Spensive caps

[tedmich]

ran across some new Clarity Caps on the Madisound WEB site, not the record for most expensive, far from it but they had GRAPHS
they wanted $37.29 for a 0.047uF 630VDC so $791/uF

Marketing Blurb
ClarityCap 0.047 mfd MR Range 630V Polypropylene Caps

The MR range has been developed as a direct result of the 2 year research programme conducted between ClarityCap and the world renowned Acoustics Research Centre at the University of Salford.

No stone was left unturned; the research encompassed all of the materials used in audio capacitors and any existing performance data together with analysis of manufacturing processes and techniques. The crucial factor to emerge was the effect that mechanical resonances within a capacitor have on sound quality and the importance of reducing or controlling a capacitor’s sonic output.

The MR range harnesses all of the knowledge gathered throughout the research programme and offers a superior product based upon science and research. In practice the MR range has found acclaim with industry experts, OEM’s and audiophiles for its spatiality and excellent separation.

The capacitor employs a non standard polypropylene film, ultra pure aluminium metallisation and is housed in a coloured acrylic tube, the result of which is a capacitor which virtually eliminates internal sonic resonance. Terminals are hand soldered tinned copper.

A guaranteed 3% tolerance ensures component to component consistency for a balanced system and reproducibility across production runs.

The graph below shows the relative sonic outputs between the SA (Traditional) and MR (Optimum Point) ranges.


look at that horrid RESONANCE at -67db...ick!


I'll buy these instead 10uF PP 100v, 100 for $40, big as golf ball....

[The Dude]

That would add a little cost to an amp build.

[Chuck H]

WTF is that chart supposed to be about?!? How bizarre. One side indicates resonances and the other two simply indicate "parameter 1" and "parameter 3" ??? Then there's some sort of origami bird or something drawn in there. I'm confused. I think I need to buy these caps.

[Mick Bailey]

It took 2 years to write the ad copy and two minutes to realise a capacitor is a mature product but there's money to be made reinventing the 'emperor's new clothes' story it for audiophiles who judge sound principally by cost.

So what they found from this "research programme" was nothing new. These caps are wound and use a metalized polypropylene film with leads soldered on. A nice touch is the coloured acrylic tube. Real fancy - and worth mentioning because it's so high up on the list. Note that the construction "virtually eliminates internal sonic resonance". Virtually is interchangeable with 'does not'. It either resonates or it doesn't.

Hand soldered = human fallibility. I want robots to solder my caps.

The missing labels to the axes on the chart are 'Customer Gullibility' and 'Profit'.

[Chuck H]

The missing labels to the axes on the chart are 'Customer Gullibility' and 'Profit'.

So, that foldy thing in the middle of the chart is a wallet?

[Leo_Gnardo]

Well we in the amp/guitar biz have wax Jupiters, & a nice beeswax hand-rolled cap by an Italian name company for what, @ $45 each, get that authentic gnocchi-tone. Seems like everybody's doing it now. A roll of Reynold's Wrap, a roll of wax paper, some wire and there you go.

Meanwhile in the real world, there's a couple pages in the Mouser catalog, with some very pricey film caps, not especially aimed at the hi-fi deep pockets nor at the guitar/amp crowd. It's long been a curiosity to me. Does anyone know what these are supposed to do that justifies their price?

I just noticed a page of Honeywell toggle switches too, averaging about $80 each. What gives with this? Who would pay so much for what's otherwise an ordinary switch? Yes some of 'em are extraordinary all right but besides those, what's the deal?

[Chuck H]

Perhaps the expensive, not specifically promoted parts in the Mouser cat. (or elsewhere) are actually better parts (likely) and would be found in military designs. So, if you want to build an authentic military design you need to pay authentic military prices. Just speculating on this one though.

[Enzo]

Don't know the expensive parts you mean specifically. But sometimes you see a $40 cap mixed in with the $1 caps. In the case of the switch. it probably meets some very specific specifications. Things we don;t worry about here are important elsewhere, like explosion proof. That means the thing is sealed up so any sparking of contacts can;t trigger fire in the immediate atmosphere. Some are rated for a very large number of cycles, and the torque may be specified, in other words it is OK to hit the switch at a high speed or rate. The amount of pressure to activate the switch might be specified. Even the hysteresis of the activator. Or its resistance to false triggers under vibration. Water or oil proof.

In caps we might worry about ESR, but in some mil or industrial settings they worry about temperature drift and long term value drift. Will it stand up to high levels and long term vibration. The ability to withstand humidity matters more to an army thing than to a guitar amp.

I think mil spec stuff also needs to maintain a history or provenance so they can forever trace the source, batch, whatever.