Fancy-pants filter capacitors worth it?

This subject has been mentioned to death on AK over the past decade. Here we go again:
-Remember, with electrolytics now in 2018, that the counterfeit rate is pushing 50%. Freshness and date of manufacture is everything. Even with good re sellers like Mouser and Digikey who have huge inventories they can not and do not verify every single unit..
-Tier levels are everything now. This article should be a sticky: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supplies-101,4193-5.html
-As already mentioned, always go with poly vs electrolytic if possible.
-Always too much emphasis on exact size. Mod your replacements or chassis and fit the replacements if possible. Insulate the leads with heatshrink if needed unless you have to have exact size snap-ins which is rarely the situation. You can always modify.
-Never and I mean never replace any electrolytic with a tier 3 or 4 brand name from a shady seller. Most consumer electronics all contain tier 3 or 4 lytics from the factory..
Good advice, and though it has no doubt been mentioned to death I was not aware of a 50% counterfeit rate--that is sad!
 
What are crappy capacitors, the K-Tel equivalents of the passive components world?
The ones made in Chinese garages with names like Sam'wa. Had four of those explode in 3 foot flames and nearly take a guys eye out once. The vents never opened.
 
is it worth putting high-end filter caps in this beast or is this a fool's inquiry?
For this amp. yes. I looked it up and this is quite a nice amplifier. It's a Class G design with two voltage rails, hence the two sets of different voltage caps. If you buy the expensive, quality caps, the price will amortize over the years of service they provide and become well worth it.
 
You state that they are filter caps. Their job is very different from the caps in the audio circuit. The important considerations for those are ripple current, surge voltage and lifespan at full temperature. All the considerations about distortion in the audio circuit do not apply. I found these 40mm diameter caps at Mouser:

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/KEMET/ALF20G223EH063?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvwFf0viD3Y3fHxNcSaiftw8jm1%2bQ7DDsAl7l58LNSlfg==

If they work in your board I would use them.

Shelly_D
Do you, and the other experts here, feel the same way about caps in more critical areas such as coupling caps and crossovers? I'm thinking about replacing some motor-run caps in a DIY crossover with something like Obbligato Gold.
 
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Do you, and the other experts here, feel the same way about caps in more critical areas coupling caps and crossovers? I'm thinking about replacing some motor-run caps in a DIY crossover with something like Obbligato Gold.

You want to use the correct part for the circuit. A coupling cap runs the signal through it. A cap in the crossover might or might not have the signal running through it. If the signal runs through it you want to see if you can put in film or audio grade caps. If the signal does not run through it, then you want to match the cap to the use.

Coupling caps MUST physically fit, and have a DC operating voltage that meets or exceeds the rating of the cap that is already in use. Crossovers must be non-polarized caps, ie, either bipolar electrolytics, film or some other type that does not care about DC polarity.

Shelly_D
 
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