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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
volleyguy1's avatar
volleyguy1
343 posts
 
Psvane's getting around 100 hours on them now. So far in early testing they are quiet but do not have the tonality of the Genalex Gold Lions. I am burning them in in the phase inverter section which they seem good in but have had them in the pre-amp several times. So far with a slight greyish tone? The difference so far is the Genalex makes the performance come alive and seem real the Psvane's more HiFi.

This thread started with value of parts idea. I would spend my money first on capacitors and for sure that over some obscure tube unless the tube is an investment? A Duelund CAST or even a Jensen Copper foil paper tube is massively bigger than many other capacitors the difference is tubes is not so great but I think this is to be expected as one tube is not 30x bigger than another like a capacitor can be.

When I bought my CAST tweeter caps there was not the volume discount on 630v types. Curious if the physically bigger ones sound better than 100v caps?
gut_man
10 posts
 
Finally i got my Duelund components. Installed them in my xovers yesterday, but had to go over everything this morning again. Playing my first couple of songs as i write. First impression is very good indeed. How long should i expect before the Duelund components are sounding as they should? What are your experience?
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
There was an immediate improvement in the sound with the CAST installed in my speakers and also my DAC. The sound quality steadily increased over the next several hundred hours it seems. I'd say most of the change occurred in the first 100 hours. I'd recommend them to anyone without a trace of hesitation.
Charles,
gut_man
10 posts
 
I also noticed immediate changes. Pretty big ones to. I have placed one CAST cu cap, one CAST PIO inductor and one VST Cap in my filter. The CAST PIO replaced my North Creek inductor. I had already changed all resistors to Duelund CAST. What i hear is a significant better separation, resolution and dynamics. Voices sounds wonderfully lifelike. My Fostex T500 supertweeters sounds nice and airy. I use the Duelund in my serial filter, feeding my satelites going from 100Hz and up. Bass is taken care of by my custom open baffle bass towers with 10x15" Great Planes Audio woofers.
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,130 posts
 
I just wanted to mention .I have documented many ,1,000 s of hours on capacitors and changes over the years. For Resistors hands down even the standard Duelund resistors are the best,their black case models even better.
Capacitor wise I agree the Duelund Cast are the best out their period.
If you have the $$ they even make a pure Silverfoil a Silk beeswax
Capacitor that a 3.3 u.f is actually over $1,300Each . I am told a full crossover can cost $20,000 in a set of speakers.the Rolls Royce of caps !!
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