Capacitor log Mundorf Silver in Oil


I wished I could find a log with information on caps. I have found many saying tremendous improvement etc. but not a detailed account of what the changes have been. I have had the same speakers for many years so am very familiar with them. (25+ years) The speakers are a set of Klipsch Lascala's. They have Alnico magnets in the mids and ceramic woofers and tweeters. The front end is Linn LP12 and Linn pre amp and amp. The speaker wire is 12 gauge and new wire.

I LOVE these speakers around 1 year ago they started to sound like garbage. As many have said they are VERY sensitive to the components before them. They are also showing what I think is the effect of worn out caps.

There are many out here on these boards I know of that are using the Klipsch (heritage) with cheaper Japanese electronics because the speakers are cheap! (for what they can do) One thing I would recommend is give these speakers the best quality musical sources you can afford. There is a LOT to get out of these speakers. My other speakers are Linn speakers at around 4k new with Linn tri-wire (I think about 1k for that) and the Klipsch DESTROY them in my mind. If you like "live feel" there is nothing like them. In fact it shocks me how little speakers have improved in 30 years (or 60 years in the Khorns instance)

In fact I question Linn's theory (that they have proved many times) that the source is the most important in the Hi-Fi chain. Linn's theory is top notch source with lessor rest of gear including speakers trumps expensive speakers with lessor source. I think is right if all things are equal but Klipsch heritage are NOT equal! They make a sound and feel that most either LOVE or hate. (I am in the LOVE camp and other speakers are boring to me)

So here goes and I hope this helps guys looking at caps in the future. Keep in mind Klipsch (heritage Khorns Belle's and Lascala's especially) are likely to show the effects of crossover changes more then most.

1 The caps are 30 years old and
2 the speakers being horn driven make changes 10x times more apparent.

Someone once told me find speakers and components you like THEN start to tweak if needed. Don't tweak something you not in love with. Makes sense to me.

So sound
Record is Let it Be (Beatles)
The voices are hard almost sounds like a worn out stylus.
Treble is very hard. I Me Mine has hard sounding guitars. Symbals sound awful. Everything has a digital vs. analog comparison x50! Paul's voice not as bad as John's and George's. Voices will crack.

different lp
Trumpets sound awful. Tambourine terrible. Bass is not great seems shy (compared to normal) but the bad caps draw soooooo much attention to the broken up mid range and hard highs that are not bright if anything it seems the highs are not working up to snuff. I have went many times to speaker to make sure tweeters are even working.

All in all they sound like crap except these Klipsch have such fantastic dynamics that even when not right they are exciting!

Makes me wonder about the people who do not like them if they are hearing worn out caps and cheap electronics? Then I can see why they do not like them! If I did not know better from 25+ years of ownership that would make sense.

For the new crossover I have chosen Mundorf Silver in Oil from what I have read and can afford. I want a warm not overly detailed sound as Klipsch already has lots of detail and does not need to be "livened up" they need lush smooth sounding caps. Hope I have made the right choice?

When the crossover is in I will do a initial impression on same lp's. Right now it goes from really bad (on what may be worn vinyl) to not as bad but NOT great on great vinyl. (I know the quality of the vinyl because tested on other speakers Linn)

The new caps are Mundorf Silver in Oil and new copper foil inductors are coming. I will at the same time be rewiring the speakers to 12 guage from the lamp cord that PWK put in. PWK was a master at getting very good sound often with crap by today's standards components.

The choice of speakers would be a toss up now depending on what I am listening to. Klipsch vastly more dynamic but if the breaking up of the sound becomes to much to effect enjoyment the Linn would be a better choice on that Lp. If I could I would switch a button back and forth between speakers depending on song and how bad the break-up sound was bothering me.

volleyguy

Showing 14 responses by halcro

I've just installed Dueland capacitors in my speakers.
40uF for the Mids and 5.6uF for the tweeters.
You will not be disappointed.
The purity, transparency and utter lack of any grain has transported my sound to the realms of ethereal.
I have also changed the speaker wiring to Vampire but that preceded the capacitors and also made a difference.
But the Dueland caps make a greater difference than a change of pre-amp.
Volleyguy,
Duelund will make up a capacitor to any value you require. Have to spoken to Frederik?
The value of spending big bucks on the Duelunds comes with having a minimum number of caps, inductors, resistors in the path of the signal.
I have my woofers wired directly to the speaker terminals (no caps or inductors), with 1 Duelund cap (40uF) before the Mid/Woofer and 1 Duelund cap (5.6uF) before the tweeter.
When you add further caps and/or inductors, the purity and value of the Duelunds are diminished.
They normally take 5-6 weeks if they are a standard value. Longer for special values.
http://cgim.audiogon.com/i/vs/i/f/1220501771.jpg
Volleyguy and Undertow, while you wait for your Duelunds, see the size of the single caps for my speakers on the above link.
Most of the hand crafting for Duelund is done by outside contractors and suppliers so Duelund is at their mercy. Be patient, the wait is worth it.
The large capacitor is 44uF whilst the smaller one is 5.6uF.
The drive unit pictured is a 5 1/4" Scanspeak Mid/Woofer which the 44uF crosses to at 950Hz whilst the Tweeter crosses at 4750Hz.
I could have bought the Cast capacitors instead of the VSF, but at the time there was no independent evidence of their benefits over the VSF except for Duelund's own advice. I just didn't want to risk it?
My VSF caps instantly sounded pure, tranparent and very musical. They did not appear to 'break-in' very much after the first few days so I'm surprised by Storman's comments?
Glad to hear your VSF Duelund caps are coming on song Volleyguy. Stick with them, I don't think you'll find anything so transparent and grainless.....and that's as much as you can ask of a cap? Click onto my system and see if you have any questions?
Volleyguy, I had a Kebschull valve pre-amp immediately before the Halcro, with a Perraux 1850 power amp. A Rega Planar 3 with Hadcock GH228 Unipivot arm had been my analogue source since 1979. The speakers have been with me for 30 years albeit now with Scanspeak drivers (except for the woofers), Vampire internal wiring and Duelund capacitors. Here is a link to a review when I changed to the Raven AC3 http://forums.avguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=3585
I too am running total solid state and the Duelunds are a revelation. I don't understand how a capacitor is going to distinguish between an electrical signal generated by valves or transistors? It doesn't make sense to me and I'd sure like to see a scientific explanation if there is one?
Volleyguy, you can do much better than a LP12....especially if it sounds like your CD player.
Even my 30 year old Rega 3 would demolish any CD player!
Well now I'm completely confused? Are you saying that the Linn is great with transistors but with tubes it's only the CD player that benefits?
I agree that wire is important.
I used Vampire internal speaker wire which was quite cost effective but who knows what the Duelund wire adds to the equation?
Hi David,
I bought the Vampire wire from John at the Cable Company. Not the most expensive as I recall but lots of copper!
I have separate runs from the speaker terminals to:-
The woofer
The Mid Duelund Capacitor and then the Mid/Woofer
The Tweeter Duelund Capacitor and then the Tweeter
Why not try the Kimber you have on hand as a start or talk to John at the Cable Company. He is very knowledgeable and generally prefers a Litz-type wire but this requires a solder bath which is expensive.
Good luck.
Here's a Duelund 44 uF VSF cap next to a 51/2" Scanspeak Mid/woofer.
Duelund
Not only big but heavy!