[HAM] Capacitors

[David Anderson]

Jordan,

There has been a lot of discussion of this in the past, so you might  
want to search the archives if possible.

But extra money? For Orange Drops? A .0047uF @ 400V 716P Orange Drop  
costs a whopping 97 cents from Antique Electronic Supply. They are  
about the cheapest capacitors I would seriously consider using. For  
the price, they're one of the few bargains left in the world.

A bigger question would be: do you want to use reproduction can  
capacitors or fit discrete electrolytics under the chassis? Not all  
electrolytics are created equal. Hi-Fi people have had good luck/ 
reliability with Panasonics, and there is the old standby: Sprague  
Atoms.

Also, not all values of capacitors will be available in film types  
such as polypropylene. There are small values that are only available  
in ceramic or mica.

As someone who builds his own tube amps, my advice is: don't use  
Mylar capacitors. Use polypropylene instead.

And el-cheapo metal film resistors aren't always a step up from  
carbon comps. If you buy resistors packaged in a local electronics  
store, you may end up paying as much or more per resistor than you  
would if you bought higher quality. Scott H. may paint me as an  
'audiophool' who believes in 'magic parts,' but that's inaccurate. I  
like the cheapest thing that does the job well. I haven't shelled out  
the bucks for Teflon V-Caps, and I'm not planning to any time soon.....

David

On Feb 17, 2008, at 1:56 PM, Jordan Kersten wrote:

> Hey guys.  I am preparing to rebuild my B3 preamp and I need some  
> opinions.  Basically I have a pretty simple dilemma...should I  
> worry about cap choice?  Should I spend the extra money and get  
> Orange Drops or just go to my local electronic supply and put in  
> "normal" electrolytic and mylar caps?-Jordan-
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