So, a bit of crossover 101 to start, for those not super familiar. There are two basic categories of capacitors. Film, and electrolytic. Electrolytics are much smaller, and much cheaper, than film capacitors. You can tell an electrolytic, because they are usually black or white (sometimes other colors like blue) and they have a crimp at either one or both ends. Like a "dent" going around the cylinder. The crimp holds the goo (electrolyte) in. Their small size makes them convenient to use. And the price difference is immense. A 100uf film capacitor starts around maybe $25 for a generic one, $40 for a good one. But a 100uf electrolytic, you can get for about forty cents. So, Cerwin along with most companies, used electrolytics for the larger values in their crossovers. But, electrolytics, while fine when used in say an amplifier power supply, are far from ideal in a speaker crossover. Electrolytics simply don’t sound as good. There are technical reasons why. But you only have to look at what experts say. There’s a LOT of audio and electrical experts out there with tons of videos online covering capacitor types in speaker crossovers. Danny, Paul, Alan, the other Alan, many many more. While these guys often disagree on stuff, they all agree on ONE thing, film caps are vastly better for crossovers than electrolytics. Again, there’s a lot of technical reasons. ESR or equivalent series resistance is the biggest one mentioned. Capacitors also act as resistors. Ideally you want zero added resistance. All caps add some, but electrolytics add a lot more as a group. There’s also ESL, and a dozen other technical things that effect the sound. Plus there’s tolerance. Electrolytics are all over the place. Even the ones marked 10%, you’re lucky if they are within 20%. I just rebuilt some for a guy that had already been redone, and the 90uf electrolytics in them (spec was 90) one was 112.8uf. That’s 24% over! Suffice it to say, that film caps win (over electrolytics) in every category. Also, a film cap is like an anvil. It doesn’t degrade or wear out. It’s good forever. Electrolytics do go bad. With electrolytics, there’s a chemical inside that dries out over time, and they are also much more affected by temperature. Cold effects the value, heat dries them out even faster. Electrolytics are the one electrical component that should have a date stamp on them (like milk) but they don’t. So, a lot of the electrolytics you see, who knows when they were made. If they were made years or decades ago, and been sitting around, even though they are new and never powered, they’re still degraded, and possibly already at end of life.

Now, on to all my choice of these Bevenbi. I’ve spend a lot of the past year testing and auditioning different capacitors. Among film capacitors, there are MANY different types. From two bucks, to two thousand. If you’ve looked at them, you know. So, I wanted something nicer than the generic cheapola ones, but something still reasonably priced. And the Bevenbi ones your seeing, are the ones I went with. Not crazy priced, but absolutely fantastic sounding. A little history on Bevenbi, since you probably haven’t heard of them. They’ve been making components a long time, but they don’t advertise much. But they provide capacitors for some really high end speaker companies, like B&W, Martin Logan, Wharfedale, Yamaha, Tannoy, etc. Those names you know. Like most companies, they make capacitors at different price points with different materials. The red end ones you see are 4th up the line. They make three cheaper models (which are all still better than the generic caps you see everywhere). They also make more expensive ones (the pure silver ones), but with those, the price is really getting up there. So, I focused in on the MKPA-C red end. And these, are NICE sounding caps. Very nice. Even their cheaper models are nice, but these are REALLY nice. I’ve been sending these in kits for a while now to different people, for people to try, to verify everyone likes them, and they do. What little there is to find online about these Bevenbi’s, is all positive. So, I started a relationship with Bevenbi. Some of the popular capacitor values that Cerwin Vega uses, weren’t even being made, as Cerwin is the only company that used them. But I worked with Bevenbi, to make those custom values just for me. And since I’m dealing directly with Bevenbi, you can be assured that all my capacitors are genuine. Believe it or not, there are a lot of counterfeit capacitors being made out there. Question: Gee, can I source my own caps? You bet! And I'm happy to help you. There are lots of sources and choices at every different quality and price. I don't hide the component values, in fact I list them for you! So you can look at my kits, and use that info to find whatever parts you want. The benefits of going with my kits are these. #1 you're guaranteed genuine parts. I don't know all what capacitors are being copied, or who is doing what. But anyone in the capacitor business will tell you that counterfeit capacitors are a big problem, huge. Especially with the brand name ones. #2 I match and measure the caps in every kit. So, capacitors have tolerances. If you need a 20uf capacitor, and the cap tolerance on a cheaper cap is 10% (usually 20% on electrolytics) that means you could buy two 20uf capacitors, and one could be 18uf, and the other 22uf, and you're still "within tolerance". But, that is hardly ideal! These Bevenbi caps are all marked 5%, but after measuring hundreds, the WORST single one I found was 4%, the rest within 3%, and most within 2% or 1%. These things are TIGHT! Also, I match up pairs to be as close to each other as possible. So your side-to-side variance is usually going to be dead nuts, or within 1%. Most sellers, are just going to grab the top two caps from the box and there ya go. Really high quality parts kits for Cerwin crossovers has been something I wanted to do, since I started Brew City. And demand this past year had been off the charts. Sorry for the long book here, but I wanted to relay the drive, and focus, of these kits. If you're going to go through the process of recapping, these are the nicest kits available.