Anyone keen on choosing capacitors for crossovers?

MOEB74

Active Member
Looking to rebuild these crossovers but dont know what kind to get? Whats best or I should say what would work without breaking the bank. I know many use the Dayton but wondering if it cheaper to go Allied, Digi etc?

These are the values I need and their original types:

200vdc 2.5uf mylar
100vdc NP 100uf elect.
100vdc NP 15uf elect.
200vdc 5uf mylar

Also lists:

Wire wound resistors at: 15ohm and 10ohm both at 10% and 5w

Should I replace them too?

suggestions/links on what to get?

Thanks!
 
The Daytons are fine for most, we don't know what you are re-caping. Being as my speakers had served me well for 35+ years, I went over what I wanted to spend and got Axion and Solen PP caps at parts connextion.com on sale. I was totally shocked on the improved performance across the band.
 
+ 2 on the Dayton's. Prepare for sticker shock on the 100uf's. Not cheap, no matter the brand or where you buy them.
 
The Daytons are fine for most, we don't know what you are re-caping. Being as my speakers had served me well for 35+ years, I went over what I wanted to spend and got Axion and Solen PP caps at parts connextion.com on sale. I was totally shocked on the improved performance across the band.

Depends on how big you're bank is. It also depends on the location of the caps in the circuit. I tend to spend considerably less on woofer shunt caps than I do caps that are in the signal path of the midrange and tweeter (especially). It also depends on how much space you have. Film caps can start to get huge as you move up in value.

For non-polar electrolytic shunt capacitors, I like the Mundorf ECap Plain capacitors. They are bigger and cost a little more than generic NPEs, but less expensive and smaller than film caps of comparable values. For smaller value woofer shunt caps (up to about 22uF) I tend to go with Axon True Caps instead of NPEs.

If that 15uF is a series midrange cap, and you have the space, I'd definitely recommend a decent film cap over an NPE. Tweeter caps, I always get the best film cap my budget will allow. May favorites so far, in terms of bang for the buck are the Clarity Cap PX series and the Sonicap Gen1. I have used both brands multiple times in the midrange and tweeter circuits of several speakers I have recapped (JBL L36 Decades, L19A and 4310B, KLH Model 23, Rectilinear III Highboys, etc.) and have been pleased with the way they sound. I usually bypass the tweeter caps with the little Vishay-Roederstein MKP1837s, but recently tries bypassing a Sonicap Gen1 with a Cornell-Dubillier 940C and like the way that combination sounds.

Replacing resistors will have less impact than replacing caps (in general), but while i have things apart, I tend to replace any old cement resistors with new Mills non-inductive wirewound resistors.

Here's a recent example of a a crossover I rebuilt using these parts (original on the left, rebuilt on the right):

JBL_L19_A_2.jpg


Those are the crossovers for a pair of JBL L19As (2-ways with an 8" woofer). I replaced the 5 ohm 10W cement resistor with a 5 ohm 12W Mills resistor, replaced the 18uF NPE woofer shunt cap with an 18uF Axon True Cap and replaced the original mylar in wax 7uF tweeter cap with a 7uF Sonicap Gen1 bypassed with a 0.01uF Cornell-Dubilier 940C. I also moved one of the inductors and rotated it by 90 degrees to minimize coupling and shortened all the leads to clean things up an bit. I also replaced the crappy original speaker wire terminals with a pair of Dayton Audio BPA-38G heavy duty binding posts. I'm very pleased with the way they turned out and happy with the choices I made.

So, let us know a little more about this crossover you are rebuilding and how much you have in your parts budget.
 
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Here is an image of it. I dont want to dump tons of money into them as they are not sound quality speakers, they are just loud Cerwins...

 

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Should I get polys?

Assuming that's a woofer shunt cap, go with the Mundorf ECap Plain in the 100uF value. They run less than 10 bucks each, and while most likely physically larger than the originals, much smaller than film caps in this value.
 
Assuming that's a woofer shunt cap, go with the Mundorf ECap Plain in the 100uF value. They run less than 10 bucks each, and while most likely physically larger than the originals, much smaller than film caps in this value.
Thanks.

Here is the schematic and here is the crossover again

the 152w2 is the woofer
the cm6hp is a mid
the cm6p is another kid
the cs5 is the tweeter
 

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Here is an image of it. I dont want to dump tons of money into them as they are not sound quality speakers, they are just loud Cerwins...


OK, if that's the case, just a standard Dayton Audio 100uF NPE and Daytons or Audyns for the film caps. Still curious about that 15uF. Do you have a schematic for these crossovers? Are they 3-ways? If they are, and that 15uF is in series with the midrange, I'd tend to spend a little more and replace the original NPE with an inexpensive film cap.

