toolz Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I would like to get some feedback from members who have installed bypass capacitors on ALK networks and the differences (if any) were heard. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arash Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I think ALK knows exactly what he is doing and he is really good at it. if there was a sonic benefit in bypassing the main caps with low capacitance caps, he would do it himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolz Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 Arash, I own 6 different sets of ALK networks, 4 sets Al built and 2 sets I built from his kits. I know the quality of the sound and builds from him. I am just asking if anyone has tried it and what the results have been. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolz Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 (edited) Arash, After checking this thread for replies, I reread my reply to you and I realize how harsh and sharp my response was. If I offended you I apologize. Too much Makers in the Lounge area on Friday night. All of the networks I have are older builds, using Solen capacitors. After checking ALK's site I see he has moved away from this brand of capacitor. Without going to the expense of replacing the caps with the current brand in use, I was curious if others had tried bypassing the Solen capacitors. Edited January 11, 2015 by toolz 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boom3 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 The subject of bypass caps for speaker crossovers has gone round and round in this forum for years. I've expressed my opinion that if you have sufficiently good caps to start with bypass caps change nothing but your bank balance. I have to second what Arash said, ALK knows what he's doing and if "bypass" caps would help, he'd put them in. Simply attaching the cap de jour to a stock cap does not make it "better". Between any two film caps of high quality, the difference in ESR and dissipation at any frequency is going to be very small. Not to say there cannot be perceivable differences between caps used in 1 for 1 swaps, but a "bypass" is not going to contribute much to the signal path. A 0.1 uF cap across a 50 uF cap is 1/500th of the value. The only part of the analog audio chain where that magnitude of change might make difference is in the condition of a diamond stylus in a cartridge. Don't forget that caps in parallel add. So adding a bypass to an existing cap increases the value, even by some small degree. My most successful use of a bypass was years ago in a cheap single-ended power amp that used a 2200 uF electrolytic cap in the output to prevent the DC offset from going to the speakers. I used a 10 uF film cap to bypass and the sound was noticeable better. Still lipstick on pig. Electrolytic don't belong in crossovers anyway so I can't imagine this situation happening very often. If you find an electrolytic in a crossover, it should be replaced with a film type right off the bat. I replaced the stock 68 uF electrolytics that form the low pass filter on my Corns with a film type, even though that cap shunts to ground. I did that for long-term stability, not expecting any sonic improvement, and indeed there was none. BTW I replaced the stock in-series caps in the Corns with WIMAs and no sonic improvement, either, just peace of mind for stability- a "once and done" tuneup for my 28 yr old Corns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axz Hout Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 h Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arash Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 If I offended you... not even a bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcmusic Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 No bypass caps but i did replace the Solen caps with Sonic caps, I like them alot nice and smooth to me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinmi Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 No bypass caps but i did replace the Solen caps with Sonic caps, I like them alot nice and smooth to me... +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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