Listening tests of high end capacitors...

[Rick Turner]

You ought to see what we can get out of piezo ceramics! Just the pyroelectric effect when soldering to them is impressive. Nice little spark gap stuff! Well, they do make gas burner igniters out of the suckers...

I did mention my un-patented "Sure You Can Sit In With My Band Tonight" guitar cable, didn't I? 1/4" plug on one end, 110 volts mains on the other...

[JGundry]

I have vintage guitars, like a '59 Jazzmaster and a '72 Mustang. I love the Mustang, but it sounds better with Lawrence L-250s in it. It snarls and growls. With the stock pickups it plinked. More modern pickups gives it more mojo. It would sound bland with EMGs.

One man's plink is another man's mojo. There is no accounting for individual likes and dislikes.

[Rick Turner]

I had a 60's DuoSonic. It sounded much better when I painted it red. When it was blue it just sucked...

My car seems to go faster before I wash it.

Lots of kids prefer bathroom tap water to kitchen tap water.

Guests should leave by the same door they came in or you'll have unexpected and unwanted guests.

"Very superstitious, writing's on the wall..."

[LtKojak]

I did mention my un-patented "Sure You Can Sit In With My Band Tonight" guitar cable, didn't I? 1/4" plug on one end, 110 volts mains on the other...

If you make that 230V, I'll be happy to buy one.

[LtKojak]

let's all say "Je ne sais quoi" instead of "mojo". it fits the meaning better.

Yeah, tell that to Muddy Waters...

[LtKojak]

I had a 60's DuoSonic. It sounded much better when I painted it red. When it was blue it just sucked...

Well, Rick; EVERYBODY knows red guitars just sound better...

[Rick Turner]

Does "reliably detected" mean true double blind testing or is it just you trying different caps and thinking that you hear a difference?

Why would one cap of a certain value be "darker" than another if they're both operating to roll off highs at the same frequency and at the same rate of dB per octave (classic RC first order filter, and the rate is 6 dB per octave)? Darker would imply a lower roll-off frequency unless you think that the quality of a cap determines the slope of the roll-off.

[David Schwab]

Yeah, tell that to Muddy Waters...

Well he was talking about mojo.... not caps.

You keep your mojo in a little leather bag...

[salvarsan]

Does "reliably detected" mean true double blind testing or is it just you trying different caps and thinking that you hear a difference?

It means that every participant in the test wears two blindfolds.

Why would one cap of a certain value be "darker" than another if they're both operating to roll off highs at the same frequency and at the same rate of dB per octave (classic RC first order filter, and the rate is 6 dB per octave)? Darker would imply a lower roll-off frequency unless you think that the quality of a cap determines the slope of the roll-off.

Darker means darker.

A Sprague .02uf/600V Black Beauty (paper/foil cap in a black epoxy encapsulation)
sounds darker than another equal-valued Orange Drop.

Don't get me started about the Mallory caps in blue or white epoxy.
Those are always brighter than the Black Beauties, as anyone can see.

[RoadToNever]

How about signal which is passed rather than shunted in a passive guitar circuit?

[Mike Sulzer]

Why would one cap of a certain value be "darker" than another if they're both operating to roll off highs at the same frequency and at the same rate of dB per octave (classic RC first order filter, and the rate is 6 dB per octave)?

There can be more to it in the right circumstances (not a guitar tone circuit). For example there is one guitar amp designer (I forget his name.) who uses ceramic capacitors as distortion generators. (capsound3.pdf explains which kind of ceramic cap distorts a lot). If you use such a ceramic C with an AC signal near its voltage rating, the distortion is so bad that you can see on a scope. At lower voltages it is more subtle but still present. The brightness of a sound is affected by the generation of harmonics, and so a really "bad" C used with a signal near its voltage rating certainly affects the sound.

[RoadToNever]

There can be more to it in the right circumstances (not a guitar tone circuit). For example there is one guitar amp designer (I forget his name.) who uses ceramic capacitors as distortion generators. (capsound3.pdf explains which kind of ceramic cap distorts a lot). If you use such a ceramic C with an AC signal near its voltage rating, the distortion is so bad that you can see on a scope. At lower voltages it is more subtle but still present. The brightness of a sound is affected by the generation of harmonics, and so a really "bad" C used with a signal near its voltage rating certainly affects the sound.

Linky: DIYCore.com - Home
Nice article series about the subject BTW. Sort of like an update on Walt-Jung...

[David Schwab]

That should read: "your grammar, spelling and writing skills are on a 2nd grade level."

You have to admit that's funny.

Peace

Chuck

That's very funny! D'Oh!

[David Schwab]

It means that every participant in the test wears two blindfolds.

Darker means darker.

A Sprague .02uf/600V Black Beauty (paper/foil cap in a black epoxy encapsulation)
sounds darker than another equal-valued Orange Drop.

Don't get me started about the Mallory caps in blue or white epoxy.
Those are always brighter than the Black Beauties, as anyone can see.

Then you have the people who peal off the shrink wrap from aluminum can electrolytics and claim they sound more organic and less plastic that way.

[salvarsan]

Then you have the people who peal off the shrink wrap from aluminum can electrolytics and claim they sound more organic and less plastic that way.

Once you pull those people's heads out into daylight and
shake the brown stuff off them, you discover a small fragment of truth
if you hold your nose and ask the right questions.

If the electrolytic caps couple lots of watts into a speaker system,
they will certainly swell microscopically and manifest microphonics.
Those people like their capacitor microphonics undamped by a plastic sleeve.

Any component demonstrates pathological behavior when you drive it hard enough.

It's an electrical corollary of Fudd's Law of Opposition:
"If you push something hard enough, it will fall over."

Whether or not it's significant depends on how/where you use the component.