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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
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Merganser the difference from Sonicaps and Duelund's is like they are from a different planet. The one Duelund cap (paired with the Supreme) is a bigger differnce than going from my NAD CD player (20 years old) to the Linn Karik which was almost 8x the price. One thing I can say is crossover caps make the most difference of anything I have heard. The effects for the good and bad are HUGE!

Putting in the Duelund was like listening to the song for the first time! If you check back in my posts my WIFE could not believe the difference from Sonicaps and the old film in oil. She thought the one speaker was broken! The only problem was she was pointing to the old caps (as the one she liked) Horns for good or bad let you hear everything.
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Second Duelund is in.

I will put it in tonight. I am expecting it to be too much and the speakers start to sound like the caps. All will not be lost as I need the Duelund for the other speaker. I just want to know if one Duelund is very good is two better?
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Just a few hours and still trying to get a handle on the change. The first Duelund was a revalation. I am not hearing anything new and different with 2. Except maybe hands on the violin moving the strings. Somewhat higher noise floor and somewhat more dynamic but the sound is tilted upward but not as high as SIO/Duelund. I am not sure why but I enjoy the Duelund/Supreme combo better than Duelund/Duelund but a little quieter and easier to focus on and more natural. (but this may change as it is close and break in could come into effect)

I am very curious as to what the effect to the mid cap change is going to be? Eleanor Rigby on the vintage caps is almost not the same song! It is all cello (and sloppy cello) and you can almost not even hear the violin. You can not hear the layers from front to back or ANY interaction from the orchestra.

On the Duelund's there is a violin near Paul and 2 or 3 behind him and cello's farther back. On vintage there is no front to back of soundstage no primier violinist and back up ones.

The difference is astonishing from vintage to Duelund's.
There is no going back now. One can not go from knowing all what was happening in the song to hardly even hearing some instruements.

Help (Beatles) There is a playful bass line that does not even show up on the vintage caps!

So far it is
1. Duelund/Supreme
2. Duelund/Duelund
3. Supreme/SIO
4. SIO/Duelund
5. vintage
6. Supreme/Sonicap
7. Sonicap/Sonicap

5-7 could be changed for different reasons. But none of those combo's is near the top 4.

I will be ordering midrange caps and maybe inductors Friday or Monday. I have no idea what will work but will likely stick with some combo of Supreme/Duelund. I am just not sure whether to get inductors fisrt or caps?
merganser
216 posts
 
Volleyguy, what's this jump to Sonicap's and Duelund? We were talking about Sonicap vs Mundorf....remember? You're also choosing to totally ignore the fact that any and all of the caps you're trying out need to burn in before any judgement can be made. Again, 30 hours on the Sonicap's isn't even close to what they will sound like after 300 hours. I guarantee they will sound very different than they do now, they all will. Please try to understand that because so far, you are not listening to the advice you're getting. That said, I'm out of this one. Good luck, have fun and enjoy.
stormen
30 posts
 
My first post here, but found the topic very interesting so here goes:

I've done extensive comparisons of quite a lot of different capacitors, and have found the Duelunds to be without equal. Presently I use them in my home system and my car (I compete in pure passive car stereo).

The effect of using the Duelund caps (certainly also their resistors and inductors) has for me been akin to changing the entire system. I know how this sounds, but I am very very pleased with the results I'm getting.

Why they are apparently so much better beats me, it may be a combination of them using pure metal instead of the predominant use of plastic in the metalized designs and their brick like construction, but I don't know. To me anyway, the proof's in the listening.

By the way are you using the VSFs or the CASTs, I've got experience with both and the CASTs are really something.

Pics of my car if anyone's interested: http://www.buwaldahybrids.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2797
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