no more dc spike when I switch from and into different input source :banana:
 

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Aloha AC said:
I finally have a chance to recap my C22 today...here are some before and after photos...

And I have been listening for over a couple of hours so far tonight...it's quite nice with more depth and dynamic, and the best thing is phono is working fine for both channels and no more dc spike when I switch from and into different input source :banana:
Click to expand...

A few more photos...:D
 

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Brice said:
Nice ! Congrats.

What did you use for caps ? I see2 2 types.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Thanks Brice!

The coupling white caps & two yellow ones are Cornell Dubiliner polypropylene. I got them from http://www.mouser.com/search/Produc...GAEpiMZZMv1cc3ydrPrFyWQpJYYk72M3W%2b1O/PPp8c= and http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Cornell-Dubilier-CDE/942C20S1K-F/?qs=oi6qnwyrdkwaFOcd%2bi6Udg==

The two 100uF pale white aluminum electrolytics are Vishay caps from http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Vishay-BC-Components/MAL213833101E3/?qs=cAZGeXF9iMry0TdxRdQuHw==

I have been thinking about this project for about a couple of months (and thanks for and credit to many forum contributors here at AudioKarma and on the web to provide us DIYs the many details on the recap info). I finally had the time yesterday to replace them all as this is a holiday weekend :D.
 
Yes, long WE :)

It will be interesting if you see that they have a break in period or nothing.

Please let us know.

For the PIO, yes definitely they have one.
 
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