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Author Topic: u87 ps tantalum caps  (Read 4923 times)

mike zietsman

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u87 ps tantalum caps
« on: May 30, 2011, 08:28:48 AM »

Hello,
I recently had my tech fix up a broken u87 p48 (with the battery section) for me which he appears to have done successfully.

When I asked him what the problem was he replied that two of the tantalum caps in the power supply section had gone bad and that he had replaced them with the equivalent caps that were not tantalums (I think it was electrolytic).

He said that if I wanted him to he could replace the new ones with the equivalent tantalums but that he didn't particularly trust tantalums and that none of the audio signal ran through these particular caps anyways and that the voltage measured to spec.

Is it not advised to replace the tantalums with something else in the power supply section of this mic?

what are the negative effects it might have?

Thanks,
Mike
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Max K.

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Re: u87 ps tantalum caps
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2011, 11:11:37 AM »

Hey Mike,

it should make no difference as long as your tech used "normal" electrolytics (tantal caps are also some sort of electrlytics) with low leakage and low equivalent series resistance.

Best,

Max Köhrich
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Jim Williams

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Re: u87 ps tantalum caps
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2011, 12:58:51 PM »

There are higher performance electrolytic caps available with 2/3 less esr than tantalum. Panasonic FM, Rubycon Z and Nichicon HE series are better than tantalum. They have larger case sizes and will last about 40 years.
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klaus

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Re: u87 ps tantalum caps
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2011, 01:32:24 PM »

...and to add to the two previous responses:replacing Tantalums with conventional electrolytic capacitors will have no negative effect on the mic's sound.
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Klaus Heyne
German Masterworks®
www.GermanMasterworks.com

mike zietsman

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Re: u87 ps tantalum caps
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2011, 03:18:43 AM »

...and to add to the two previous responses:replacing Tantalums with conventional electrolytic capacitors will have no negative effect on the mic's sound.

Thank you very much for all of your responses...

I can't believe what a valuable resource this is...

Does the same go tantalums in the audio path?

Thanks,
Mike
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klaus

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Re: u87 ps tantalum caps
« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2011, 12:09:14 PM »

No, it does not, unfortunately, apply to using them anywhere in the circuit that affects audio (not that filtering cap functions are entirely harmless, but their contribution to clean audio is fairly insignificant in a microphone.)

Tantalum capacitors in the audio path are about the worst choice you can make. Bottom of the totem pole.
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Klaus Heyne
German Masterworks®
www.GermanMasterworks.com

J.J. Blair

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Re: u87 ps tantalum caps
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2011, 03:25:24 AM »

Wet slug tantalum, excluded though, no?  As found in the 251?
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klaus

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Re: u87 ps tantalum caps
« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2011, 03:45:29 AM »

Only slightly better than the teardrops. Wet Tantalums were used in that model because of sizing issues: conventional electrolytics were too big for the space, but would sound better.
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Klaus Heyne
German Masterworks®
www.GermanMasterworks.com
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