Jensen Caps

[ganzosrevenge]

With all due respect, I have heard that Jensens are unbelievable capacitors for audio equipment, and they're used sometimes in guitars, but how can one cap cost $140?!

http://www.partsconnexion.com/capacitor_film_jensen_pio_silver.html

Jason

 

[Chris Scott]

...because somebody will pay that much, apparently.

I like PIO caps, and use them almost exclusively in my amps as well as guitars, but I'll tell you a secret....


....hamfest swapmeets!

 

[ganzosrevenge]

that, and I read on several "audiophile" sites that there's something about silver PIO caps that really bring out everything from a musical range standpoint. One of my buddies wants me to put them in his guitar.... I told him to stick with luxes or the regular jensens...

but mind you he spent the $275 for the titanium bridge and thinks the more he spends the better his tone will be.

 

[KGWagner]

It's just silliness offered up to the ignorant. There are a number of sites out there scamming the public with outrageously priced items for "audiophile" types. For instance, you can buy this...

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which is nothing more than a $4 Hubbell 15A power connector painted silver, but they get somebody to write some incredible ad copy for it and charge $314.

Or, you can buy these feet for your turntable, if you still have one.

They're only $299 each, and you'd need 4. Of course, that little bearing you see on there is "cryogenically treated", so it's the best, right? Except that simply means the thing went through a quench-temper process like all bearings do. A bearing that isn't surface hardened isn't going to last very long. And what do you need a bearing on your turntable feet for anyway?

There are $400 knobs, $500+ cables, on and on. They depend on people not knowing a few key industry phrases, being susceptible to suggestion, and having more money than brains. There are a surprising number of them out there.

 

[ganzosrevenge]

my thoughts exactly.

Now I will admit that the jensens are incredible. for a home theatre, they are the business, but the distance within a potentiometer to ground to cap to little post is so negligible... it's like having eric johnson's ears, but being a dillettante about it.

 

[KGWagner]

Another thing to keep in mind with overpriced electronics parts like this is they may be binning the things and getting horrible yields. Capacitors and resistors are notoriously sloppy parts - they almost never read value they're supposed to be. So, if you wanted to, you could guarantee a .047µf cap at 600v by testing each and every one of them. After you filtered out all the ones that blew up at 600v, you'd start testing the leftovers to find one at .047µf. Once you found those, you'd have a few guaranteed parts and thousands that will work well enough for everybody else. Of course, there's a lotta labor involved there, hence the ridiculous price.