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RE: Fools Errand.

"I count three ... since you mentioned parts selection"

If you like. Though I don't recall mentioning parts selection myself. I was really addressing the case, as in the original post, where someone is asking what is physically changing in a given capacitor, when it "breaks in."

Being naturally skeptical, I would first attempt to settle the question of "is the capacitor actually changing?" As I said, I see two ways of addressing this. One is to test whether the person reporting the changes can demonstrate, in properly controlled listening tests, that they can discriminate between the sound of the old capacitor and an otherwise identical new capacitor. The other is to set up a test rig to compare the electrical properties of the two capacitors. The best way to do this is probably in some sort of a bridge arrangement where one essentially nulls out everything except the difference between the signal across one capacitor and the signal across the other. One nice thing about doing that is that one doesn't need to have any preconceived notion of what one is looking for. But anything that could conceivably have an audible effect will presumably be visible in the difference signal.

The second question then would follow if a real change in the electrical characteristics were to be confirmed. Namely, what physical changes inside the capacitor have actually taken place, which could account for this? In fact this is the question the OP actually asked.

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  • RE: Fools Errand. - cpotl 06/12/2108:26:05 06/12/21 (1)
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