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
$500 for caps? Fostex t90a $300 pair, t900a under $800. With a just a solen would do better than the klipsch tweeter no mater what cap you use. With a mundorf silver gold even better....
Johnk I can not say about the Fostex tweeter as I have not heard them. I have to replace my caps with out a doubt as they are worn out. I am going to do the caps first no doubt. I can very much look at new tweeters when the time comes. How do they blend in with the Klipsch drivers in the midrange? Are they both balanced out nicely?
Talked to partsconnextion. 3-4 week for custom caps from Duelund. The cost is in between 10uf and 15uf.

The problem is I keep coming back to the Duelund/Supreme for the tweeters.

The high freq noise of the vintage caps (midrange) is taken away by the Supreme/Duelund combo. The problem with this is trying to assess how much distortion is coming through the mid cap and what it's affect is? I tried putting the Sonicap in the midrange for tuning purposes and they do reveal that my midrange caps are distorting which I am not surprised. On the other side the Sonicaps really hold back any of the gains of the Duelund/Mundorf. The whole speaker sounds flat with them.

I really think having the reference of original there is very valuable to anyone doing this. (if you basically like the original) You can keep coming back to them to see what it was you like and see what is the faults you do not like.

When you replace caps the first thing you notice is what you now have. When the Sonicaps went in (whole speaker) I noticed the lack of noise and went Wow! Then after awile you realise what you don't have. The dynamic live feel why I liked the speakers in the first place was gone. (why I put them up for sale is I thought new caps might not have it)

My options are 10uf Duelund paired with 3.3uf Supreme (and wonder would 13uf duelund be even better) or 13uf Duelund built and add a Supreme by later if needed?

To me I would think 10uf would give almost all that the Duelund could give and 3.3 Supreme could not lower it in any way.

I agree with Tempo on the Mundorf Supreme
"It is rich, detailed, and full-bodied, though a bit softer sounding than the Duelund VSF" (I feel slightly rougher sounding)

The softening in horns is not a bad thing!

I do love what the Duelund does with one tweeter cap but do not like the second? The problem is is the reason the worn midrange cap causing the problem? The connection is midrange to tweeter caps so for sure whatever the midrange cap does goes to the tweeter caps. Or is Tempo right run two types of caps on any circuit you can?

I have put the lonely SIO back in with the Mundorf Supreme for the weekend to burn some hours on it and to feel comfortable with the Mundorf Supreme order I am going to make on Monday.

For Klipsch guys in my opinion all three have the dynamics that as a Klipsch owner you are looking for. The Supreme is a screaming good deal. I guess there is a reason that cap dominates the OEM (higher end) market.

One thing for certain all three are very good caps! In my opinion you can not go wrong with any of the three. The Duelund's take you into uncharted territory that your Klipsch will have never sounded like!

Very excited about next week as I am almost certain to get off the shelf Duelund/Supreme combo for the mids.
Supremes are alright the silver golds are much much better but costly. I mostly use silver oil or silver gold