[nleahcim]

So - I was wondering - I always see lots of talk about black gates, vishay dales, etc. when talking about good components for amps - but these are all through hole as far as I know. Are there any good series' of surface mount components, both resistors and capacitors, for audio amps? I've found that I just strongly dislike soldering through hole components - they're just a pain in the butt IMHO. Surface mount is just more pleasant I guess.

 

[JWFokker]

You're crazy dude. I hate working with SMDs.

I think you'll have a hard time finding surface mount 'audiophile' quality parts though. You may have noticed that the better a part is, usually the larger it is too. Even among electrolytic caps, the better ones are generally larger than their cheaper counterparts. I have 470uf 35V Cerafines that are more than double the size of my 680uf 35V Panasonic FM caps. Carbon film and wire wound resistors are generally bigger than metal film too. I'm sure some surface mount parts are better than others, but they aren't anywhere near the quality of good through hole parts.

 

[Jazper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nleahcim So - I was wondering - I always see lots of talk about black gates, vishay dales, etc. when talking about good components for amps - but these are all through hole as far as I know. Are there any good series' of surface mount components, both resistors and capacitors, for audio amps? I've found that I just strongly dislike soldering through hole components - they're just a pain in the butt IMHO. Surface mount is just more pleasant I guess.

and I agree.. surface mount is easier to do


Well you can get vishay dale surface mount resistors for one. (mouser stocks them)

and WIMA film chip capacitors..(again mouser)

which are both audiophile grade..

 

[Garbz]

Define audiophile grade anyway. The actual impact of the resistors should be nothing compared to the design of the circuit itself. Simply use some thick film resistors. As for caps that's harder since I wouldn't want anything the size of a BG cap to be glued on the board

JWFokker each to his own. I've done some SMD work now and consequently I hate throughhole components

 

[greyhorse]

Count me a member of team SMD is K3W1. I just love the way they simplify the layout for decoupling caps close to ICs. On a perf board prototype, they fit perfectly between the socket pins and the ground bus, and on a home brewed board, you often times don't need to design pads for them.

Although they're too fragile to re-use, I find they also make it easier to change a component value of a part on a perfboard prototype. Overall, a board using SMD parts just looks cooler and more professional. This is of course dependant on personal taste, but small parts just seem to ooze a high tech feel.

One reason to use smaller parts seems to have to do with problems with static electricity. This is something our on-site manager at work told me, but smaller parts apparently are better in this respect. From what I've heard, they might be more susceptible to external ESD, but perhaps they generate less of their own? Does anyone know more about this?

Getting back on topic, some of the higher performance capacitors are/were only available in SMD form. PPS film capacitors were only originally available in SMD form for example, and Panasonic's uber high performance FA series which used to be leaded, is now only available SMD.