OT: Who uses these oil caps?

[Elitopus1]

I have been using motor run caps as safety caps on my Jbl 2360/Renkus 3301 combo for a while now. You don't really "hear" the cap that much because they cross over around 250hz while the horns cross over at 750hz via an electronic crossover.

I have been messing with a pair of Emilar xovers that I am going to use with a pair of DIY Altec speakers. They use 24uf caps. I found a pair of 24uf "lighting" caps which are oil caps. They look to be the same as my motor run caps. 400VAC and beefy construction.

One thing I have heard about these caps is since they are labeled as 50/60hz caps they roll off the top end. The other day I disconnected my motor run caps from the horns and hooked them up to a tweeter with no other crossover. They definitely do their job as a "bass blocker" but also do not effect the HF. I could hear no difference in the HF while using the caps or while bypassing them.

Does anyone use this type of cap? Are there any disadvantage that you guys know of? I first heard about them on Audiokarma. They are cheap, well built, have high voltage handling, and 3% tolerance. Lol normally the 5% tolerance are what I buy

Here is the link

Oil HID Lighting Capacitor - 400VAC - Aerovox Z73S4024MN

[Phil-G]

i can only attest that a cap will save the hell out of a tweeter when an amp goes DC.

[Elitopus1]

Yes absolutely. They help to protect the horns in my biamp system from DC and from any unexpected pops or bumps.
I want to use these caps in a passive crossover now. For 4 bucks a piece I might as well just try them huh?



This is what I use as safety caps. Note: this pic was taken before I soldered on the wires

[mah]

Well worth a try.


The film caps, too: Dry HID Lighting Capacitors | 1000Bulbs.com

The prices make 'audio' cap prices look ridiculous.

[Elitopus1]

Yeah I don't necessarily buy into the more money=better product. We all know that once you get to a certain level there is the law of diminishing returns. For me thats 10 bucks per cap or less.

With that being said, if I had all the kinks worked out of my stereo and the only thing left to do was change caps (and I had some extra money for audio) I would definitely play around with boutique caps. Right now though I am a audiophool on a budget

[timoteus]

I use ASC motor run caps in my preamp and amp builds. High quality and made in the U.S. I get them from Allied Electronics - Industrial Automation & Control Products Distributor instead of the usual audio suppliers.

[tomt]

i dont use those caps.

because i have none of them.

otherwise i would ....


the jung/marsh article, states that oil caps, are generally, the lowest in distortion .

[Elitopus1]

Its interesting to me that these aren't more widely used. The only real disadvantage that I can see is their size. And honestly most "good" caps are big anyways. Plus as Altec owners we have some of the biggest speakers in the hobby. Even though there might not be room inside a stock Altec crossover to mount these, there is definitely extra room inside the cabinet to mount them

[GM]

I've never stopped using/recommending them since it's what I grew up with and as I learned more of the science behind such things, I've seen no compelling reason beyond size to change, especially since most other designs sound a bit 'off' in comparison. Ditto mounting them externally if for no other reason than easy to tweak; and then there's the need for proper wire size as Jeff noted in his thread.

Way back when, the only pertinent difference between audio quality caps and motor runs AFAIK were wider selection and tighter tolerance, so buy mil-spec if this is a perceived issue. Personally, since fairly large damping resistors are typically needed in passive apps, I don't see the point in spending the extra $$$.

Bottom line for me is that the pioneers spared nothing and developed much in the [re]search for the best of everything as a base line for where/how it could be cheapened up, so not surprising that the vast majority of advancements has been in the fine tuning of materials, manufacturing to cut/maintain the various ever increasing costs of doing business; consequently have tried to follow their lead as much as my finances allow[ed].

GM