gmilitano wrote:
The Stock capacitors for the K-502 are polyester. Yes, upgrading them does make some improvement.
I find that Dayton, Bennic and Solen caps provide good bang for the buck. The boutique caps are so much money and I would rather invest the money elsewhere.
Yes it's your old Australian buddy. It is well known around expert and in-experienced builders a-like that polypropylene caps are far superior to polyester equivalents. Sprague have made a fortune on this simple fact without being expensive or using "exotics". Metalized polyprop. is common, easy to produce has low production spread and sounds good from an audio-sonics point of view. I pay around $AU7 each for my Spragues. This is shocking cheap compared to what I am now paying for Cardas and Jupiters.
I built a few SS preamps and a few valve amps using locally available and very in-expensive prolyprop. metlized caps with excellent results. They cannot be beaten for the price. Sound great. But since I have used Cardas and now Jupiter beeswax and paper hand made caps I have discovered a whole new world of sonic pleasure (not to mention debt). I have just ordered a lot more Jupiters for projects and they will take the place of Sprague for "cap of choice" for my future constructions. I have come to this revelation since using 1uf Jupiters in my latest SS preamp. There is a massive difference in the final sound!! Jupiters will carry my signature sound. And think of the bragging rights when you claim your "newly born" gear carries hand made caps of beeswax and paper in its gene pool! And "their's" is plastic!
Caps are like inter-connects and speaker cables, or even SS verses valve power amps. Taste is everything.