On Tuesday, 16 May 2017 13:26:05 UTC+1, wrote:
OK - some basics:

a) very nearly every speaker capacitor is non-polarized. Why? They are designed to work in an AC (alternating current) environment, albeit at rather low voltages.

b) as capacity increases, the cost of a non-electrolytic increases significantly per uF, far more than with an electrolytic cap.

c) non-electrolytics tend to be larger than electrolytics as uF increases..

d) manufacturers, therefore, favor electrolytics as a means to lower costs and lower real-estate requirements.

Those are the most basic reasons that you will see electrolytic capacitors in speaker crossovers. "Voicing" while a very real concern will not be materially affected by changing out one electrolytic for another as the tolerances are pretty sloppy as compared to non-electrolytic capacitors, and even low-end manufacturers would do some basic screening. However, if you choose to substitute a large film cap(s) for an electrolytic, some experimentation may be required as these days, the tolerances for film caps are commonly less than 2%. As compared to as much as +50% for electrolytics.

http://www.updatemydynaco.com/pictur...rAnnotated.JPG

This is a crossover from a Dynaco A25 speaker. Well respected speaker with excellent drivers, but from a manufacturer that pretty much did everything in the cheapest possible way. One electrolytic cap, and a bunch of sand resistors.

They could have been cheaper by using resistance wire.


http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/I...4 b6b4d7b.jpg

This is a crossover from an AR4x speaker, contemporary to the A25, and also well respected. But from a manufacturer that did not do things in the cheapest possible way. Note the inductor, and non-electrolytic cap.

There are many ways to get there.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA


NT