2. speakers
  3. 1211428524

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
mikirob
950 posts
 
Volleyguy1,
You should likely stick to silver $1,800 dollar or higher priced cables. You obviously appreciate silver and marketing bucks of various cable manufacturers. This is NOS WE wire. No one to market it. When this is gone it is gone. My next line is tongue in cheek with smiley faces: when you get your hearing corrected I'll sell you some of this wire at Cable Company price for Shun Mook cables using this same WE16ga at over $3,000. Small warning, being NOS that price could go higher. Best, Rob
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
4,637 posts
 
Just like the wire run in for 100 hours or a little more. You will respect it in the end. I have no doubt. Forget the look, materials etc...and remain open minded. If you have the right WE wire, then will be impressed in the end.
volleyguy1's avatar
volleyguy1
334 posts
 
Grannyring

If it is better it is better.

I am only kidding about the pedestrian look.

I got the WE from the same seller you guys did.
volleyguy1's avatar
volleyguy1
334 posts
 
Update on one of the vintage amps.

In the past I had posted of two failed Duelund capacitors leaking and a few Jupiter caps very fragile leads breaking. 

Now in one of the amps in for service one of the Jensen capacitors has gone bad and was arching inside the cap.

I live in the same town as tube amp builder who does excellent work! He changed the amp from cathode biased to fixed bias. The amp although sounding GREAT was unstable. (he is not a fan of cathode bias?)

So this is his opinion (on the cap) not mine and I heard it and seen it on his test equipment. The cap had gone bad inside. 

He is not a fan of "exotic" caps as he calls them. (To me they are great sounding to him exotic) From his point of view of having amps come in from all over North America for repair I can see why. He simply could not have the failure rate I have had. He has seen 3 of my exotic caps go bad out of 15 to 20 caps of mine he has seen. (3 or 4 others he has not seen) I am sure he could not have a failure rate this high!


All that being said parts connection did make it right. 

I will have the amp back soon and with now 4 cheap (reliable) poly caps installed. 

I am am going to listen and see about leaving the poly caps in or replacing them.

I suspect they will be replaced...


The only exotic so far with no problems has been VCap's. Although I suspect their are more machine made? Jensen, Duelund and Jupiter more hand made? 

Not it exactly sure of the process?


This is not a rip on the exotic caps. I am for sure hooked! Even with the problems the sound difference is just way to big to ignore!



manolo
12 posts
 
I have been enjoying this thread since it started. I do not recall if I have posted in it previously. Some of the coupling caps I have tried and still are around in my Supratek Chardonnay linestage are Auricaps, circa 2010, Nothing special. Mundorf SIO's, very smooth and musical. Still use them once in a while. Rike S, nice and musical, don't remember too much about them. V-Cap tftf, not as smooth as the SIO's but very dynamic. Kind of cool sounding. A lot of detail, big sound. Still use them. Got a pair of 0.22 uf V-Cap Cutf's to bypass the tftf's. Did not really work too well. And then it ocurred to me to install these by themselves - all the above caps have a value of .68 -tftf V-Cap- to 1 uf, so .22 is not really optimal in this position. I guessed bass response would not be too strong..... which is the case.... but midrange, smoothness, soundstage and tone and depth qualities trump all others.... frustrating because getting larger value Cutfs would mean spending over $700!! which Zi won't and can't. The linestage output is transformer coupled and these caps are in their input, so it is not a matter of adding a high value resistor to ground after the cap. 

More to discover