jimjimbo Posted June 25, 2017 Share Posted June 25, 2017 I'm going to try and keep this as coherent as I can, given the combinations and well, as usual, my state of mind.....and, it's Saturday night, 9PM..... Acquired three combos of A55G's and CT120. Installed in Khorns, La Scala's and Belle's. Recently installed some new caps in the Belle's and Khorns (both AA crossovers). Installed ClarityCap CSA's in the Belle's (Daytons previously), and Jantzen Z-Superior V in the Khorns.(Sonicaps previously) Tamed the midrange on both by replacing the 13uf with a 6.8uf, and dropping the tap on T2A from 4 to 3. Results are outstanding on each. The Belle's in particular sound fantastic, but of course the Khorns are still stunning, just a little more stunning.....LOL The imaging on each is really superb. I would say the update and the cost is very worthwhile. It's not night and day, and I didn't expect it to be, but it's definitely a nice jump. So there you have my highly technical review.... BTW, thanks to Dean for recommending the ClarityCaps. http://www.partsconnexion.com/capacitor_film_claritycap_esa_630.html https://www.parts-express.com/jantzen-audio-22uf-800v-z-superior-capacitor--027-482 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 25, 2017 Share Posted June 25, 2017 Ya did good, especially for a Saturday night, and I'm not much better off! I think it's great that you can hear these small, incremental improvements. No, it's not jaw dropping, but it makes you shake your head and think, "...am I imagining this?" Most would say it's placebo - you want to hear a difference, so you do. But what if you don't believe you'll hear a difference? That's what happened to me - I thought it was complete BS, and did my RF-7 networks on a challenge. What's shocking is going backwards. Get to level of something like the Jupiter, and then drop back to a Sonicap or Dayton - which are actually good parts - now that IS jaw dropping. Now you're in dangerous territory my friend, because you know - all decent capacitors sound exactly the same, right? Thanks for the tip on the Clarity CSAs, I had no idea they had upgraded the ESAs. Auricap is an excellent sounding cap too, but I don't think any of the polypropylene based capacitors sound as good as the Jupiters or Jensens. I think it's awesome that you're willing to experiment and come to your own conclusions. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted June 25, 2017 Share Posted June 25, 2017 so by dropping the 13uf to a 6.8uf when you changed the tap setting, you take away the tendency for the mid's to "bark"? how did you determine the proper value of the cap to replace the 13uf? I still have not modified the mids on my AA's because I cant decide whether to add a resistor or change out the cap value and do a tap change. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 On 6/25/2017 at 0:27 AM, Schu said: how did you determine the proper value of the cap to replace the 13uf? Dean probably did the math. I may be missing something here. How can you determine that the improvements you hear came from changing the cap brand and not the dropping of the squawker output? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 On 6/24/2017 at 8:03 PM, jimjimbo said: Tamed the midrange on both by replacing the 13uf with a 6.8uf, and dropping the tap on T2A from 4 to 3. This is what was recommended in my build thread? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 Dean probably did the math. I may be missing something here. How can you determine that the improvements you hear came from changing the cap brand and not the dropping of the squawker output?Because I had already dropped the squawker output on my previous build of the crossover 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 This is what was recommended in my build thread?No, not your build thread, but a thread quite sometime ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 6 minutes ago, jimjimbo said: Because I had already dropped the squawker output on my previous build of the crossover Then I was missing something. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 1 minute ago, CECAA850 said: Then I was missing something. No, my fault, I didn't mention that. Should have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Just now, jimjimbo said: No, my fault, I didn't mention that. Should have. This seems to me to be the way I originally built my son in laws AA's. I didn't have the speakers when I built them and he complained that the mids were too recessed when he installed them. I returned them to stock as I thought the squawker drop was too much. When I rebuilt them to stock, he brought me the top hats so I could install them AND listen to them which I couldn't do the first time around. That's when I found the defective squawker driver. They probably were fine the first way I built them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billybob Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Good review. Really liking the Clarity caps in my crossovers got from Dean. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djk Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 " all decent capacitors sound exactly the same, right? " All food tastes the same (if you have a zinc deficiency), all women kiss the same (if you're a eunuch), VHS and Beta look the same (to Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder), and all amplifiers sound the same (to the deaf old men at Stereo Review). WHO? Tell the deaf/dumb/blind kid to go play pinball. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 10 hours ago, djk said: " all decent capacitors sound exactly the same, right? " All food tastes the same (if you have a zinc deficiency), all women kiss the same (if you're a eunuch), VHS and Beta look the same (to Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder), and all amplifiers sound the same (to the deaf old men at Stereo Review). WHO? Tell the deaf/dumb/blind kid to go play pinball. Interesting way of putting it 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jorjen Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 On 6/29/2017 at 3:20 AM, pzannucci said: Interesting way of putting it Been here for almost sixteen years and one thing I have learned is that I can always count on DJK. And I DO mean that as a compliment. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.