• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

AR-3a Rebuild Part 2: What capacitors do I need?

I loved my 3a's but decided to recap and see what the potential of the speakers really is. I used the 6.2mf Dayton film cap mentioned earlier and Dayton NPE's for the other two. The speakers sounded like crap. I put the old 50 and 150 back in and left the Dayton 6.2 film caps in place. Sounds much better again. I highly recommend NOT using Dayton NPE's. It really ruined the sound of the speaker in many ways. I wish I knew how the Dayton film cap compares to a not super pricey name brand such as ClarityCap. Also, I am wondering why there was such a difference in sound if the two NPE's are not in the signal path.
 
biggal76 said:
I loved my 3a's but decided to recap and see what the potential of the speakers really is. I used the 6.2mf Dayton film cap mentioned earlier and Dayton NPE's for the other two. The speakers sounded like crap. I put the old 50 and 150 back in and left the Dayton 6.2 film caps in place. Sounds much better again. I highly recommend NOT using Dayton NPE's. It really ruined the sound of the speaker in many ways. I wish I knew how the Dayton film cap compares to a not super pricey name brand such as ClarityCap. Also, I am wondering why there was such a difference in sound if the two NPE's are not in the signal path.
Click to expand...
Interesting result. I’ve not experienced this with any recap I’ve done. Did you recheck your connections?
 
Can you describe exactly what made them sound like crap? Muddy bass, no bass, too much midrange, ?

It sounds unusual.
 
biggal76 said:
I wish I knew how the Dayton film cap compares to a not super pricey name brand such as ClarityCap.
Click to expand...

I've used both Dayton film caps and ClarityCaps, and on AR's too. Dayton 5% on my AR92's, and AR-1MS speakers, ClarityCap CSA/ESA caps on my AR58S speakers, and Mundorf EVO Oil, Supreme, and Supreme Silver/Oils on my AR90's.

To me, the Dayton's were fairly smooth and spacious, in both width and depth. But they tended to be a bit 'spitty' at times. Especially in the upper mids, where they added a slight "Ssss" attribute. I added a Dayton Film & Foil bypass cap, to help smooth the spittiness.

The ClarityCaps were even more spacious than the Dayton's, presenting an even wider soundstage. Quiet sounding caps too, with a seemingly low noise floor, which added a bit more detail. The Clarity's were very warm sounding. Maybe too much. To me, they were somewhat opposite to the Dayton's. Where the Dayton's were a little spitty in the upper mids, the Clarity's were a little dark in the upper mids. This made spoken voices somewhat difficult to understand. Still, very musical caps.

Now, the Mudorf caps. These to me were the best. Clean, clear, and very balanced. No spittiness, no suck-outs, the Mundorf's just seemed to get out of the way, and allowed the music to bloom. More transparent, with less sound of their own. More faithful to the source.

The funny thing, many people joke about the sounds of capacitors. And NPE vs. Poly. But, in comparing these different capacitors, I found differences to be very obvious. In fact, what I heard closely matched with Tony Gee's findings, on his Humble Homemade Capacitor Test. Check out his Bennic FPP and XPP review, since these are the same as the Dayton 1% & 5 % caps. There are also descriptions of the various ClarityCap and Mundorf caps too. I agree 100% with his views.

Humble Homemade
 
connections are fine. hard to explain the problem, but bass was muddy and lacked the depth and breathiness. Mids lacked airy tubey quality. Speakers worked at all frequencies but lost the magic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom