by EWBrown » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:40 am
Most of the five or six decades old caps of that series (black beauty, bumblee bee, black cat, etc) were never designed to last 50 years, and most are gone bad even just from sitting around for so long.
FWIW, most WWII vintage radio restorations include replacing ALL of the caps except for variable and tuning caps. Even the old carbon comp resistors have usually drifted well out of spec as well.
Capacitors and beer don't "age" very well Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_02 Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_04
I've used the Russian K40y series PIO caps, with excellent results, though I purchase them from either "kwtubes" or "sovcomm" as these both are good sellers with excellent reputations and service. I don't know about "silver silk", so I can't comment pro or con. The ST35 doesn't need the 1KV rating, the 400V caps are more than good enough and easier to fit on the PC boards. These are closely equivalent to the vintage Sprague "Vitamin Q" capacitors of long ago.
My other favorite "eastern bloc" seller "anthonywest" seems to have disappeared from e-bay.
/ed B in NH
Real Radios Glow in the Dark