As both a manufacturer and distributor for the Audio market, our extensive linecard offers a wide range of Audio components for all applications. With resistors, capacitors, buzzers, transducers, piezoceramic speakers, audio amplifiers & alarms, Charcroft has established itself as a high quality supplier of Audio products.
Charcroft’s in-house manufacturing capability enables us to deliver the manufacture of accurate, high-stability components demanded by high-end Audio applications. Offerings such as the unique ‘naked’ resistor and other specialist components, screening services and matching, all serve to add clarity and balance to high-value Audio systems.
To ensure we continue to provide our customers with unique audio-components, Charcroft can now offer a Precision Mica capacitor, engineered specifically to provide the purest sound in Audio applications. Constructed from the finest Indian Ruby Mica plates, silver sintered with solid-silver leads, they are assembled and individually trimmed by hand in our fully UK based manufacturing facility.
In addition to the Silver Mica capacitor, Charcroft manufactures its own Audio resistors, the CAR (Charcroft Audio Resistor) & SCAR (Charcroft Audio resistors (Surface Mount)), composed of VPG’s Bulk Metal® Z-foil technology. Manufactured in our Vishay-Approved Precision Centre, these product ranges offer improved sound quality and provide a combination of low noise and low inductance/capacitance, which make it unrivalled for applications requiring low noise and distortion-free properties.
CAR resistors are also now offered with 100% Component Linearity Testing (CLT) to detect potential defects beyond the limits of standard visual and electrical inspection. These small defects can distort the harmonic performance of the component and only Charcroft is able to offer this testing as standard – providing the reassurance of achieving the cleanest sound possible.
Our experienced sales team is able to assist you with all your requirements and is supported by a national network of Business Development Managers and Product Specialists fully qualified and experienced to collaborate with you from design stage through to procurement and beyond.
Audio Components available from Charcroft
Dipped Radial
These capacitors are specially designed for audio applications. Constructed from the finest Indian Ruby Mica plates, they are cut by hand, then have silver electrodes printed on. The plates are stacked to the required value, have their edges reinforced with silver paste and are then sintered at 560°C. After firing they are cut into individual chips ready for lead attachment. To enhance their audio properties, solid silver lead wires are attached before final trimming and dipping in epoxy resin. These Capacitors are fully assembled and individually trimmed by hand in our UK based manufacturing facility.
Product Documentation
Data Sheet (PDF)
The CAR, composed of Vishay’s Bulk Metal® Z-foil technology, with improved sound quality, provides a combination of low noise and low
inductance/capacitance, making it unrivalled for applications requiring low noise and distortion-free properties. While the regular foil
resistors are already widely acknowledged as the leading resistors for audio applications, the special “naked Z-foil resistor” design
without case or encapsulation, adds an additional dimension for reducing signal distortion and increasing clarity in signal processing.
The SCAR also uses Vishay’s Bulk Metal® Z-foil technology and offers all the features of the leaded CAR but in a surface mount version with wrap around terminations.
CAR resistors are now offered with 100% Component Linearity Testing (CLT) to detect potential defects beyond the limits of standard visual and electrical inspection. These small defects can distort the harmonic performance of the component and only Charcroft is able to offer this testing as standard – providing the reassurance of achieving the cleanest sound possible.
- Virtually noise-free performance: -40dB
- Non-inductive & non-capacitive
- Ultra-stable TCR: ±0.2ppm/°C from -55° to +125°C
- Trimming to any value within resistance range
- Tolerance down to 0.005%
- Unencapsulated radial (CAR series)
- Surface-mount (SCAR series)
Product Range
| Type | Tolerance | Series | Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charcroft Audio resistors | 0.005% | CAR | Data Sheet (PDF) |
| Charcroft Audio resistors (Surface Mount) | 0.01% | SCAR | Data Sheet (PDF) |
The PWA range of capacitors has long been established as a quality audio grade device. Available at ratings of 160Vdc, 250Vdc, 400Vdc and 630Vdc, it offers audio engineers the maximum flexibility when considering components for their circuits.
