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AUDIO FORUMS >> D.I.Y. >> Tweeter Cap quality
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Message started by Hearafter on 08/20/26 at 23:31:59

Title: Tweeter Cap quality
Post by Hearafter on 08/20/26 at 23:31:59

Question for you experienced speaker or crossover DIYers.
I am using Caps only to protect tweeters paired with a Fast-15 drivers.
Does the quality level of protection Caps on tweeters improve SQ? Is it worth spending $’s on top quality Caps? Thanks

Title: Re: Tweeter Cap quality
Post by Donnie on 08/21/26 at 01:39:41

Hearafter,

While I won't claim to be a crossover guru I have in the recent past soldered up quite a few.

I'll give you a little cheat to try out for not huge money.
Buy a pair of 0.1 uF Jantzen Silver Z Caps and use them as bypass with your current capacitors.
https://www.parts-express.com/Jantzen-0602-0.10uF-1200V-Z-Silver-Capacitor-027-750?quantity=1

You will get the goodness of a big buck capacitors for less than $30.00 a speaker.
Just wire it up along side of your current caps. One lead to the front lead and the other lead to the output side.
It really works.

Title: Re: Tweeter Cap quality
Post by Dominick on 08/21/26 at 05:56:13

Like Donnie….i am far from an expert but went down the rabbit hole with modifying the caps and resistors to my Decware ERR speakers as well as a pair of my Pinnacle bookshelf speakers.

I would say that if you already have a revealing system… Then the capacitor addition at the speaker will be noticeable. It’s really up to you to decide how crazy you wanna get with the capacitors. I can tell you that I spent a good chunk of money on my capacitors, and it really transformed the sound to a level that was eye-opening.

Here is a link to the thread that I posted about modifying the capacitors on my speakers. I would say to start from the most recent post and work backwards. The first two or three pages were from other forum members who had already paved the way for my exploration..

https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1278958959

Also… take a look at this website from the humble homemade hifi. He gives a very detailed description of a lot of capacitors and how they sound. I used this as a guide when I was trying to decide which capacitors to use. I found it very helpful along with the guidance of forum member Will, who is by far probably the most knowledgeable when it comes to this topic.

https://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html

Title: Re: Tweeter Cap quality
Post by Hearafter on 08/21/26 at 06:29:08

Donnie- I like your idea of using a high quality bypass with my current Jantzen Z-Caps I am using. If you have larger cap values 10uf+ do you need a higher uf bypass or is .1 still good? Learning here…Thanks
Dominick- thanks for your input and the link to another thread.

Title: Re: Tweeter Cap quality
Post by Dominick on 08/21/26 at 14:05:05

Quote:

Just wire it up along side of your current caps. One lead to the front lead and the other lead to the output side.
It really works.

Just remember that whatever cap you purchase, to make sure it’s wired up correctly. For some caps it doesn’t matter…but for others it does. After you determine the signal path the main cap, check the markings on the new cap. Some caps are marked with a hash mark, a dot, or some other identifier on the casing. Other caps use a shorter wire lead on one side of the cap to identify the input side of the cap.

Also…if it’s a bidirectional cap…you could temporarily wire up the cap with alligator clips. Listen to the sound, and then reverse the leads. See which way the cap sounds better.

FWIW….i used the Jantzen cap when I modified the crossover in my Pinnacle Bookshelf speakers, and I really liked them. The Jantzen’s are a good choice.

Title: Re: Tweeter Cap quality
Post by Hearafter on 08/21/26 at 20:34:52

Dominick- Great information. Both Jantzen and Audyn are bi-directional. Leads are same length and no markings. I have heard, not sure it holds water, that the lettering “can” be an indicator for the outer and inner winding. Outer at the letter beginning side and that lead should be connected to the incoming source. I do like the clip idea of doing a listening comparison. I am leaning towards Donnie’s suggestion doing a Jantzen Silver bypass or go crazy with a V-cap bypass. I did read that bypasses ideally should be 1%-3% of the main cap value. We’ll see where this takes me…