"greenie" caps disadvantages????

[Joe Davisson]

Green caps are convenient on the breadboard, won't crack etc. But I don't personally think they sound better/worse. Most of the differences between cap types have to do with how they interact with other parts in high-frequency circuits, since any electronic part has some level of inductance (even a wire). Otherwise it either has capacitance or it doesn't.

That said, it's fun to dig up pretty parts to decorate your circuits with. It impresses people, too

-Joe

[Brian Marshall]

That said, it's fun to dig up pretty parts to decorate your circuits with. It impresses people, too

-Joe

excelent point.  sometimes giant parts make things look cool too.

maybe i should switch to 1W resistors.

[Gus]

I wonder where he found out about the Vs??

The best advice for DIY effects and amps IMO is to use what you have and hear if you can any differences.  I use different caps in different parts of circuits depending on size and voltage.  To my ear brain ESR makes the most difference in power supplys,  DA in coupling caps.  Some specs can change with voltage across the plates and have a time delay with signal level.  A good place to read about caps is at the sencore site and capacitors.com.

Let your own ear brain learn by doing experiments.  The HARD part about this is it is difficult to do a double blind test.   A person will aften "hear" a change just because they know what they changed in a circuit.  IF I think I hear a difference I will often leave the circuit alone for a day or more and test the circuit again.

 This is a tricky thing the ear brain.

Gus

[Peter Snowberg]

I think the only valid way to do A/B testing is to use two people and have the parts switched via a SPDT center off switch. The tester should select different caps and write the sequence down. I.E. 1,2,1,2,2,1,2,1,1,1,2,1,1,1,2,2,1,1,2,1,1,2.... etc. The testie (whoops!  :oops:) should write down the opinion of what sounded better. I.E. Yes,no,yes,no,no,yes,no,yes,yes,yes... etc.

If you don't have 100% correlation between the two lists, well... so much for the accuracy of the test.

Take care,
-Peter

[puretube]

I love those (see above) that bwanasonic mentioned.
They`re made by EPCOS (Siemens-daughter) in Spain.
Smallest ones @ 400V. (@ lower voltages even smaller).
Damn cheap. (in Germany).
+/- 5%.
Very low inductance, since they`re not "rolled", but "folded" (like a
harmonica).
Only recommended for PCB mount, though. (Otherwise leads will turn loose easy.
They are a little more microphonic than potted "drops".

Therefore I prefer the red WIMA MKS (polystyrole) or the even
better MKP (polypropylene - more expensive) for HiFi circuits.