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Boutique Capacitors - Where to buy?

post #1 of 35
8/24/07 at 11:18am
Thread Starter 
I'm wondering if there is a thread that lists the different vendors that offer all our favourite boutique caps. I tried searching for it but didn't come up with much. If someone could direct me to a list, that'd be great. If such a thread does not exist, I would like to start one. Thing is, I don't know which are considered "boutique" so this thread's survival depends mostly on your input. Now, where are those caps?


Acoustic Dimension
Black Gate, Jensen, Jupiter


Angela Instruments
Angela, Black Gate, Cornell Dubilier, Elna, Fender, Jensen, JJ, LCR, Nichicon, Sequa, Sprague


Antique Electronic Supply
Alessandro, Audience, Hovland, Mallory, Nichicon, Sprague, Peavey, Silver Mica, Solen, Wima, Xicon


Audiokit
Digitex, ICEL, Intertechnik, MIT, Polystirolo, SCR, Solen, Sprague, TRT, Silvercap, Wima


Audiyo
Mundorf


B&D Enterprises
Cornell Dub., Hitachi, Nichicon, Nippon Chemicon, Panasonic, Rubycon, Sprague, Vishay


Caps&Coils
Jantzen Audio, ClarityCap


Digikey
Elna


DIYCable.com
Audience, Cardas, ClarityCap, Erse


DIY HiFi Supply
AudioNote, Black Gate, FEP/SN, Jupiter, Obliggato, Silver Mica


diyparadise
Elna, F&T, Panasonic


E-Speakers.com
ClarityCap, Duelund


Euphonia Audio
Audience


Handmade Electronics
AudioCap, Elna, F&T, Illinois, Nichicon, Rubycon, Silver Mica, Solen, Sprague


hificollective
Ansar, Audio Note, Black Gate, Elna, Jensen, LCR, Mundorf


Leda Resources
Bennic, Mundorf, SCR


Madisound Speaker Components
Bennic, Carli, ClarityCap, Fostex, GE, Hovland Musicap, Madisound, Mundorf, Solen


Michael Percy Audio
ASC, Axon, Black Gate, Hovland, Jupiter, Nichicon, Reliable, Solen, TRT, Unlytic


parts conneXion
ASC, Audience, Audio Note, Black Gate, Cardas, CE, Cornell, Duelund, TRT, Hovland, Jamicon, Jensen, JJ, Jupiter, MultiCap, Mundorf, Paccom, PIO, Polystyrene, RelCap, Silver Mica, Sanyo Os-con, Solen, Unlytic


Parts Express
Audience, Audio Cap, Dayton, Jantzen, Kimber Kap, Ruby Tubes, Solen, Xicon


Realaudio
CDE, Nichicon, RIFA, Wima


Reference Audio Mods
Audio Consulting, Black Gate, Elna, Jensen, Leclanche, Rubycon


Sonic Craft
Audience, AudioCap, Black Gate, Cardas, TRT, Jupiter, Kimber, MultiCap, Mundorf, RelCap, Sonicap


Soundlabs Group
Audience, Leclanche, Mundorf, Vistaton


Strassacker: Speaker, Do-it-yourself
Intertechnik, Jensen, Mundorf


Tang Hill International LTD. Audio
Audience, AudioCap, BHC, Black Gate, Cardas, Dubilier, Elna, Elwa, ERO, Erse, Gen, Hovland, ITT, Jensen, Mullard, MultiCap, Mundorf, OdioCap, Os-Con, Philip, Plessey, Rifa, RelCap, Solen, Soshin Mica, Sprague, Suflex, TCC, TRT, Wego, Wima


TubeDepot.com
Audience, F&T, Hovland, Illinois, JJ, LCR, Silver Mica, Solen, SoZo, Sprague, Xicon


The Tube Store
Audience, F&T, Illinois, JJ, Mojotone, Rifa, Solen, Sprague, Xicon


Tubes4all
ERO, Intertechnik, Jensen, Philps


V-Cap
V-Cap


Welborne Labs
CDE, Elna, F&T, Nichicon, Solen, Wima

----------------------

Reading to consider:
ecp.cc
Angela Instruments (scroll down)
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post #2 of 35
8/24/07 at 11:23am
partsconnexion.com has them.

Mainly they are considered Blackgates (all), Nichicon (some) and then all of the metal film caps.

I'm new to this boutique thing as well so someone else can probably fill in the specifics.
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post #3 of 35
8/24/07 at 11:45am
Michael Percy Audio
Sonic Craft
Parts Connection
Hand Made
all come to mind... I just scored some BG's NX and Sonicap GEN II's from parts cnx and sonicraft, that are warming up in my new MHM. you could also look through some of the MHM pages here since we've all recently been building/looking.. so its all been recently discussed..

