jimjimbo Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Would like some suggestions for medium priced replacement caps for my Belle AA crossovers. Would love to get all new crossovers but just can't do it right now. I am of course aware of the Crites kits, but was looking for something as an upgrade rather than a return to stock. If any of the techies would like to suggest specific caps for different parts of the network, and/or bypass cap implementation, that would be awesome. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestonTom Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 I am a bit of a cheap skate. Go to Parts Express and get Solen polyprop of about the same capacitance as what you currently have (they are about $5-10 each). For the bypass (which you will not currently have) use the Dayton film/foil (about $1 each). The capacitance on these should be between about 1-5% of the cap being bypassed. Of course you can always pay more if you want.... The result will be a bit more energy in the mids and highs wilth a bit more clarity or detail in the sound. IMO, the difference is noticeable but not dramatic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moray james Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Would like some suggestions for medium priced replacement caps for my Belle AA crossovers. Would love to get all new crossovers but just can't do it right now. I am of course aware of the Crites kits, but was looking for something as an upgrade rather than a return to stock. If any of the techies would like to suggest specific caps for different parts of the network, and/or bypass cap implementation, that would be awesome. Thanks! not sure what your comment was referring to. Bob does not up grade or change the crossover circuit he leaves that stock but he does upgrade the quality of the caps. Bob uses Sonicaps for his networks and they are of better quality than the stock parts. The advantage that Bob may be able to offer you is in exact values and one shipping bill. If you end up purchasing from multiple vendors to obtain parts in the values you require the multiple shipping costs will kill any savings there might be on parts. Bob can sell you a full kit of the correct values required and you only pay shipping once. Hope this helps. Best regards Moray James. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 Moray, I understand all of that, and I have purchased from Bob before. Not meant as a diss to Bob at all. I guess I'm looking for folks that own or have owned Belle's that have experience and advice on upgrading the AA networks with caps of somewhat higher quality and different tone than the Sonicaps. Nothing wrong with the Sonicaps, just looking to experiment a bit without spending a bunch, that's all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 (edited) What do you have your budget set at? Seriously, you could use all Dayton capacitors, with the Dayton film and foil bypass caps like Tom suggested - but I would build Charge Coupled versions (DC bias the capacitors using a 9 volt battery). There is a nice airy quality to the sound that I can't replicate using anything I have in the arsenal. The sound isn't as natural sounding as the Jensens or Jupiters, or as clean as PPT Thetas, but it brings something to the table that even the really nice caps can't manage. You have to double the size of the capacitors and use twice as many to get it done, but the Daytons are very affordable, and sound better than any other value capacitor out there to begin with. The biasing doesn't remove all of the low level hash that comes with all of the inexpensive metallized types, but I don't notice it unless I'm listening for it, which is huge as far as I'm concerned. Edited August 23, 2014 by DeanG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Ok, Dean I'll bite. My old KP301's were tested against some other mid-sized PA boxes and most reported them as sounding 'dark'. I peeked inside and although the networks are built on a plywood board like old school A/AA networks, the parts aren't the old motor-start caps, but the yellow oblong dealies. I've witnessed a few remarkable transformations using new networks, and myself have swapped out the parts on old AA's from my LSI splits to dramatic results (OP now owns a pair of them - I just used inexpensive Dayton caps). So QUESTION - would it make a difference swapping out the caps in a mid-quality pro cabinet with caps of this variety? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Bottom of the barrel junk. "Mylar and many other "cheap" film capacitors are often loosely wound to prevent the film tearing during rapid high volume manufacture. They are sometimes wound as hollow cylinders and then flattened after the former is removed and in this case the center of the roll is often made very loose. Mylar capacitors like those on the left show the effect of "High DA error" ..." I've been moving away from all metalized types, but I'm still stuck using one because of the size of the value. The jump in sound quality from a metalized capacitor to a film and tin foil type is about the same as the jump from something like those junk yellow polyesters to a decent metalized polypropylene. This is why I've been encouraging people to try the charge coupled approach, because it's a relatively inexpensive way to get close to the clean sound of the film and foils. It doesn't matter that it's a pro style loudspeaker -- you'll experience the same jump in performance that you experienced when you did your other speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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