Jump to content

Arizona Blues, or suggestions please


Klipschguy

Recommended Posts

Greetings All,

 

I am planning on replacing the capacitors in my Cornwalls' B Networks. 

 

A forum search shows the cap-du-jour is the Arizona Blue Cactus, which as you know, is a Paper/Mylar/Oil/Aluminum Foil capacitor.  I was thinking of using two Arizona 2uF in parallel for the 4uF cap, and a single Arizona 2uF cap for the tweeter leg of the circuit.  (My understanding is paralleling caps reduces overall ESR vs a single cap of the same design that carries a summed capacitance value.)

 

I do not care that much about the money (within reason).  What I do care about is the sound and longevity of the caps.  I would like the caps to give 20 to 30 years of good performance (maybe that expectation is unrealistic).

 

I know the subject of capacitors has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum, but I cannot not find much written about sound AND longevity.  Any thoughts are appreciated as I am certainly open to ideas.

 

Best regards,

 

Andy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Klipschguy said:

I know the subject of capacitors has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum, but I cannot not find much written about sound AND longevity ...

Yes, paralleling capacitors reduces ESR. However, there is also DA.

 

Original capacitors were paper in oil and later, mylar film in oil. 

 

I now stay away from metalized types. They just don't sound as good as film and foil. Caveat - I still use metalized polypropylene in my RF-x rebuilds because of space considerations. A good metalized capacitor still sounds better than an oval shaped capacitor - which is what Klipsch uses in series with the horns in Reference. 

 

For longevity, the leads should be internally soldered, something that can't be done with metalized capacitors. 

 

The best capacitors are fully protected and/or hermetically sealed film and foils. Arizona, Jupiter, and Miflex all meet that criteria. These will definitely go 30-40 years. 

 

Though not fully protected, PPT Theta, MultiCap, and Musicap are outstanding. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...