TANTALUM FILM RESISTORS BY AUDIO NOTE
| The AUDIO NOTE™ Tantalum Resistor | |||||||
| by Peter Qvortrup | |||||||
What makes a better sounding audio resistor?
Low or no magnetic properties, is a good start, and the A-N Tants are only slightly magnetic, as they use nickel-plated end caps. Tantalum film resistors have been generally regarded as the best sounding resistor material for many many years. The famous (and now sadly defunct) Shinkoh tantalum film resistor were the first to recognize this, and I remember using these in the late 1970’s.
The Audio Note™ Tantalum film resistor is made from a pure tantalum oxide. However, to allow their use in high voltage applications, we have chosen to use nickel-plated end caps, wherefore both the 1 and the 2 watt resistor’s max overload voltage is 1,500 volts, with a working voltage of 1,200 volts.The price for this is that they are slight magnetic, as I said at the beginning.
The A-N Tants are made to a very exacting specification, being 1% toleranced and able to withstand temperatures of over 150 degrees (C) without significant change in resistance. As well, we have specified a "particular" etching process which increases the surface area for a given resistance, as we have found this to sound better.
There are other processes involved, however, as with so many other aspects of specialist audio parts, we do not disclose these to prevent them from being copied!
