[R-390] Orange Drop vs ceramic disc

[Cecil Acuff]

I don't remember anyone stating that using OD's would cause a 
degradation...quite the contrary relative to ceramic disk use for coupling. 
My statement was that there are two different qualities of Orange 
Drops...and just specifying Orange Drops does not differentiate.  Either are 
probably fine relative to the BBOD's but one OD design is superior to the 
other.

Now this is where I had to get the catalog out to clear it up.

There are the 225P and 715P Orange Drops made by Vishay/Sprague.

Both appear to be of wound dielectric/foil design.  The 225P uses Polyester 
as a dielectric the 715P uses Polypropylene as it's dielectric.  Both appear 
to use a thin gauge foil as the conductor which is far superior to a 
metalized deposition type process.

The 715P is the superior of the two Orange Drop designs because it is 
designed to handle higher AC currents and pulse circuit designs as well as 
higher RF loads.  It is also a little bit more expensive and physically 
larger for the same capacitance.

If you want the ultimate buy the 715P....if you want far better than the 
BBOD's the 225P's will be fine.

I think one of the points made over the last few years is to stay away from 
the film and metal deposition type of caps due to some issues with quality 
control.

Check here for more details: 
http://www.mouser.com/catalog/catalogUSD/643/918.pdf

Good middle of the road choice...use Ceramic disks for bypass applications 
and a good wound dielectric/foil capacitor for coupling and they will 
outlast your Grand kids....

I think my next SP-600 restoration will include Orange Drops for coupling 
and Ceramic Disks for bypass...up until now it's been all Ceramic Disks. 
Maybe the audio can be improved a bit by this choice...or maybe not. 
Interesting thought though...

Cecil Acuff
K5DL

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "rbethman" <rbethman at comcast.net>


>
> I'd have to ask Barry if having used ODs - "Do you notice ANY 
> degradation?"
>