Wound from 4µm, 6µm, 8µm and 10µm metallised film respectively, components can be selected using their slightly differing sonic performances and aspect ratios to give the optimum solution desired.
Copper clad steel terminals are standard, however, others are available upon request.
Tape and resin colours are flexible, please contact us for options. Unless specified, capacitors would be supplied with white tape and red resin
Please visit here for further details on Charcroft ClarityCap products.
Product Documentation
Data Sheet (PDF)
New High Stability U2J Ceramic Dielectric Extends Application Reach of Compact, Cost-Effective Class-I MLCCs
Applications:
- Data acquisition
- Phase lock loop (PLL)
- Sensors
- Internet of things
- Wireless charging
Functions:
- Critical timing
- Decoupling
- Bypass
- Filtering
- Transient suppression
- Blocking & sensing
- High current
- Energy storage
Features & Benefits:
- Low noise
- Low ESR & ESL
- High thermal stability
- Higher cap value than C0G
- Linear capacitance change with respect to time
- Lead (Pb)-free, RoHS & REACH compliant
- Non-polar devices
- Flex termination available
KEMET's new high stability U2J ceramic dielectric capacitors extend the application reach of compact, cost-effective Class-I MLCCs July 21, 2016) – Kemet introduces its advanced U2J Class-I ceramic dielectric capacitors. This U2J surface mount platform offers more than twice the capacitance available in C0G/NP0. It also provides superior temperature performance over X7R, X8R and X5R, rendering it an ideal capacitor solution for many applications including telecom, data acquisition and Internet of Things.
"KEMET continues its leadership position in Class-I dielectric product offerings with the release of this new U2J dielectric technology," said Abhijit Gurav, KEMET Vice President of Ceramic Technology. "These new U2J capacitors offer the highest capacitance values for Class-I ceramic dielectrics in the industry while providing excellent voltage stability similar to our commercially-successful C0G."
U2J capacitors are extremely stable with a linear capacitance change with temperature, enabling design engineers to predict the change in capacitance over the operating temperature range. They also retain over 99% of nominal capacitance at full rated voltage and extend the available capacitance of Class-I dielectric MLCCs into a range previously available only in Class-II dielectrics. U2J capacitors are Pb-Free, RoHS and REACH compliant without exemptions.
U2J MLCCs are available now in commercial grade and with a flexible termination option.
Product Documentation
U2J Datasheet | U2J Flexible Terminations
Kemet has largest range in the industry and Class 1 COG is suitable for Audio applications with its low noise, low ESR & ESL
Product Documentation
Data Sheet (PDF)
The Slit Foil Capacitor has been produced specifically for audio applications. This is a patented design which eliminates circulating currents in the aluminium foils. This spurious current flow on the capacitor plates is known to occur, but is not apparent in most applications.
Product Documentation
Data Sheet (PDF)
The T- Network capacitor is a unique capacitor designed specifically for Audio applications. Its main advantage lies in its ability to reduce the effect of unwanted resistance and inductance placing the signal closer to the pure capacitance of the component.
Filtering T-Network Capacitor
- Slit-foil technology
- Filters out signal resistance & inductance
- Long life: 18000 hours at 85°C
- IEC 60384-4 standard
Product Documentation
Data Sheet (PDF)
Designed for high-end loudspeaker and amplifier applications.
Ohmite now offers the Audio Gold Resistor Family, specifically designed for high-end loudspeaker and amplifier applications. These resistors utilize high quality resistance wire wound on a ceramic core, terminated, and finished with flameproof Centohm® coating.
- 3 watt to 50 watts
- Non-magnetic materials
- Mono-metallic design
- Welded connections
- Non-inductive versions available
- Reduces signal distortion
- Minimizes thermal EMF
- Reduces current noise
- Superior mid-range frequency performance
- Improved stability
Ohmite's Audio Gold resistors have been carefully engineered with non-magnetic materials to eliminate the effects of these stray magnetic fields on circuit performance, thereby resulting in simplified shielding requirements and improved sound quality.
