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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
 
Johnk I have not completed a 200 hour on each just saying the Duelund's are insane! (that is one duelund and one Mundorf Supreme)

I am just very happy to be picking from improvement. The Sonicaps Gen (I) were like replacing old worn Porsche parts with Hyundai parts (new) they were not broke but left much to be desired. Not the dynamics of originals or realism.

One thing I think even you Johnk will agree is that horns reveal changes much more than regular speakers. Horns magnify all source amp and caps changes (now I find out)

What I can say is replacing the tweeter caps was beyond my wildest expectations. What impresses me most is that not only are the best CD's improved but so are the worst ones! I put on a James Brown Greatest Hits last night (one of the worst ones) the first 6 or so songs I thought were unlistenable before and they were wayyyyyy better. I find with many things I have done before (for sure in analog) it makes your best sound better and the worst sound even worse!

This is one of the few upgrades were I am searching for the downside. (except in my pocket)
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Sorry for the spelling mistakes it is of course Eleanor Rigby. I have been racing sometimes.
undertow
1,032 posts
 
Well again remember something the chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so you are ending up with 50% of this mind blowing sound from the mundorf being a part of the equation as well, meaning the dueland will not enhance information beyond what the mundorf is capable of in the first place, even if you are only running the dueland on the horns and the mundorf on your woofer.. So all in all your mundorf is probably dictating most of your flavor in combination regardless if the dueland is better or not.

In this case both are important contributing factors.. That being said no doubt the duelands are excellent, but I believe the Mundorf silvers are probably as good, but might take a certain application to show it. And yes over time the caps will sound different regardless.
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
A Day in the Life (Beatles) (one of their best in my opinion)

At the part where it goes from John singing to the orchestra to Paul. I always thought it was always violins and drums. There are horns there. Never heard them before!

These caps sort out stuff I did not believe possible! Classical music lovers would go nuts.

If you have read the post from the beginning you would know I had LOVED these speakers for a long time. Like Johnk LOVE the horn dynamics. Everything else was to boring. Then I got frustrated with the poor critical listening there were giving me. I could not tell one singer from another! I would have to go upstairs and listen to other system for when I wanted to crtical listen.

I would love to have a debate on what makes the Duelund so good. The vintage caps in oil always gave a very "live" feel but had reverb (maybe through the can?) that the Duleund's do not? Is it their hard encasing? I read something about cocoon silk all natural ingredients as well. As good as I think the originals I find the sound similiar with the Duelund's but better. A lot less loss of info.
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Undertow
I always understood if you run caps in parellal that you get a higher % of performance from the better cap?

That is another question for some cap guys. I will need a 13uf midrange cap and undstood that if I ran say a Mundorf Supreme 10uf and a Duelund 3.3uf you ended up with say a fairly high % of what was capable of the better cap?

Undertow I heard distict improvements going to even one Sonicap and a Mundorf Supreme. (very cost effective too)
I heard improvement again with the SIO and Supreme. Then again with a Duelund and Supreme. So it can not just be the weakest link. (must be some combination of the two)

I will be ordering a second Duelund to see if two are twice as good as one. I expect not but am not sure.

I do not mean to say anything against Mundorf either guys as I thought them VERY good and only upon installing the Duelund's things go to another level. Also I would not consider Duelund's unless one really liked their speakers and were going to hold on to them for life.

I will still be using Mundorf's with the Duelund's for a cost benifet. I just have a itchy trigger finger to start buying more (Duelund's) to get on with this but am going to do the burn in.

I am thrilled with the sound but of course like everyone else if a Supreme would do it for a fraction of the cost and not hear a difference of course that is what I would do.
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