Speaker crossover mod. Your advice?

Do I simply place the leads from the two new caps into the same holes, so that each hole has two leads?

I would guess, especially after looking at the pictures you provided, that two leads won't fit into one hole. But if you end up having to use two caps, I think it would be reasonable to first solder their leads together such that there is a short protrusion of one of the leads beyond the point where they join, and that protrusion could then be inserted into the hole.

Best regards,
-- Al

Thanks Al. I will keep that in mind, in the event I can't find or special order a 3.6uF cap.

John - Do you recommend Clarity MR for both tweeter caps? What about mixing caps from different manufacturers? Any rules of thumb here?

Also, do you think I should replace the resistor for the tweeter? If so, with what?

Bryon,

I don't have any experience with mixing caps from different brands. However, there's a lot of information in that Mundorf thread I mentioned. Those guys talk about mixing caps of different brands.

On 11/29/10 Undertow talks about his cap mix ratio a bit, but also mentions that there is no golden rule-of-thumb ratio.

On 2/1/11 Undertow responded to one of my questions, “I have used the Duelund, Clarity combo, but found that 100% Duelund or Clarity were better in my case overall. As for the bypass with the Silver oils and the Clarity MR's that is the best mid cost combo yet I have heard consistently, and very organic with good dynamics never any edge.” Also on that same date Face said that his experience was consistent with Undertow's.

My first choice in the various components we are talking about (capacitors, resistors, inductors) is Duelund. I used a Duelund VSF copper capacitor in my previous speaker project and loved it. The guys on the other thread have pretty much gone 100% Duelund CAST components, which is the blue riband of this arena. However, on my current project I don't have the budget to go with Duelund VSF copper, much less CAST. My goal with this project was to find the capacitor that those guys really liked before they went Duelund CAST, and that seemed to be the Clarity MR, so that's what I am going to try this time around. I also have access to a lot of tubes and will fine tune my system further once the crossover is in place.

I'm taking my crossover outboard this time and plan to use all Clarity MR caps and Duelund Cast resistors. I haven't decided on the inductors yet.

If you can get Clarity to build you a 3.6micF cap for you, I would do that and not worry about mixing caps.

Regardless of the caps you choose, I would recommend that you change out the resistors too and go with the Duelund Cast. If you don't have room for the Duelunds, I have used Mundorf M-Resist and thought they were fine.

Just another thought, if you have room for Duelund caps, I would not hesitate to go that route. CAST is the ultimate, but don't hesitate to use VSF. Write Frederik Carøe, he owns Duelund, and tell him that you need a 3.6micF cap and they will make it for you. Basically they make everything custom anyway, so it's no big deal. If you order it through PartsConnexion he'll just ask you to make sure they make a note on the order of the value you want. They may be able to adjust the size of the cap to fit in your space – and the same applies to the resistor, they'll make it shorter than their standard 5-inches if you require it.

John

'Bypass' caps have a following, too.
Caps in parallel add value, so if you need 3.6, you can use a 2.7, a 0.82 and a 0.1 equalling 3.62 which is 'over' but well within the tolerance.
The stock caps are probably 10% and the Clarity MR are 5% which puts you within design intent, even 'worst case'.

Looking at the picture of the board, the inductors are not in the best configuration.
ALL inductors should be at right angles to one another.....never parallel or coplanar.

The new caps will be GIGANTIC compared to the stock caps, so be ready. Look at the data sheets to get an idea how large the new caps really are and be ready to work with layout. Good idea going external, 'cause frankly, you probably don't have room IN the enclosure for the mods you have in mind.

Custom made caps? Not a bad idea, but I'll bet they cost $$$$

I believe custom MR's will have to be purchased in bulk, 10 or more. On the other hand, I don't believe Duelund requires a minimum.

Having tried bypasses and mixing values of caps(MR's, Duelund, Mundorf, etc...) to attain a specific value, I would not recommend it for the HF pass. Either use the correct value(within tolerance) or split the value in half as advised earlier.

Best of luck with your upgrade, sounds like a fun project!