Affordable Capacitors

[Whirled One]

Another source you might try is Mouser (www.mouser.com). It's a full-line electronics distributor, but don't be frightened off by the vastness of their catalog. Of course, they carry a full selection of ye olde Sprague/Vishay Orange Drops, but in general so far I really like the CDE (Cornell-Dublinier) metalized polyester film caps that they also sell.

Nice things about the CDE's are:
- They're less expensive than Orange Drops-- and a significant quantity price break occurs at only quanity 10 (whereas you need to get 25 to hit the first discount level on Orange Drops at Mouser, and it's not as significant a break)
- They're considerably smaller than equivalent Orange Drops, which often makes them a lot easier to fit into compact places. Plus, their overall shape makes them less "bulky" than most values of Orange Drops. And, yes, they have nice long leads.
- They're more muted in appearance than Orange Drops. The epoxy coating on them is usually a dark orangey-brown color, which (in my opinion, at least) looks a lot less obtrusive in vintage equipment than the bright toxic-orange color of Orange Drops.

One negative about the CDE's is:
- They're not available in small capacitance values. The lowest value they offer in the 630V CDE film caps is .01 uF.

Also, due to their small size, I kinda wonder how well they handle really high current situations compared with Orange Drops, but so far it hasn't been a problem.

Anyway, your mileage may vary..!