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foil inductors


Alexander

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I have started looking at foil/copper inductors to replace my standard air and steel units in the ALK forte II x over. I admit we are probably talking about the lower end of the scale of ERSE & Jantzen to name just a couple of company's that have been looked at.  I found a deal on Jantzen z-caps standard so will replace the Solen caps to see what/if difference they may make. This leads me to the topic  above, is there any likelihood that upgrading all of the Solen 20ga air coils and 15ga Sledgehammer steel inductors to entry level 16ga 1.6mh,.20mh, .30mh & 14ga 2.0mh worth even considering? I realize this all is very subjective but I do value input from others experiences.

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A bit of water is important -- you should know this.

 

A sledgehammer coil from Madisound in the low pass section is a nice coil. However, what I've been seeing in his budget builds is the entry level iron cores from parts express. A steel laminate is a nicer part than a budget iron core.

 

If you have Litz coils in the high pass, leave them alone. That's a solid part, and there are no gains to be had by changing them out.

 

Solen caps are crap. Get them out of your network. Jantzen z-series are also entry level -- go to Audyn Plus.

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There are  #16 .20 & .30mH Litz coils and a solid #20 1.6mH used on the high pass as per ALK's parts list.
I will be re-purposing some old Dayton 18 & 33uF caps to replace the low pass NPE and mylar counter parts. 

bellow is a refresher on what this build is. Note: the 36uF has since been changed to 33uF by ALK.

forteiialk.jpg

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On ‎12‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 6:53 PM, Deang said:

A bit of water is important -- you should know this.

 

......

Solen caps are crap. Get them out of your network. Jantzen z-series are also entry level -- go to Audyn Plus.

Those Audyn Plus caps are too rich for my blood at this time, perhaps down the road. Besides,  I sense the forte I/II's wouldn't warrant such a class of caps unlike the Heresys or, Cornwall and above models. :)

 

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Just curious if any of you folks having such a better understanding than I may ever  be able to grasp if there would any reason not to use Dayton caps to replace the mylar & ENP caps in the low pass section? 

 

Also would there be anything better than say, a sledgehammer coil  short of going to foil in the same low pass?

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On ‎12‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 2:12 PM, Alexander said:

 

I have started looking at foil/copper inductors to replace my standard air and steel units in the ALK forte II x over. I admit we are probably talking about the lower end of the scale of ERSE & Jantzen to name just a couple of company's that have been looked at.  I found a deal on Jantzen z-caps standard so will replace the Solen caps to see what/if difference they may make. This leads me to the topic  above, is there any likelihood that upgrading all of the Solen 20ga air coils and 15ga Sledgehammer steel inductors to entry level 16ga 1.6mh,.20mh, .30mh & 14ga 2.0mh worth even considering? I realize this all is very subjective but I do value input from others experiences.

 

Do the speakers sound objectionable to you? Are they lacking something, too much of something?

 

If you don't want to use Audyn Plus caps, maybe use the Dayton/Bennic  1% tolerance caps. Like Dean mentions, I'd be more about upgrading caps if you're searching for better sound.

I don't understand the idea of not wanting to spend a bit more for capacitors, but willing to spend a bit on a foil inductor.

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4 hours ago, mike stehr said:

 

Do the speakers sound objectionable to you? Are they lacking something, too much of something?

 

If you don't want to use Audyn Plus caps, maybe use the Dayton/Bennic  1% tolerance caps. Like Dean mentions, I'd be more about upgrading caps if you're searching for better sound.

I don't understand the idea of not wanting to spend a bit more for capacitors, but willing to spend a bit on a foil inductor.

 

The speakers sound great, just wanting to experiment to see if they could be made even better.

 

Not going to say I will never use the Audyn Plus caps , just that $260 for the values needed is out of my price range right now. The Jantzen z-cap standard I currently have cost $66 shipped - was this worth the money changing out the Solen caps? The jury is still out and as yet to be tried out.

2.2uF x4

7.5 uF x2

27uF x2

 

Parts Express Audyn Plus caps

 

The foil coils I was looking at were ERSE - $92 for the values I need + $76 if I were to replace the inductors in the low pass section (not likely at this time anyway if I were).

.2 mH x2

.3 mH x2

1.6 mH x2

2.0 mH x2 (low pass)

 

 ERSE copper foil inductors

 

:( kind of a cheap shot with the Dayton/Bennic comment don't you think?

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1 hour ago, Alexander said:

kind of a cheap shot with the Dayton/Bennic comment don't you think?

 

Why? 

Dean mentioned Solens are junk, and I agree. He also mentioned Jantzen is entry-level cap, and I can agree there, maybe a teeny weeny bit better than Solen.

I figured if your going to go sideways with caps, may as well use a cap with 1% tolerance.

 

I mentioned to maybe try and use them. I meant no insult.

Why aren't you butt-hurt at Dean for what he mentions?

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Standard foil inductors are not my cup of tea as the standard coil inductors outperform them in many ways 

 

However premium foil inductors in large AWG size , utilising paper insulation then wax treated that dries hard like the Jantzen inductors are very good 

http://www.jantzen-audio.com/wax-coil/

 

I speak with experiences as someone that has employed them in my crossovers 

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Yeah, I like those too - especially the litz version. However, it doesn't really make much sense to spend more on crossover components than the speakers are worth - the smarter move is to put the money towards better loudspeakers. 

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