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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
wavetrader
260 posts
 
You might find this interesting....Kevin Hayes being interviewed in Stereophile had this comment on the Fisher....

"I've been an audiophile since before I knew what the word meant, going back to the mid-'70s. I had an epiphany when I first heard a piece of old tubed gear, a Fisher X101, that simply blew away a highly touted receiver that I happened to own. It was a 25W integrated amplifier, using 7591s on the output, and except for sustained organ-pedal notes, it was far better than what I had at that time."

Now I can really relate to what you have experienced with the Ultra low noice caps...I have the same expience with my SS electronics using black gate caps. I now use the BG preamp with the rest of my system. I continue to upgrade all my components except for my Vac's....but will do eventualy.

I am trying to get my system ready for a assualt on my speakers....I have upgraded all my IC's,PC's and speaker cable.....the backgound is the blackest I have heard my system sound....Everything litterly pops out and there is no longer any imbalance in the sound....plus my CD's sound remarkable. On the Chinatown soundtrack even "I can't get started with you" sounds great.

I continue to follow your saga....To recommend a amp the 300B Vac's are certainly dead quiet and highly linear. The only downside if there is such...tubing these are expensive but the used market seems to reflect this in the pricing....good luck.
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Wavetrader I am very glad to hear that about the Black gates. I am going to do the re-capping the Fisher. That Stereophile article compared the Fisher against a $42k amp as well. The Fisher was not better but I think shocked even Stereophile that really amps have not come that far.

I was schooled when the guy showed up to buy the Klipsch with old Fisher. I kind of chuckled at first when I seen it. An hour later I was humbled and big time!

Made an app. to sell the used vinyl. I think close to $1k worth of store credit. My vinyl that I am getting rid of will be the best they have almost to a piece. Vinyl of course is better than digital but digital is better than worn vinyl.

One thing I did notice on the vinyl purge was how poorly mid '70's onward vinyl stood up. I know they changed something in the vinyl to make it softer. My older Sinatra, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong etc stands up wayyyy better overall.

Vinyl quality itself went down after the first oil crisis. (early '70's) Older recordings on Columbia's top label or Decca or Reprise sound amazing and even the ones I did not keep were not so much from wear but noise. Newer records (meaning mostly mid '70 and '80's) are just worn out.

To me it is not surprising (now) that the Fisher stands up. The '60's recordings were just astonishing as well. Arthur talks about this in his site as well. I find his site to be very good and now follow it much more closely. I remember not seeing my amp (Linn Klout) on his list and thinking it must be that he had just not heard it. He had all these old '60's antique amps but not mine? Why not? Now I know why! It is just not that good.
danmyers
135 posts
 
Glad to hear that your horns are singing again and that you're more than happy with the CASTs. Thanks again for sharing each step of the way - really enjoyed it :)

I'll bet that when you get a good digital source, you'll end up either throwing out or never playing the vast majority of 70s and 80s CDs. This was my experience as I upgraded my system. You will hear the compression and the editing in most CDs of the that era. Not to mention they just don't sound very good. At first I thought it was my CDP. But eventually came to realize it was most of my CD collection. Bummer :(

The good news is you can always enjoy them in the car where they sound just fine :)
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Thanks Dan they are singing like they NEVER have in the 28 years I have owned them!

I am the one who is writing in to Arthur's site about the caps (CAST and VSF) and my feeling is if he had moved the Khorns down to Class C (upper) from Class B there is NO comparison to standard Khorns. I am not sure if they are again best in the world but they are MILES better than any stock Class C ones! I did invite him to hear them. If one likes Khorns they are going to love them with Duelund.

I do agree Dan on the Cd's I do not have a ton anyway. Now as for CD era and '70's?? Was it not early '80's that they came out? Do you mean '80's and 90's?

I now know without a doubt my old gear was mid-fi. What I once struggled with wondering was it the Lp or amp or speakers when sound was not good is now child's play. I can not believe how easy it is to hear record wear.

I have 150 records to go to the used record store. He is very excited about them as mostly they "look" new. Likely 100 of the will be the best in the store. The thing is I could not tell for sure they were worn out (before) now it is just so easy!

I have a original Blue Note Lp Somethin' Else from 1958 (stereo version) and it sounds AMAZING! Mine must have been played 1000+++ times (maybe 10k times) has noise but you can tell the level of the recording is just mind boggling. To think they did that in 1958 and then the garbage from the early CD era. What you can tell is that those old heavy Lp's stood up wayyyy better than later era vinyl. Much harder and heavier. I really can not hear any wear in the record, noise yes but no wear.

The only thing I am struggling with is to get a handle on the CAST vs. VSF and everyone wondered if one could even hear the difference. That could not be farther from the truth they do not even sound close to VSF. Biggest difference from any cap I have heard.

On the noisy Blue Note record it is the CAST that cuts noise by 90%? I know that is shocking but true. I can listen to either the CAST speaker or both but not the VSF in comparison.

The VSF though do seem to give air around the instruements better. The VSF's are looser the CAST the ultimate in detail and noise reduction. The air from the VSF does make things come alive more.

My ideal might be some combination of the two. I am hoping (praying) the mixing will give me both the air and noise reduction. Maybe the best of both world's.

I have put a request out to Stormen to see if he has ever mixed and which should go first? (in series) I remember reading someone said it was like cooking a little of this a little of that for best results. I am going to mix today and see.

I hope the sum of the two is better than each seperate.

Well here goes a CAST for noise reduction and a VSF for a bit of air. Please!
danmyers
135 posts
 
Regarding the era of poor CDs, I mean that the CDs published in the 80s and early 90s of bands from the 60s, 70s, 80s, generally sound very bad. As you noted with albums, there are always exceptions, but they are typically not mainstream labels.

Overall, I enjoy my SACDs as they have a nice analog sound to them. Of course, the format can't make bad source material sound good, and I have some SACDs that just make me want to cry because the songs are great, but they sound like you're listening to them on a cheap AM radio. No matter, the SACD format is dead and I suppose Blu-ray HD is the next thing to try. You should be able to catch this wave and bring some high res digital to your horns.

Volley, I haven't played a record since the early eighties. I made the mistake of selling all my records for next to nothing. Not sure if it's the nostalgia, or it's for real, but I do recall analog sounding better on much less expensive equipment than I have now :) Of course, I do remember the hiss, the scratches, alignments, the rumble, and hearing footsteps as people ran through the house. No perfect solution I suppose, just an endless series of trade-offs.

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