Hello everyone, I replaced all the light-bulbs on my BM 2400 a few years ago using car dash-board bulbs ( PEUGEOT) here in France. Rated at 12V 1Watt. Everything seems to be working correctly, but was this a good idea ?

A bit low on the voltage rating.
A kit with lamps of correct voltage and wattage exists but if it works it's probably fine as-is.

Martin

Thank you for a quick answer martin. I will change the bulbs with a kit since I intend renewing capacitors in Beomaster 2400 and Beovox with your kits. What type of capacitors do you have/ recommend for Beovox S45(type 6302) and S60(type 6303) ? The S45 have aluminium polarized electrolytic 15uF 40V since they have never been replaced. Best regards Freddy.

To be honest; In my opinion, the difference from the standard electrolytic types to foil caps are hardly worth
the extra cost for these (with all respect) smaller speakers but the choice is of course yours.
The kits contain standard types but other types can be arranged if need be.

BTW: They are not polarized caps, they are bipolar.
They can still have positive and negative markings but that merely tells
which terminal is connected to the outer metal housing (for eventual shielding/grounding
purposes in more sensitive circuits).

Martin

Dillen:

To be honest; In my opinion, the difference from the standard electrolytic types to foil caps are hardly worth
the extra cost for these (with all respect) smaller speakers but the choice is of course yours.
The kits contain standard types but other types can be arranged if need be

Martin

I have on set of s45 recently recapped with foils caps and another set awaiting recap. I may just give the cheaper stamdard caps a go. I have been curious about that for some time. It will be interesting to compare.

But should I just do caps only or upsize the ressitors ?

I have done 1 Beomaster sourcing my own lamps 14v 1w and it works fine, but in the end I trust what Martin provides and have bought 2 sets of lamps, no make it 3  sets of lamps off him recently. Saves me the hassle of trying to source them myself.

 

After going through the forums I had in mind Auricaps or Solen but I don't have much knowledge in electronics. Do they last longer? If not i'll probably use the standard ones. Thank you for your advice. I'll PM when I decide what to do.

The sales pitch on foil caps is less distortion, better harmonics and greater range, which leads to an improvement in sounds quality. Thats the sales pitch, not me talking.

I have used Solen caps as well as Jantzen and Dayton foil caps with good results. What strikes me odd is the variation in price. I have usually resorted to best bang for the buck ie the least exspensive option but I also would change out the resistors from the smaller 3 watts typically found in the Beovox range to a 8-10 watt resistor.

But in the end I wonder how much improvement is it really to spend 5 times the money or greater ?

I use foil caps simply because then I'll never have to replace them again. It's fun on the first time, but not exactly after that... I'd probably use electrolytics for speakers I was going to sell sooner or later, but that never seems to happen to me

I'm quite sure I'd never hear any difference between foil cap brands or dielectrics, though. I've used Intertechnik (basic 160V MKT) simply because they were most conveniently available.

Mounting expensive foil caps in (comparatively cheap) speakers
like these feels to me like polishing the inside of the cabinets
or fitting 200$/meter cables and gold plated terminals.
It may feel good and if you have the right instruments for measuring, maybe you can
actually measure something but it is really overkill and not worth the cost.
But that's just the opinion of grumpy old me.

I have mounted very expensive caps in even smaller speakers at owners orders
but if they ever felt any difference, I didn't hear about it.
In larger (and better quality speakers), there is a little
performance bettering to achieve. One you can actually hear, the Pentas
being a good example. Intertechnik caps is also what I normally use.

I must admit to prefer blowing a resistor rather than a
driver in case of overload or amplifier failure.
It won't change a thing soundwise to "upgrade" the resistors.

Martin

That settles it then. I will replace the caps only in my second set of s-45's with standard electrolytics only. Should run me about $8  compared to the 40 to 50 dollars I paid on the first set.

 

Well after reading the post on this thread, it stands to reason that the electrolytic caps should do just fine for the Beovox S45 and S60. After all why pay up to 5 times or more on foil caps for an equivalant result. That's only my conclusion. Thank you all for your response. Freddy.