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Capacitors used in signal path

post #1 of 6
8/19/01 at 12:23am
Thread Starter 
I was wondering what the effect of using a capacitor like the Solen/SCR Fast Caps in the signal path of an amp would be. I noticed almost everywhere that sells the Solens, or anyone who talks about them in a deja.com search shows that the Solens are good for speaker crossover circuits or used as bypass caps in power supplies. But what about as signal capacitors (like for input coupling)? I'm trying to decide what kind of benefits or disadvantages there would be to using the Solens in my amp rather than the newer 716P SBE Orange Drops, which I've seen mentioned as signal capacitors usually. I've listened to the two, can -maybe- hear a difference between them, but couldn't decide which I liked better, so I used the Solens for the input coupling caps in my amp... now seeing over and over again that people don't usually use Solens for signal path caps, I'm wondering if there's some disadvantage to using them in this way?
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post #2 of 6
8/19/01 at 12:31am
they're huge high-voltage caps?

They sound fine. I use em alot; mainly because they're cheap and easy to get... but directly comparing the sound of a solen to a aeon to a wima to 715/6 orange drops, in a coupling situation where you're around 1uf? Good luck picking a preference. The whole signal chain will have to be considered as a whole, because they affect the sound that little, IMO.

As for why they're popular in speakers and PS bypass, what I started with... they're high voltage, and they're cheap.
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post #3 of 6
8/19/01 at 1:42am
Thread Starter 
Ah, these .56uF Solens I have (they're actually the Angela Fast Caps that Angela.com sent me instead of my ordered Solens, but the Angelas are made by SCR for Angela and are supposed to be the same as Solens) are actually smaller than the 0.47uF 716P Orange Drops (Solens are 630V, Orange Drops are 400V).
Since I can't really tell a difference in the sound between the 2 capacitors, I'm trying to find another way of figuring out which would be better to use, like: material used, signal handling properties, leakage, less prone to interference, etc.
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post #4 of 6
8/19/01 at 2:02am
Possum -

I have acquired a large quantities of Solens. If you want to try them, you can spare few for you. ...

SBE Orange Drop formerly Sprague Orange drops are more tightly packed. You should notice they are denser. Solen sound less tight beyond 5uF. However that is expected for affordable high capacitance film caps.

In my opinon, Solens are good for power supplies. I can get good large capacitance for low price. For coupling, I would like tightly packed film models like 716.

Going away from issue, but please notice that I am using Solen film cap for the output cap for my Szkeres'. They are large capacitance film cap. It beats electrolytics several time and over. So I think Solen is a acceptable coupling solution.

Tomo
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post #5 of 6
8/19/01 at 3:39am
Above 1uF I use solens almost exclusively , below I use 716 orange drops

sounds OK to me

Rick
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post #6 of 6
8/23/01 at 3:33am
Solens are Great sounding Reasonably Priced capacitors i use the in everything from Loudspeaker Crossovers to DIY Amps. and yes as power supply Film Bypasses of larger than normal capacitence thay cant be Beat. In fact my latest Portable Headphone amp uses a paralell bank of (4) 4.7uf/250 Volt Solens to replace a bank of (4) 15,000uF/10 Volt Low ESR Electrolytics. ( Still Assessing the results.
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