Has anyone used ARS 500v electrolytic caps?

[jmaf]

They were cheap and crappy enough that I think selling them, period, was borderline unethical.

Anyway, none of us obviously has any practical experience of ARS capacitors, so why don't you buy some and report back to us?

I read that last night and thought this guy is really using Silvertone and Airline as examples of successful rebranding....then, whatever, can of worms indeed.

I guess everyone is free to appreciate rebranded milk, provided your body can absorb the hidrogen peroxide they secretly dump into it as "conservant".

[bluzmn]

They were cheap and crappy enough that I think selling them, period, was borderline unethical.

Anyway, none of us obviously has any practical experience of ARS capacitors, so why don't you buy some and report back to us?

Cheap and crappy? That's why we love 'em! And the prices keep getting higher.

[Pedro Vecino]

About ARS capacitors:
When the Spanish Marshall distributor stopped distributing LCR as spares (long ago) they offered ARS. It´s very possible (they d´ont seek foreign materials to their own brands) that they were transferred from Marshall company as spares.
If I remember correctly the pins type is the same as those offered by Angela Instruments with another name.
I've never had a problem with these electrolytics, but it is usual for them (when new) that certains amps lost some character in relation with the ancients. A harder response...
Regards

[J M Fahey]

it is usual for them (when new) that certains amps lost some character in relation with the ancients. A harder response...

Of course.
They need to be softened by applying 6 or 12V AC , leaving them on a table, facing up, for a few hours.
When you see the cones move appreciably, say, twice the original excursion, you are set.
Just playing loud for a certain time also helps, and may be a funnier way to do it.
You can also dampen the cardboard edges with some acetone to speed the process.

EDIT: Ooooooooooooooops !
What I said applies to SPEAKERS, which exhibit said trait.
You were talking CAPACITORS?
Specially, Power Supply Capacitors?
Same value and specs as the original ones?
No way new ones "sound hard/brittle/no_character/whatever" and then "soften" after some use.
No way.
This is a serious, quite technical savvy Forum, we try to keep it free from absolutely subjective and against_the_facts "petty theories" which fill most others.
Sorry.

[kg]

Of course.
They need to be softened by applying 6 or 12V AC , leaving them on a table, facing up, for a few hours.
When you see the cones move appreciably, say, twice the original excursion, you are set.
Just playing loud for a certain time also helps, and may be a funnier way to do it.
You can also dampen the cardboard edges with some acetone to speed the process.

EDIT: Ooooooooooooooops !
What I said applies to SPEAKERS, which exhibit said trait.
You were talking CAPACITORS?
Specially, Power Supply Capacitors?
Same value and specs as the original ones?
No way new ones "sound hard/brittle/no_character/whatever" and then "soften" after some use.
No way.
This is a serious, quite technical savvy Forum, we try to keep it free from absolutely subjective and against_the_facts "petty theories" which fill most others.
Sorry.

well, older construction caps might have had higher ESR, and higher inductance which CAN "soften" the response. it's not something that can't be fixed via other methods to better match the old characterisics though.

[J M Fahey]

well, older construction caps might have had higher ESR, and higher inductance which CAN "soften" the response.

Agree on that.
I can also agree (on a hunch; in fact I'd actually try to *measure* something which backs it) that new capacitors can eventually become "like the old ones".
What scratches me the wrong way is the

(when new)

part, which left unqualified implies a relatively short time (a week? ... a month? ...).
I fully agree that a new capacitor may develop high ESR, lose capacitance, etc., significant enough to cause some influence which can be heard .... over, say,
10 ... 20 ... 30 years, a very different thing.

[Steve Conner]

Well, if these actually are LCRs, they could easily be 10 or 20 years old. I don't know if caps develop vintage ESR just sitting on a shelf, but when I buy electrolytics I want them to be nice and fresh. Another reason why I'd want to know who made them.

(Also why I drone on about using the snap-in electrolytics made by the million for consumer electronics, rather than the boutique ones. Quicker turnover means they should be nice and new.)

[diagrammatiks]

I've been doing some research on these guys for parts sourcing...

They may be rebrands since all their axial leaded caps share the specs of jj's....

although I think ARS has been around longer...so the jj's might be a rebrand of wherever these guys get their caps from...

regardless there are very few guys actually selling 500vdc 100uf caps anymore.

[J M Fahey]

I think this long discussion evolved from a semantic error, or lack of concept.
Brands or trademarks were invented so customers can identify products which otherwise would be generic, or poorly defined, such as, for example, "I want more of the yellow ones you sold me last month ... the ones with short pigtails but which are bent at 90º, not the straight ones .... etc." Ridiculous, or at least, impractical.

Read this, it's *very* interesting:

Trademark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brand - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It really does not matter who actually made them. It would be the same as buying a bag of , say, Nestlé coffee and demanding to know who actually grew it. Even Juan Valdez is a brand, not an actual coffe grower.
Only thing I care about is that Nestlé takes care that every coffee bag I buy of a given type will consistently have the same taste, quality, etc.
And why call it re-branding? Were they bought over the counter at, say, Radio Shack , under the Craftsman brand or whatever and relabelled?
Don't think so, they were ordered from an OEM supplier, which by definition has no brand and plain branded (not re) under customer's orders.
Period.

[jmaf]

Period.

Whaddya mean "period", I still wanna argue some more...

YouTube - ‪Argument Clinic‬‏

[J M Fahey]

I still wanna argue some more...

I very much doubt that in this short time you had enough time to *read* the brand and trademark definitions I linked to, even less to *understand* them, yet you want to add "nothing useful" to what you call "argument".
That being so, may I respectfully suggest you take your medication as prescribed by the Doctor, because jumping a pill or two often causes outbursts of unjustified anger, paranoia, cloudy thinking, etc.
I really don't wish anybody to suffer what you are going through, hope you get better soon.
Best wishes.

[jmaf]

How nice, a bunch of insults right there. Lemme go have lunch now, hoping John Cleese wasn't offended.

[diagrammatiks]

well it's not about whether or not the caps can operate at say 500 or 600v..

It's whether the distributor will stand behind the caps rated at a certain vdc.

It doesn't seem like it matters at all whether or not who or where the caps are actually made. The distributor is someone who insures the product.

All this heehaw over a bunch of electrolytics. Just stop using them. Instant blood pressure relief.

[Ronsonic]

I built a hifi amp without any electrolytics once. Still listening to it, PP 6A3 stereo amp, transformer input and choke loaded driver.

It should run forever.

[jmaf]

I used these in the last 2 builds: Solen "Fast" Cap 47µF / 630V

Under normal conditions, should last forever as well.