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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
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,511 posts
 
Hi Marqmike,

My wife's system has the Mozart original speakers, not the newer Grands. But we love them! She won't let me touch her system with a soldering iron! She said leave it alone and I have obeyed.

One thing I did do based on a past Stereophile review was reverse the polarity on the tweeter which was mis-wired. I say mis-wired as both Stereophile and I noted the vast improvement with the wires reversed. The speaker opened up a ton and sounds fantastic with this done. My wife even agreed :-)

I am not sure the Grand has the same issue....I doubt it.
volleyguy1's avatar
volleyguy1
343 posts
 
Tas
This is fantastic and please keep us updated on the VSF Blacks. There has been much CAST talk but in my tweeter it is CAST followed by VSF on purpose. I have always wanted try the Blacks they say in the middle. I think they were made for Merlin? I would not hesitate to buy them for a second!
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
I'd never heard of Duelund until Grannyring began a thread about them roughly 2 years ago and this stirred my curiosity. Very soon afterwards I came across this thread and Volleyguy's postings simply hooked me in. Yes his single speaker comparison method was unusual but I completely understood his impressions and descriptive points. I loved my speaker's sound and had no real interest in buying something different(though always curious about PHY driver speakers and Horning). I thought, try the CAST and if I don't like it, remove them and stick with the stock Solen capacitor. The Solens cap will never see the interior of these speakers again. It wasn't a case of going from bad to good, it was instead, quite good to sublime. To his credit, Israel Blume got really good sound from an average capacitor.
Charles,
marqmike
843 posts
 
Thanks Grannyring. I think I will stay put. It is tempting to change stuff because it is so easy. But I hate breakin on things. And I don't want to go in the wrong direction. I appreciate the input a lot. Thanks again
volleyguy1's avatar
volleyguy1
343 posts
 
Charles
In doing the testing one part change at a time was done to avoid trying to do sound tests by memory which I thought could lead to the brain saying it is better because I spent $$$ on it.

Cost was another factor when I first bought Duelund parts one part seemed like enough money. If it did nothing and before this blog there was no body of people saying the same thing and to be honest my first CAST purchase i thought i might be nuts! All that money on a capacitor!! After a while I started buying in pairs installing one at a time. (when I knew kind of what to expect)

In amplifier tests cap tests I have done three vintage amps all same brand keeping the best sounding one all stock as a reference to go back too. Again to see is this real progress? It is the one I am currently using (now with cap problem) and it is still very good! It might be even better (with the vintage Vishay ERO caps) at realism in voices than the Duelund caps? If it is an acoustic recording maybe better? Vintage lacks dynamics though.

It has been said on here before the CAST are awesome but might lack a bit of air?

Tas might have the best caps? Has anyone compared the VSF Black to CAST? I have not only CAST to VSF.

What has shocked me as well is just like Tas's initial impression of his mods were very good how many times initial impressions stick...
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