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speaker capacitors-----leave alone or does it open pandora's box ?

opened up my speakers and noticed that they use Audyn capacitors.        while the speakers sound good, are there better capacitors out there ? and if yes, could these be changed out and if they were, what effect does it have on the sound 


wondering also could  better drivers be bought  for the speakers ?
toyo18
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
4,637 posts
 
Erik, as usual you are speaking from experience and I have long valued your speaker posts.  You have a great deal of knowledge born out of your actual building and tweaking experience with speakers.  Thanks for supporting this forum with your knowledge. Much to discover and learn regarding speaker upgrades and it is fun!
roberjerman
2,086 posts
 
+1 don_c55! Cap replacement is for the audio neurotics - and is cheaper than going to a therapist!
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
@erik_squires 
I've recapped speakers. It's not brain surgery. Any idiot can do it. It gets expensive when you're needing big values with high voltages. The voltage ratings are important. Solen are my choice. Better than Audyn in my opinion. 
bache's avatar
bache
222 posts
 
@Kosst_amojan     what type Audyn you mean ?
Red, white or pure copper?  Or better  because is better?
erik_squires
5,268 posts
 
Gang,

Just FYI, I have measured capacitance, and ESR (equivalent series resistance) as I have modded speakers.

I have been fortunate enough to speak with capacitor manufacturers about this particular subject, and their experience mirrors my own: neither ESR nor absolute capacitance explains perceived sound quality.

For a while, there was a belief ESR mattered, probably because film caps were universally better than bi-polar electrolytic. From my experience it does not make a difference so long as you properly compensate for loss in ESR with additional resistance. Some high ESR films sound better than low ESR film caps. The original Clarity MR come to mind as relatively high ESR film caps(but my memory is now foggy).

@Kosst - See, your recommendation for Solen’s seems much more reasonable. I will say I’ve only tried Audyn’s top end, the TrueCopper, and these at the suggestion of SpeakerDoctor (RIP). At Solen's low end I have not been very impressed. I think if the OP wanted to experiment with top end Solen bypass caps, and maybe some Mundorf Supreme’s he’d learn a great deal.

If you look back at my first suggestions, I keep trying to suggest the OP spend moderate amounts and experiment for himself. I think that was the last paragraph in your previous post, right? How much is a pair of Solen top-end 0.1uF caps? Probably pretty easy to try out. 

Best,

Erik
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