X-Over Capacitors

[philh]

Speakers were sounding "flat". Didn't have a dynamic presence. Replace both caps. Had no reason to replace them other then I'm a mechanical engineer and they looked like they needed replacing There was an improvement, more so in one speaker then the other. Ordered some stuff from PE and decided to add in another set of replacement caps. Unbelievable how much a difference this made. Same size caps, went with inexpensive polyprop units.

How does the cap affect the speaker and cause it to sound "fuller".

I'm still amazed my 30 yo Criterion 2005 speakers still sound good. Had to replace the woofer about 5 years ago, the caps and banana plugs recently.

 

[WmAx]

How does the cap affect the speaker and cause it to sound "fuller".

I'm still amazed my 30 yo Criterion 2005 speakers still sound good. Had to replace the woofer about 5 years ago, the caps and banana plugs recently.

Electrolytic capacitors have a short life span, relatively speaking. Especially old electrolytic capacitors(they have been improved). The electrolyte dries up internally over time, thus causing value drifting and other potential problems. The poly film type that you used as a replacement should never need replacing.

-Chris

 

[MacManNM]

Electrolytic capacitors have a short life span, relatively speaking. Especially old electrolytic capacitors(they have been improved). The electrolyte dries up internally over time, thus causing value drifting and other potential problems. The poly film type that you used as a replacement should never need replacing.

-Chris

Electrolytic capacitors aren't used in crossovers.

 

[WmAx]

Electrolytic capacitors aren't used in crossovers.

Electrolytic capacitors are used in lower cost speaker crossovers. They were even used in some hi-fi speakers for the primary filter components 2 or 3 decades ago. Dynaco is a good example of a popular hi-fi company that used electrolytic capacitors in their crossovers in that era. In addition, even many modern hi-fi speakers, you can find electrolytic capacitors in part of the crossover: the Zobel network(s). The Zobel network is not very sensitive to considerable value drifts, but typically it requires very large values that would become relatively expensive if a poly or mylar film capacitor was used. Perhaps you are thinking about typical polarized electrolytic capacitors which would not normally work in an A.C. circuit without failure. However, the type used in speaker crossovers is non-polarized electrolytic. You can find this variety sold 'as' speaker crossover capacitors at just about any speaker parts supply house such as Parts Express.

-Chris

 

[MacManNM]

Electrolytic capacitors are used in lower cost speaker crossovers. They were even used in some hi-fi speakers for the primary filter components 2 or 3 decades ago. Dynaco is a good example of a popular hi-fi company that used electrolytic capacitors in their crossovers in that era. In addition, even many modern hi-fi speakers, you can find electrolytic capacitors in part of the crossover: the Zobel network(s). The Zobel network is not very sensitive to considerable value drifts, but typically it requires very large values that would become relatively expensive if a poly or mylar film capacitor was used. Perhaps you are thinking about typical polarized electrolytic capacitors which would not normally work in an A.C. circuit without failure. However, the type used in speaker crossovers is non-polarized electrolytic. You can find this variety sold 'as' speaker crossover capacitors at just about any speaker parts supply house such as Parts Express.

-Chris

20 or 30 years ago, they used to run them back to back, using a resistor to equalize them. That really isn't done anymore, except in very cheap systems, and in those systems, the caps going bad are the least of your worries.

 

[WmAx]

20 or 30 years ago, they used to run them back to back, using a resistor to equalize them. That really isn't done anymore, except in very cheap systems, and in those systems, the caps going bad are the least of your worries.

So if you recognize that electrolytic capacitors are used at times in the situations that I specified, then it should not be a suprise that the speakers the poster has probably had electrolytic capacitors installed in them. He did say they were 30 year old speakers.

-Chris

 

[MacManNM]

So if you recognize that electrolytic capacitors are used at times in the situations that I specified, then it should not be a suprise that the speakers the poster has probably had electrolytic capacitors installed in them. He did say they were 30 year old speakers.

-Chris

The correct thing to do is replace the crossovers with something a little more modern.

 

[philh]

The correct thing to do is replace the crossovers with something a little more modern.

I looked at replacing x-over as a high risk activity. That's getting into speaker designing 301, when I haven't taken 101 yet I seriously considered replacing the speakers, but only found one "affordable" speaker that sounded good to me, and it was at the very top of my budget. Since then, the new caps have improved the speaker dynamics and sound, and I've put all non critical expenditures on hold until I know where the job is going next year. I had a discussion with someone at Madisound who knew my speakers well, and said they were one of the best at the time, and would probably still be highly rated.

Thank you everybody for the reponses. Learned a bit more in the imaginary world