Can you elaborate on the "from what I can tell" part? How do you personally "tell"? Not trying to be an arse, I'm actually wondering because I'm looking to build some crossovers later, and I guess you can say I have faith in the Dayton Audio stuff. Been buying from PE since '97 or so, and they haven't let me down yet.
I'm not slipperybidness, but I can offer my own answer your question.
In my experience, Dayton Audio caps are very good. They sell a variety of caps, but I'm talking about their metalized polypropylene (MPP) caps, such as
this 6.8 µF 5% cap. This type of MPP cap, with ±5% tolerance, is my first choice when building a crossover. I have an inexpensive inductance/capacitance (LC) meter, and in my hands these caps always measure
exactly as labeled. Dayton also sells the more expensive 1% caps,
for example 6.8 µF 1%, but they measure no different than the 5% caps. I wonder if the 1% and 5% caps are the same, but without the added inspection for variation from the specified capacitance value.
Sometimes, if I'm ordering from Madisound instead of Parts Express, I substitute the similar looking and slightly more expensive Bennic MPP caps,
such as this. It is said that the Dayton and Bennic caps are both made by the same manufacturer in Taiwan.
If I can't find the Dayton or Bennic cap I want, I get either Audyn or Solen MPP caps. They aren't an extreme step up in cost. I've never found any reason to buy a more expensive cap.
I mentioned above that I once participated in a large blind listening test of different caps in speakers. The major findings of that test were:
- No one, among some 40 DIY speaker builders of varying experience, could reliably hear any difference between different caps in otherwise identical high quality DIY speakers. These types of caps were cheap non-polar electrolytic (NPE) caps, inexpensive Dayton or Bennic MPP caps, or expensive "boutique" caps.
- The only thing that did matter was the actual capacitance value. The cheap NPE caps often varied by more than ±10% from their labeled value. For the listening test, about 5-10 NPE caps had to be tested before two of similar value (within 10% of the labeled value) could be found. In contrast, all the MPP caps tested were exactly as labeled.
There is a web page that goes to great length elaborately describing the different sounds due to a large number of different caps. (I won't mention it by name, but its easy to find with a search engine.) It's all wrong! It's obvious the writer never actually tested the caps with a properly controlled blind listening test using a large number of listeners. Instead, the writer 1) assumed that all caps generate a different sound in crossovers, and 2) listened without blinding, with the assumption that he alone could hear all the differences. In my opinion, this is a good example of the audio misinformation so common on the internet. It's complete fiction, and you should stay away from his conclusions.