Audio Gold resistors are designed for use in cross-over networks and as source, emitter, or cathode resistors in balancing applications for output transducers.
Product Documentation
Data Sheet (PDF)
Vishay Precision Group announced that its Vishay Foil Resistors brand (VFR) has introduced a new series of ultra-high-precision, through-hole Z-Foil resistors designed to provide low noise and low inductance/capacitance for high-end audio applications requiring distortion-free properties. The conformally coated, low-profile AUR series devices feature low TCR down to 0.05 ppm/°C nominal from 0°C to +60°C, +25°C ref, tolerances down to ±0.01%, and load-life stability to ±0.01% after 2,000 hours at +70°C.
In high-end audio equipment, careful selection of resistors is one of the best ways to minimize noise and distortion in the signal path. The typical audio amplifier consists of a voltage preamplifier and power amplifier. The voltage preamplifier deals with low-level signals, making the intrinsic noise of resistors critical, while the power amplifier requires high linearity of amplification and minimal dynamic distortion. Bulk Metal® Foil AUR devices meet both of these needs thanks to their cold-rolled metal alloy foil. Their construction eliminates any current noise in the element itself, and provides the linearity that preserves signal integrity with no clipping or roll-off at signal extremes.
AUR devices also feature a special "noise-free" design, with special in-house stabilization, providing an additional dimension for reducing signal distortion and increasing clarity in signal processing. Furthermore, the current in adjacent current-carrying paths runs in opposing directions, cancelling the paths' parasitic inductance. Path-to-path capacitances are connected in series, minimizing the parasitic capacitance of the resistor.
"Many users of precision audio equipment suffer needlessly from unexplained instabilities and drifts due to noise effects and harmonic distortion. They resign themselves to making constant adjustments and troubleshooting, but in fact these can be avoided," said Yuval Hernik, senior director of application engineering for VFR. "Instability is often traceable to a few supposedly fixed resistors, which are not really fixed at all. If these resistors would only retain their original values, there would be no need for costly controls and other compensating circuitry. That’s why Bulk Metal Z-Foil resistors are the only devices for applications such as these".
“Microphonic noise is a parasitic effect mostly associated with surface-mounted resistors. The plane of the mounted resistive element is parallel to the board, by which vibrational movement induces spurious signals in much the same way as a diaphragm in a speaker system," added Hernik. "The horizontal resistor element produces the same microphonic effect, whether caused by physical vibration of the board or by strong sonic waves impinging on it”.
The AUR series offers a resistance range from 5Ω to 120kΩ. Any conceivable ohmic value within this range, to six digits, is available with no additional cost or lead time effect. The resistors feature rated power to 300 mW at +70°C, a maximum working voltage of 300V, a rise time of 1 ns with effectively no ringing, current noise of < 0.010 μVrms/V of applied voltage (< -40 dB), a thermal stabilization time of < 1 s (within 10 ppm of steady state value), and a voltage coefficient of < 0.1 ppm/V.
"Particularly in high-precision audio applications, the best resistor choice is often a through-hole device that is specifically designed to provide higher resistance values, higher power, tighter tolerances, and better long-term stability, while requiring less board space and allowing the clean-up of solvents and resins," added Hernik. "Through-hole devices achieve better stability because they are not subjected to thermo-mechanical stresses from the PCB. And unlike other through-hole resistors, the AUR devices require no added height for stress-relieving bends in the leads, as they feature built-in stress relief."
Samples and production quantities of the AUR series are available now, with lead times of two weeks for samples, and eight weeks for standard orders.
Product Documentation
Data Sheet (PDF)
Ultra High Precision, Z-Foil Audio Resistor Minimizes Noise and Distortion in the Signal Path with TCR of ±0.05 ppm/°C, Tolerance to ±0.005% and High Linearity or Low Voltage Coefficient of Resistance (VCR) of 0.1 ppm/V
The VAR, composed of Vishay’s Bulk Metal® Z-foil technology, with improved sound quality, provides a combination of low noise and low inductance/capacitance, making it unrivalled for applications requiring low noise and distortion-free properties.