.. and I'm a n00b too.. but heck, t'sounds good!
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post #4 of 35
8/24/07 at 12:19pm
You can get elna silmic II from digikey.

The elna cerafine series was considered to be very close to blackgate performance at much less cost. And the silmic II series is now 2 levels above the cerafine.

You could recap all your components with them for the cost of doing half a component with bg's.
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post #5 of 35
8/24/07 at 12:53pm
Thread Starter 
I was thinking of listing each brand of capacitor offered at each store, but with parts conneXion's offerings, it would take a long time. Perhaps one day I could invest that kind of time.

Maybe when you list the store, you could say which caps are offered there. I may or may not incorporate that information, but at least we'll know.
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post #6 of 35
8/24/07 at 2:52pm
Actually, dsavitsk has already done it, it's on his site www.ecp.cc/cap-notes.html but it's down at the moment, but you can always see the cached version.
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post #7 of 35
8/24/07 at 2:57pm
Audio Kit also has a range of boutique caps. Theyre probably the shop of choice for EU residents (shipping costs). www.audiokit.it
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post #8 of 35
8/24/07 at 3:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by FallenAngel View Post
Actually, dsavitsk has already done it, it's on his site www.ecp.cc/cap-notes.html but it's down at the moment, but you can always see the cached version.
There is also a cached version at archive.org: http://web.archive.org/web/200705210...cap-notes.html
It seems to not be as up to date.

Web site will be back up soon ...

There is also this one: http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html

and this one: http://www.vhaudio.com/21capacitorshootout.pdf

You'll see we all disagree a bit.
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post #9 of 35
8/24/07 at 3:06pm
Has anyone ordered from Percy Audio lately? I've emailed this guy three times over a couple of weeks and I will haven't gotten a single response? As far as I know there is no order form, do I email him some kind of spreadsheet with everything?
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post #10 of 35
8/24/07 at 3:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dsavitsk View Post
There is also a cached version at archive.org: http://web.archive.org/web/200705210...cap-notes.html
It seems to not be as up to date.

Web site will be back up soon ...

There is also this one: http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html

and this one: http://www.vhaudio.com/21capacitorshootout.pdf

You'll see we all disagree a bit.
Whoa! That's an understatement. This guy:
http://www.vhaudio.com/21capacitorshootout.pdf
wished Jupiters had never been made. With a few exceptions, the caps he finally recommends as best are in the $hundreds of dollars.
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post #11 of 35
8/24/07 at 3:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tomb View Post
wished Jupiters had never been made.
My only guess is he had a bad pair, or he melted them a bit and they were leaky. He's the only person I've heard of who had such a strong reaction to the Jupiters. Most people seem to say they sound great, but they melt so easily that they are a real pain to use. My experience is that they are so much better than Auricaps, etc. that something had to have gone wrong with his.
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post #12 of 35
8/24/07 at 4:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tomb View Post
Whoa! That's an understatement. This guy:
http://www.vhaudio.com/21capacitorshootout.pdf
wished Jupiters had never been made. With a few exceptions, the caps he finally recommends as best are in the $hundreds of dollars.
I hate reviews like that.

They always end up with one product that they claim the end all be all, greatest thing ever made that will take you into some new magical wonderland. And everything else is useless.

One guy's ears, in one system, with one set of each test caps, without blind tests.

Sure sounds like a solid review to me!
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post #13 of 35
8/24/07 at 5:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LawnGnome View Post
I hate reviews like that.

They always end up with one product that they claim the end all be all, greatest thing ever made that will take you into some new magical wonderland. And everything else is useless.

One guy's ears, in one system, with one set of each test caps, without blind tests.

Sure sounds like a solid review to me!
He is definitely a member of the more money than brains club.
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post #14 of 35
8/24/07 at 8:14pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by FallenAngel View Post
Actually, dsavitsk has already done it, it's on his site www.ecp.cc/cap-notes.html but it's down at the moment, but you can always see the cached version.
I'm going to borrow a little bit of information...

Edit: Now here's another question: what makes one capacitor boutique and another a jelly bean? Maybe there's a thread for this too, eh? Hmm...
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post #15 of 35
8/24/07 at 8:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tomb View Post
Whoa! That's an understatement. This guy:
http://www.vhaudio.com/21capacitorshootout.pdf
wished Jupiters had never been made. With a few exceptions, the caps he finally recommends as best are in the $hundreds of dollars.

thanks that was a good laugh.. so much meaningless crap. His level of self dilusion is so monumental. His use of meaningless statistics and figures astounding. His Lack of meaningfull testing saddening. I think this travasty is best summed up in his own words:

"The experience is equivalent to religious transformation in the Kingdom of High-fidelity!"

Yes to belive anything he says would require close to religious belief.
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