Well, I needed to order some bits and bobs, and took the opportunity to buy some budget capacitors to recap my Kenwood KA-3020SE - Rubycon ZA and ZL, Panasonic FC, and some Vishay polyesters for bypassing. Can't comment on them individually, but they certainly cleaned up the sound over the Elna caps fitted as standard. The two Elna Cerafines I removed are now sitting in my USB Audigy2 soundcard, and they're a definite improvement over the standard coupling caps.
There is no hard and fast rule when choosing capacitors for their sonic performance - it's all down to individual taste, from what I've seen when researching. Panasonic FC's are supposed to sound extremely clean and uncoloured(to the point of possibly sounding flat, dull and non-dynamic), the Rubycon ZA and ZL are supposed to be better than Blackgates - with more speed, openness and vividness in the soundstage than anything else available.
Bit of information on the commonly-available, sensibly-priced capacitors
here. I've no experience with the more expensive boutique stuff, made from silk fibre, goats milk and petrol.
From my limited experience of the Rubycon ZA and ZL series, I'm very impressed. They are very clear and dynamic, though they also let a little(and I do mean a little) background noise through whereas standard caps didn't.
Sounded bloody horrible to start with though - lots and lots of noise and hum. To the point where I had to sit down with a magnifying glass to see what I'd done wrong. The hum was because the PCB wasn't earthed very well(*cough*at all!!*cough*), and the background noise vanished after 30 minutes or so.
You guys in the states seem to have more choice of readily available components.
--Rich