Here's a before and after from a pair of DCM Timeframe 275s I recapped:

Time_Frame_TF-275_7.jpg


Time_Frame_TF-275_8.jpg


I used Audyn Q4s in place of the original NPEs. You can see the Audyn Q4s are bigger than the original NPEs, but they are smaller than comparable Dayton's and most other brands of film caps. That often makes them easier to retrofit in place of original NPEs.
 
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OK, if that's the case, just a standard Dayton Audio 100uF NPE and Daytons or Audyns for the film caps. Still curious about that 15uF. Do you have a schematic for these crossovers? Are they 3-ways? If they are, and that 15uF is in series with the midrange, I'd tend to spend a little more and replace the original NPE with an inexpensive film cap

here is the info on the schematic and what speakers they go to:

the 152w2 is the woofer
the cm6hp is a mid
the cm6p is another kid
the cs5 is the tweeter
Here is a copy of the schematic:


If that image is small, here is a large image: https://postimg.org/image/7gb93zmnp/
 

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Thanks.

Here is the schematic and here is the crossover again

the 152w2 is the woofer
the cm6hp is a mid
the cm6p is another kid
the cs5 is the tweeter

Ok, as I suspected, the 100uF NPE is a woofer shunt cap. So, on a tight budget, I'd just go with a standard Dayton NPE.

Also, as I suspected the 15uF NPE is in series with the midrange. I'd replace it with a 15uF Audyn Q4. The Audyn is actually cheaper and a little smaller than the 15uF Dayton 5%.

The 2.5uf and 5uF are series tweeter caps. I would favor the Sonicap Gen1s in this application, but they may be beyond your desired budget.
 
Thanks! thats what Im confused on, is what are my options. Say tier 1 cheapest to tier 3 the most expensive...
 
Thanks! thats what Im confused on, is what are my options. Say tier 1 cheapest to tier 3 the most expensive...

I'll just go with tier 1 and 3:

Tier 1 (cheapest):

100uF = Dayton or Bennic NPE
15uF = Audyn Q4
2.5uF = 1uF + 1.5 uF Dayton 5%
5uF = 5.1uF Dayton 5%

Tier 3 (best performance at non-outrageous prices):
100uF = Mundorf Ecap Plain
15uF = Clarity Cap PX
2.5uF = Sonicap Gen1 bypassed with 0.01uF Cornell-Dubilier 940C
5uF = Sonicap Gen1 bypassed with 0.01uF Cornell-Dubilier 940C

If you wanted to go somewhere in the middle (Tier 2), I'd combine these two something like:

100uF = Dayton NPE
15uF = Audyn Q4
2.5uF = Sonicap Gen1
5uF = Sonicap Gen1

If you don't have them handy, you could skip the bypass caps.
 
I'll just go with tier 1 and 3:

Tier 1 (cheapest):

100uF = Dayton or Bennic NPE
15uF = Audyn Q4
2.5uF = 1uF + 1.5 uF Dayton 5%
5uF = 5.1uF Dayton 5%

Tier 3 (best performance at non-outrageous prices):
100uF = Mundorf Ecap Plain
15uF = Clarity Cap PX
2.5uF = Sonicap Gen1 bypassed with 0.01uF Cornell-Dubilier 940C
5uF = Sonicap Gen1 bypassed with 0.01uF Cornell-Dubilier 940C

If you wanted to go somewhere in the middle (Tier 2), I'd combine these two something like:

100uF = Dayton NPE
15uF = Audyn Q4
2.5uF = Sonicap Gen1
5uF = Sonicap Gen1

If you don't have them handy, you could skip the bypass caps.
Im unsure what bypass caps are, so then Id assume I dont have them on hand :)
 
Im unsure what bypass caps are, so then Id assume I dont have them on hand :)

Small, high quality caps, that are placed in parallel with larger, less expensive caps. Good read here:

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?3555-Bypassed-and-Biased-Capacitors

They are small and relatively inexpensive (due to the very small values) and I recap a lot of crossovers, so I tend to buy them in bulk, or when they are on sale, so I always have some on hand. The two I generally use are Vishay-Roederstein MKP1837 and Cornell-Dubilier 940C. Mouser carries both, so I usually add some onto my order whenever I'm buying something else from them.
 
Small, high quality caps, that are placed in parallel with larger, less expensive caps. Good read here:

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?3555-Bypassed-and-Biased-Capacitors

They are small and relatively inexpensive (due to the very small values) and I recap a lot of crossovers, so I tend to buy them in bulk, or when they are on sale, so I always have some on hand. The two I generally use are Vishay-Roederstein MKP1837 and Cornell-Dubilier 940C. Mouser carries both, so I usually add some onto my order whenever I'm buying something else from them.
I forgot to ask, what retailer are you using the info above from? In terms of where should I go and buy the caps from
 
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