What kind of capacitors do you use?

[Findm-Keepm]

For film caps, I use Mallory "PVC" series caps or Orange Drops. I also have a bunch of Samsung, CDE (Cornell Dubilier) and ICC (Illinois) caps and don't hesitate one bit when using them. CDE's are usually the physically largest of the bunch. The Mallory PVC series are hard to find nowadays - I purchased about 3200 of them in 600V and 1600V ratings, so my stash is deep....

E-lytics? I try to go with new USA made stuff, as I've had some terrible experience with Taiwan and Hong Kong made/supplied stuff. Sprague 39D series are getting harder to find, and not all Sprague Atom caps are USA made. Vishay has had the brand for some time, and has farmed out some of the manufacturing to the Asians. Quality axial caps with low(proper) ESR ratings are the hardest to find. Just one day with my ESR meter back in 1998 and I was hooked on ESR being the number one quality indicator for caps. I was big into computer monitor repair, and aside from the occasional flyback induced troubles, caps were the number one replacement items. Found seven bad caps in an hour in one monitor - a curbside find that got retired just last year.

Merry Christmas, y'all,