Posted by Lew on May 06, 2004 at 10:22:55:
In Reply to: The Big 4 posted by Ted Conger on May 02, 2004 at 12:05:57:
Despite Rhyno's caution about "series inductance", and assuming you can no longer get the
Southern Electronics polystyrene and tin caps that Roy and I use, you might try REL MIT PPFX-S
(polypropylene and tin) multicaps. These are available from Michael Percy and come in 4uF and
8uF values (200V), so you won't have to bundle so many of them in parallel as you would if you
were to use the Southern Electronics caps (which used to be available in 2uF value, max). I used
the PPFX-S types on my previous speakers, the U2s, to great advantage. In fact, I am not certain
that the Southern Electronics caps are any better sounding. As for the priority of these mods, I
would suggest you bypass the Brilliance control first of all, since this costs no money and gives
instant improvement. For the shunt or load resistor in the RC network that forms the hi-pass
filter, consider the cost of the "nearly as good" alternatives before you rule out spending the big
bucks for Roy's product. Most of them cost only about $100 or so less than the Whippey
resistor, if that. And for the extra dough spent on the Whippey you know you are getting the
best possible alternative. Compare that cost to the cost of your speakers, and it makes a lot of
sense to go for it.