Hi thanks for reading.
I built a simple psu for my amplifier, consisting of a 12v 15 amp transformer, followed by a bridge rectifier, then a 47,000 uf cap.
There was noise coming through the speaker so i inserted another 47,000uf and the noise went down. Then I kept inserting caps, the noise kept lowering, until i reached 135,000 uf and the noise disappeared completly, using six caps in total.
I figured 135,000 uf was the perfect value so i took out the six caps and replaced with a single 150,000uf cap which is the closest value i could find, but some of the noise came back.
Why is the noise returning. Is it because the first cap smoothed the ac from the bridge rectifier, the second cap smoothed a little more, until it reached the sixth cap and was further smoothed to clean out the ripple totally, something a single cap cannot do.
Or is it the six caps being paralled connected had lower esr and esl values which aided the smoothing process.
From this is it possible to build a power supply with just one smoothing cap or is this going too far.
The reason i am trying to use a single capacitor in the power supply is the more caps i put into the psu the more the sound changes, becomes inaccurate when compared against a single cap.
Caps add a certain colouration of their own, the more caps the more the colouration, the more inaccurate the music sounds.
Searching around i've read a ton of threads wherein people say things like elna caps sound different / better than nichicon, nichicon sound different to panasonic, panasonic sound different to mundorf. There too much evidence to think i am making a mistake or imaging it.
Just am disliking the sound of multiple caps and all the different colourations messed up the experience for me. Sorry for being so picky.
I think what is happening adding caps in 'bypass' with each other ends up with each cap's frequency impedance being added to the mix, in the end i ended up with a filter with multiple poles - almost like a EQ. That also varies with temperature, model range (capacitance) and the model/make build etc depending on the cap. I suspect this is why the sound is being coloured. The treble goes down considerably compared to using a single capacitor.
What do you think, why is a single cap not effective against lowering the 50hz ac mains noise compared to a bank of caps. Can anything be done about this, or will i be forced to use more than one capacitor.
Also, what do you think about going up in capacitance. I am on 150,000uf at the moment.
Thanks.
I built a simple psu for my amplifier, consisting of a 12v 15 amp transformer, followed by a bridge rectifier, then a 47,000 uf cap.
There was noise coming through the speaker so i inserted another 47,000uf and the noise went down. Then I kept inserting caps, the noise kept lowering, until i reached 135,000 uf and the noise disappeared completly, using six caps in total.
I figured 135,000 uf was the perfect value so i took out the six caps and replaced with a single 150,000uf cap which is the closest value i could find, but some of the noise came back.
Why is the noise returning. Is it because the first cap smoothed the ac from the bridge rectifier, the second cap smoothed a little more, until it reached the sixth cap and was further smoothed to clean out the ripple totally, something a single cap cannot do.
Or is it the six caps being paralled connected had lower esr and esl values which aided the smoothing process.
From this is it possible to build a power supply with just one smoothing cap or is this going too far.
The reason i am trying to use a single capacitor in the power supply is the more caps i put into the psu the more the sound changes, becomes inaccurate when compared against a single cap.
Caps add a certain colouration of their own, the more caps the more the colouration, the more inaccurate the music sounds.
Searching around i've read a ton of threads wherein people say things like elna caps sound different / better than nichicon, nichicon sound different to panasonic, panasonic sound different to mundorf. There too much evidence to think i am making a mistake or imaging it.
Just am disliking the sound of multiple caps and all the different colourations messed up the experience for me. Sorry for being so picky.
I think what is happening adding caps in 'bypass' with each other ends up with each cap's frequency impedance being added to the mix, in the end i ended up with a filter with multiple poles - almost like a EQ. That also varies with temperature, model range (capacitance) and the model/make build etc depending on the cap. I suspect this is why the sound is being coloured. The treble goes down considerably compared to using a single capacitor.
What do you think, why is a single cap not effective against lowering the 50hz ac mains noise compared to a bank of caps. Can anything be done about this, or will i be forced to use more than one capacitor.
Also, what do you think about going up in capacitance. I am on 150,000uf at the moment.
Thanks.