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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
xneakers
1 posts
 
Hi Volleyguy,
Nice thread here. Wait until the 200+ hours and you will soon find out the Jensen is not bad at all. Well, it's not on the level with Duelund, but at its price, I can't go no where.

Thanks.
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Thanks Xneakers

I was not to concerned with the first few hours but it is really shocking how bad caps can sound at first. I am hoping the Jensen works out well for me as well until I can afford to replace with Duelund's.

I wish Jimmy had put the VSF in his test.

So far the Jensen is very tight and not very natural sounding (no air or top end) but does make the vintage phono stage sound very modern. So all in all I am excited as I think a vintage weaknness is that phono stage cap.

I think I understand why the vintage pre amps like Fisher CX400II's go for such big $. They have MUCH larger caps than say the int.. So this was known many years ago. Now will a int. amp sound great with much bigger caps? I hope so.
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
At around 5-7 hours now and I took out the North Creek inductor so each speaker is exactly the same as the Jensen was starting approach the sound quality of the vintage cap. Which is much better than when it went in!

Vintage still has the edge in tonality at this point but sounds flat. The Jensen Copper paper tube is getting much better, Jensen sounds quieter and more dynamic and now smoother as well. At this pace it should not take long to be better in every regard than the vintage.

That will make more confident to contemplate spending Duelund kind of money on a vintage amp. To be honest I did not know if the phono stage was fundementaly flawed or just a poor cap?
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Now at around 10+ hours.

When the Duelund went in the speakers it was not many hours and I was shocked at how easy it was to pick out every instrument.

I can't say that is happening with the Jensen. (as far as new tonality) I can say (but Jimmy already did) is that that cap has great swing! I am already listening almost exclusively to the speaker with the Jensen.

The musical message is much better than the vintage now. This is an enjoyable cap to listen too.

I will be installing another as the pre-amp coupling cap.

As always I like to leave one signal original and change part by part.

I will be interesting to see where Tempo puts this cap. IMO it is better than a Mundorf Supreme. (I have not put Mundorf into electronics)

I am excited to see if the Duelund adds tonality in electronics like they do in the crossover.

Speaking of that Frederik is that cap and inductor coming?
phildsp
2 posts
 
03-12-09: Dgarretson
You will have even more shocking results using the Clarity MR on your woofers than the tweeters :-)

03-12-09: Undertow
Thats where the clarity really excells, best bass I have heard from any system, WAY more impact than any mundorfs have in Low frequency response as you state above.

How were you guys evaluating the bass response? With an MR cap in the shunt position of the woofer low pass filter? Or the series position of a midrange bandpass filter?
In a second order or still higher filter?

Does the better MR capacitor in the shunt position provide a significantly noticable improvement or is it a great amount of overkill to put an array of very expensive caps (for the large values needed) where they shunt the out of band signal to ground?
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