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
Getting a baaaaad feeling I am going to wish I had of pushed for CAST for the midrange.
Volleyguy,
Did Dueland give you any idea of approximate time for break-in of the new Cast caps? I'm willing to wager that they need a couple of hundred hours to open up, hence the restrained mids and highs and accentuation of the bass effect. Give them some time. Turn your volume down for a week and watch some T.V. The World Series is on.
Duelund did say this is a quote from an e-mail

"The CAST has to my ears a quite lower noise floor than the VSF, right out of the box the HF may sound a little dulled on the CAST but this dissappears completely after 7 days".

I just wanted to say to everyone I am in no way disapointed with Duelund. Maybe my words confused some.

I only meant that the tweeter caps were such a MASSIVE improvement that the midrange was somewhat of a let down in comparison. That being said the Duelund tweeter caps was the biggest improvement I have ever heard in any upgrade including new sources or amps or anything.

Now piling on the the hours and I am not concerned.

Steen in his writings did say that foil caps or variations of the that were the way to go and did say some of the vintage were quite good. That is where Duelund gets there idea's from.

I am running the Duelund VSF in the midrange and the CAST tweeter caps. The caps are much faster in the midrange than the vintage. Almost like the CD running to quick.

Tommorow is the big day for me as I am hooking up the Lp12 which is my main concern anyway. I always thought the Karik a crappy CD player anyway.

I was only shocked that the CD player sounded good with the vintage cap (mid range) which I think is likely slow and round sounding to smooth out the digital.

With having the all vintage Klipsch there I can switch over at any second and do and always break out into laughter. At one point at the start of this thread I was not sure which was better the Klipsch or Linn speakers after hearing a Duelund crossover speaker both are just an absolute joke!
If you're not happy after a week with the Cast on the mids, pop the vintage oils back in( you already know you like them there) and focus on some of the other tweaks recommended in previous posts. Bottom line, just enjoy the music. The tweaks are a fun part of this hobby, but don't let them prevent your ultimate enjoyment of the music.
Sherod I have VSF for the mids and a set of CAST for the tweeters only. It is not that I am unhappy with the VSF in the midrange. It is likely as simple as the VSF's revealing the weak source. I suspect it is the slower vintage cap going through oil smoothing out the digital stair step sound. I am running 24/7 for break in. (don't want to pile the hours on cartridge)

Part of the reason for this is I did lots of reading on caps (tweaks) and guys would say they liked or did not like but I never knew what kind of improvement it meant for the buck.

The tweeter (Duelund) caps made at least 10x the difference from an old NAD Cd player to a Linn Karik or at least 10x the difference that I heard from a 1k pre amp to a $3k+ pre amp. In the store I have heard 3k CD player to the 6 or 7k CD player and the Duelund in just the tweeter caps is 10x that. So I am not unhappy with Duelund in the midrange as the vintage blew away the Mundorf's I tried. So the vintage was not weak in the first place as a 28 year old cap still sounded MUCH better than brand new (200 hours on) Mundorf Supreme.

I have personally e-mailed and thanked Duelund for making these fantastic foil caps.