Trying to determine type of capacitor in my crossover. Images referenced.

[jhe123]

I have ADS L710 speakers over twenty years old. Out of curiosity I took out the crossover and wanted to find out what type of capacitors are used. I've looked online at images of capacitors and can't determine the type of capacitor in the gray plastic boxes. Would appreciate an expert's opinion.

Because I'm new, I can't post a url. Here's one you can follow by pasting. Given it's a picassa google site, I think it's clear it's safe.

picasaweb.google.com/106291736654350224751/Crossover?authkey=Gv1sRgCLPJg8fujabz2AE&feat=directlink

 

[Swerd]

I have ADS L710 speakers over twenty years old. Out of curiosity I took out the crossover and wanted to find out what type of capacitors are used. I've looked online at images of capacitors and can't determine the type of capacitor in the gray plastic boxes. Would appreciate an expert's opinion.

Because I'm new, I can't post a url. Here's one you can follow by pasting. Given it's a picassa google site, I think it's clear it's safe.

I'm not really an expert, just a part-time DIY speaker builder. To be honest, I've never seen recently made capacitors that looked like that. And 20 years ago I never cared about such things .

They are obviously 6.8 microfarad caps rated at 100 volts. And judging by the use of the comma (6,8) instead of the decimal point (6.8) they were made in Europe.

If you are asking because you've read that old caps must be replaced, I'd say don't worry. There is no visible evidence that they have gone bad. If you have access to an LC meter, you could test them.

Do you have any listener's evidence that they are performing poorly? That's probably not so easy to say. Just the same, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[jhe123]

Great. Thanks!

The reason I dug in at first was the tweeters seemed dead. In the process, I discovered the fuses and that the tweeter fuses are blown. I tested one tweeter by directly connecting at low volume and it still works. So I'm going to get new fuses and see if they are sounding good again. Along the way, I had thought the crossover networks might be the problem.

 

[highfigh]

The reason I dug in at first was the tweeters seemed dead. In the process, I discovered the fuses and that the tweeter fuses are blown. I tested one tweeter by directly connecting at low volume and it still works. So I'm going to get new fuses and see if they are sounding good again. Along the way, I had thought the crossover networks might be the problem.

100V caps would never blow without connecting the speakers to a wall outlet or an extremely high output amplifier. The tweeters or fuses, OTOH, would never handle that amount of power and the fuses are sized accordingly. If the caps aren't discolored or melted, I wouldn't worry about them- they're not electrolytic and they usually aren't exposed to the kinds of voltage that makes replacement necessary, like in a tube amp.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Siemens manufacturer's mark. Manufactured prior to 1989.

Siemens capacitors are now made by EPCOS (Munich, Germany).
EPCOS was formed by Siemens and Matsushita (Panasonic) as Siemens Matsushita Components, in 1989, but each sold their interests. Now owned by TDK (Japan).

Possibly manufactured in Heidenheim, Germany but there are a number of other factories that made capacitors under Siemens AG. Looks like a film capacitor of some type.

Probably just fine, assuming it's not failed.