better capacitor brand?

[Sam Lord]

[quote author="Gus"]Sam lord have you tried the caps you posted about? I don't mean this as an attack that was your first post? Alot of us post what we know from use and years of playing with circuits. I find alot of the crap on the web is crap when you test it yourself. Sometimes it is people just repeating things without testing.

FWIW I have not heard a ceramic I liked

I for one don't hear the magnetic lead stuff, maybe at amp to loudspeaker levels. I can't hear it there. Have you tried a test for magnetic lead stuff? Walt Jung wrote something about not liking magnetic lead parts years ago in TAA 1980s maybe in one of the pooge articles.

Take a magnet to some ICs etc alot of stuff is plated,coated steel.[/quote]

Hi Gus, that was my first post here; I saw this forum link in another forum, and liked the content and civil approach. I have tried the caps I spoke of, but have not done rigorous testing: the opinion I gave was based on many evaluations, but always with other parts changes as well. I heard this only in our (my former company's) circuits--I can't vouch for any others, so YMMV. I apologise for my statement: it was too broad. So, you are quite proper in asking the questions and I certainly take no offense.
In regard to specific caps: in very high-end tube pres, ss power amps and speaker x-overs (active and passive), we used Black Gates and many COG and X7R ceramics. The ceramics took a long time to burn in--a month for full musicality for the X7Rs, I think much less for COGs. FWIW, X7Rs are unlistenable for a day or so, therefore most discouraging. But wait a week or more. X7R ceramics might have taken longer to sound musical, but they gave *much* greater transparency and equal musicality to any of the film-foil types we tried, and we found COGs to better both in every way. The Black Gates (the long double-caps and the NX types) were hot from the start. We avoided base-level ceramics in audio circuits.
Yes, we used a few ICs, usually for DC offset, and they were magnetic. But with the steel-lead ceramics, the difference was very subtle, but gained with listening. You couldn't put your finger on it, but the sense of ease didn't quite reach the expected level. Sure, it's all a matter of tiny parasitics that somebody perhaps has looked at, but we just listened. Regarding the leads, a good way to test is to run a magnet under a clear plastic box holding the caps--with leads having a tiny steel core, you may not see the cap stick to the magnet--you need to see them react to movement on a slick surface. Regards, Sam

 

[Sleeper]

I've opened up the ASmart version of the SSL compressor and there are Black Gates in the audio coupling positions. Thats a good sounding box.
here's a clip from the michael percy audio catalog. He has all the crazy audiophile caps, some are outlandishly expensive. the standard series black gates aren't so pricey though, a 50v 47uf is $1.85.

BLACKGATE ELECTROLYTICS *Unrivaled performance in a unique graphite impregnated electrolytic design with ESR 1/5 to 1/20 that of ordinary electrolytics, minimal phase delay, and extremely low noise floor, exceeding -160dB for some models. No other electrolytic compares for low distortion, sonic purity, and extremely long life (up to 10X other electrolytics). *WKZis a premium polarized capacitor for the B+ supply in vacuum tube audio equipment up to 500VDC. *WK220μF 200V ?Power Tank? is a unique asymmetrical non-polar design for high current applications. *VK and FKare the top model Black Gate polarized types for low noise applications up to 350VDC. *Standard and ultra compact PKpolarized provide Black Gate high performance at lower cost. *ACseries are 50V ±10% bi-polar types for speaker crossovers, very compact size with film capacitor performance. *N, NX, NHare superb, ultra low noise non-polar caps for the most critical coupling & power supply applications. *85°C rated, nominally ±20% tolerance (except type AC ±10%), but typically closely matched and ±5-10% of valueAll radial wire leads except:



Sleeper [/quote]

 

[Gus]

I will have to check out some ceramics again. Thanks for the post. I do wonder if the steel lead vs copper lead might be the connection inside the cap and not the metal.

 

[Sam Lord]

[quote author="Gus"]I will have to check out some ceramics again. Thanks for the post. I do wonder if the steel lead vs copper lead might be the connection inside the cap and not the metal.[/quote]

Ahh, maybe that's the culprit. I've seen two levels of noticeable magnetism in monolythic ceramics: one was immediately apparent with a magnet, but for a long period I missed a whole category which had a different construction. I simple couldn't feel any attraction putting a magnet against the device with my fingers, but the smooth-surface test I mentioned earlier really works. In my very foggy memory, when I spoke to several folks at Kemet and the AVX division of whoever bought up the old Sprague ceramic line (I think Kemet), I got different answers from each. Some would swear up and down that the C340 series used all tinned-copper leads with no steel core. But they were indeed weakly magnetic, unlike the C350 series which had no detectable magnetism. FYI, nearly X7Rs are magnetic, but there is one Kemet model of the biggest available (1.0uF) which is not. Now IIRC, some leads had tinned copper with a very slender steel core, to make a more reliable internal connection, and some people treat this as a nonmagnetic lead (better than tinned steel leads, but still magnetic). Or, as you mention, there might be just a steel section right at the internal lead-to-component connection. Either way, the three levels of magnetism are very distinct--very strong, weak, and undetectable. Regards, Sam