captainbeefheart
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I think we need to add some perspective into this thread for the OP.
These passive crossovers are very simple filters that include very simple components, like capacitors. A capacitor is nothing more than thin metal plates that are separated by a thin film dielectric and rolled up with leads sticking out. That's it. When a company makes millions of them in a production facility the fact is they only cost so much. Do you want them to just increase the cost to make you feel better about buying them?
I know they may seem like magic to some, but they are really very simple components and do not cost much money at all to produce. Electrons don't know if it's an audio signal going through them, they don't care. When small companies go into business to make "audio" capacitors they like to use exotic materials for no other reason to set them apart, some don't even use exotic materials. But the fact they are not WIMA or Rubycon making millions of these things which keeps the cost down, these small "audio" capacitor companies need to increase the cost because of their business model and not because they are better performing, often times they perform worse. Now consumers like the OP don't see "audio" capacitors inside that cost more money and think that the company is installing inferior parts when that's just not the case. The worst case scenario you will see is possibly an electrolytic rated for only 2000 hours at maximum ripple current and 85°C operating temperature. At lower currents and lower temperatures these caps will last far longer than 2000 hours, more like 20,000 hours. So you may have to replace that cap in 30 years because electrolytic caps do have a finite lifespan. But as I said, it's not worth going with film here because often the higher ESR is wanted to dampen resonance. You of course could add a 1 ohm resistor in series with the film cap, so the only advantage is lifespan. Finding someone to solder in caps every 30 years seems fine to me, most of you won't even have the same speakers for 30 years and purchase new.
Again we are back to judging parts by only the price and nothing else. That is not a valid comparison. If you were in line for a coffee, you get to the front of the line and they give you two choices of coffee, both from the same coffee beans and percolator but in different cups, one costs $5 the other costs $1, which will you choose?
These passive crossovers are very simple filters that include very simple components, like capacitors. A capacitor is nothing more than thin metal plates that are separated by a thin film dielectric and rolled up with leads sticking out. That's it. When a company makes millions of them in a production facility the fact is they only cost so much. Do you want them to just increase the cost to make you feel better about buying them?
I know they may seem like magic to some, but they are really very simple components and do not cost much money at all to produce. Electrons don't know if it's an audio signal going through them, they don't care. When small companies go into business to make "audio" capacitors they like to use exotic materials for no other reason to set them apart, some don't even use exotic materials. But the fact they are not WIMA or Rubycon making millions of these things which keeps the cost down, these small "audio" capacitor companies need to increase the cost because of their business model and not because they are better performing, often times they perform worse. Now consumers like the OP don't see "audio" capacitors inside that cost more money and think that the company is installing inferior parts when that's just not the case. The worst case scenario you will see is possibly an electrolytic rated for only 2000 hours at maximum ripple current and 85°C operating temperature. At lower currents and lower temperatures these caps will last far longer than 2000 hours, more like 20,000 hours. So you may have to replace that cap in 30 years because electrolytic caps do have a finite lifespan. But as I said, it's not worth going with film here because often the higher ESR is wanted to dampen resonance. You of course could add a 1 ohm resistor in series with the film cap, so the only advantage is lifespan. Finding someone to solder in caps every 30 years seems fine to me, most of you won't even have the same speakers for 30 years and purchase new.
Again we are back to judging parts by only the price and nothing else. That is not a valid comparison. If you were in line for a coffee, you get to the front of the line and they give you two choices of coffee, both from the same coffee beans and percolator but in different cups, one costs $5 the other costs $1, which will you choose?
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