Fini,

That made me smile, bro!

"Jeff Glowacki has never discussed or revealed any particulars about construction, "

Years ago when I was on the MAD board I asked him about the lead termination and his e-mail reply was that they were soldered.

rosc2112:

 

Ok, well now I'm pretty upset,

 .... None of this hiding behind marketing hype crap.

WD-40 never applied for a patent BECAUSE they would have to disclose the formula and process, and be subject to competition when their patent ran out.  They have done alright for themselves.

jerohm:

WD-40 never applied for a patent BECAUSE they would have to disclose the formula and process, and be subject to competition when their patent ran out.  They have done alright for themselves.

Understandable..I bet if someone cut open a Sonicap, they'd find a rebrand of some other manufacturer. 

"The ESR tests very good and that tells you everything about a cap."

In terms of electrical characteristics -- perhaps not necessarily in terms of what might provide the best frequency balance in a given system according to personal taste and perception.  Some capacitors I've used with great ESR specs didn't sound the best in a given application.

My 2uf worth.

Erik

"

The guy from humblehomemadehifi is hearing things. He also rates the AudioCap Theta below some metallized types, which is absurd."

Dunno, maybe that's just his opinion.  No more or less absurd than yours to the contrary.

This should perhaps be in a different thread, I wanted to keep this one specifically about the Sonicap's construction/materials, but since we're already here.. 

Considering that PWK himself originally used military surplus oil-filled caps (yes I know milspec is usually quite high quality), I'd hazard a guess any modern cap will do. Actually, I've been wondering if modern caps might in fact have TOO low an esr compared to the old ones, I'm worried it might change the characteristics of the crossover. I recall reading something about "Q" factor in relation to ESR, and possibly even using a small resistor to make up for the lower ESR found in newer caps, compared to the old.  Some of the theoretical stuff goes over my head. Maybe these factors are really too small to tell the difference.

At this point I'm leaning toward the ClarityCap SA's, because their manufacturer has been in business for 20+ yrs (it's good to support indepedent manufacturers who don't employ slave labor =) producing their own products rather than rebranding someone elses, they're designed in cooperation with well respected audio engineers (B&W among them, iirc) and they're realistically priced. PWK didn't seem too fussy about particular parts, so perhaps neither should we (my opinion of course :)

 I guess since Sonicraft won't disclose the info I was looking for, we should consider this topic closed.

Erik Mandaville:

My 2uf worth.

I didn't realize your capacity for humor, Erik.  I got a charge out of that one!

rosc2112:

This should perhaps be in a different thread, I wanted to keep this one specifically about the Sonicap's construction/materials, but since we're already here.. 

Considering that PWK himself originally used military surplus oil-filled caps (yes I know milspec is usually quite high quality), I'd hazard a guess any modern cap will do. Actually, I've been wondering if modern caps might in fact have TOO low an esr compared to the old ones, I'm worried it might change the characteristics of the crossover. I recall reading something about "Q" factor in relation to ESR, and possibly even using a small resistor to make up for the lower ESR found in newer caps, compared to the old.  Some of the theoretical stuff goes over my head. Maybe these factors are really too small to tell the difference.

At this point I'm leaning toward the ClarityCap SA's, because their manufacturer has been in business for 20+ yrs (it's good to support indepedent manufacturers who don't employ slave labor =) producing their own products rather than rebranding someone elses, they're designed in cooperation with well respected audio engineers (B&W among them, iirc) and they're realistically priced. PWK didn't seem too fussy about particular parts, so perhaps neither should we (my opinion of course :)

 I guess since Sonicraft won't disclose the info I was looking for, we should consider this topic closed.

PWK did leave us his thoughts on capacitors (and other things) in this letter.

 Bob Crites

Erik Mandaville:

"

The guy from humblehomemadehifi is hearing things. He also rates the AudioCap Theta below some metallized types, which is absurd."

Dunno, maybe that's just his opinion.  No more or less absurd than yours to the contrary.

Its like any review.  Its this guy, with his speakers, in his system, in his room, with music that he likes.  But at least it is a comparison where he probably has no other motives than to give his opinion.