Hovland Musicap MKP 100VDC – 2,5% tolerance

Hovland Musicap MKP 100VDC – 2,5% tolerance

Technical Specifications (according to manufacturer): “Separate layers of polypropylene film & conductive foil; Large flexible 16 gauge, stranded, silver-plated copper leads; Lead-free silver-bearing solder used in tinning and attachment of leads; Manufactured in U.S.A. Hand soldered lead termination; Extremely low DA, DF and ESR; 100% pre-testing for quality assurance; Consistent, even, winding tension. ” They are slightly squiggly, when you squeeze them their capacitance changes!

Sound: Musicaps deliver fine dynamics, speed, focus, correct timbre and depth of field, and good inter-transient silence” – I can’t agree more on this! But I must say I have a love/hate relationship with them: they don’t mate with all types of tweeters. If in series with a very nice soft-dome tweeter they seem to bring out more detail than usual from such a tweeter compared to when used with other caps. I had good results with Scan speak soft domes and for the Dynaudio D260 Esotec I couldn’t imagine a better cap in this price range. But if the tweeter tends to be a tad on the bright or clinic side they sound awful. Of course you do get more detail and a better sound-stage compared to if you used an Audyn Cap or Le Clanché but for example I tried them with the Focal tweeter in the Auriga and this didn’t work at all! It hurt my ears! Here’s a good tip: When tweaking a combo with a Scan speak D2905-9700 I found the best to be a 50/50% combination of the Hovland Musicap with a Mundorf Supreme Cap.

Verdict: 8