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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
 
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...
audiolabyrinth's avatar
audiolabyrinth
4,555 posts
 
The speakers I was talking about that were made from 1992 for three years are one of the best speakers I have EVER heard at any price are make of speakers, no, they are no where the best, if there is a such a thing, they are 30hz to 27khz and cross over at 900 hz everything stock, They are the vintage 4-way bi-amp JBL L-7 speakers, I have looked inside them before, they have these huge caps and it looks like a big wound transfomer?, These speakers are three foot from the wall behind the speakers, and 3 foot from the side walls of each side of the speakers, nearly 7ft apart, and 5 degrees toe in, this took me three months of heart ache to position, inside fireing 12 inch woofers speakers are odd to set up in a room, However, I can tell you, I am quite happy with the out come, the deepest, tallest, widest sound stage, with uncanny bass slam, natural, non fatiging speakers, with precise tonal balance I have owned or listened to in many years, I have nearly listened to all the big names in speakers, $80,000.00 speakers-wilson grand slams to Avalons etc..., The biggest tweeks I have done so far to these speakers is the addition of the Tara labs Omega jumper cables for the four post on each speaker, and still points footers for getting the cabinet to be more inert, I do not ever want a speaker cabinet to be over built, LOL!, the speakers cannot breath the music thru out properly to me, I have listened, to speakers that was all about the cabinets strengths, sounded like crap to me!, this may amuse you fellows here, However, I am very happy with these speakers, and in the end, that's what counts, I want to learn from all of you, I cannot imagine these speakers getting any better, I believe all of you,I know you guys know what you are talking about, and when it comes to the caps for speakers and everything else all of you are talking about on this thread, well then, I am just a newbie to this subject, I have no exsperience in, and have never done these up-grades in my life, so I am all ears here!, cheers.
tasouli
39 posts
 
Hi again everyone

I'm at around the 100 hour mark and I have to say, I thoroughly agree with Grannyring - DON'T listen to your speakers while the burn in process is below 100 hours!! There were times that I thought they sounded so wrong that I began to wonder about my decision to upgrade. Only momentarily mind you. I know enough from you folks to understand changes that were happening.

At the moment I believe I have an amazing sound but I believe the high frequencies can still be aggressive or too loud at times - depending on source material. I have a hunch I'm a few hours yet from full burn in. Interested to hear you say that you found that as well Charles.

Something I can say without doubt now is just how much more information these speakers are allowing through than before the upgrade. For instance, I don't believe I've ever been made to pay attention to the warmth/readiness my digital source before now. I used to just turn it on (from standby) and listen. Not now - I simply cannot listen to it for at least 30 minutes. It just sounds so wrong before that stage. I can really hear any limitations of my digital source. I will definitely be investigating some upgrades for my player as well. I keep wondering what effect a CAST cap or two will have with that....actually, why not Jupiter!!

It may be a good time to ask this question, I have a Meridian 800 version 4 as my digital source. I've upgraded the power supply to linear with excellent results. Could anyone here recommend an approach to determining which capacitors I might look at changing over in this unit to improve its analogue output? There is a group in my city called Soundlabs who do this kind of thing but I'd rather do it myself if possible.

Tas
salectric
751 posts
 
My Duelund CAST resistors just arrived today so I will be able to compare the CAST to the regular Duelund resistors I have been using the last year or two. I will post some details after I am sure the new resistors are fully broken in.

I also have another pair of CAST capacitors on order so I will have CAST caps on the woofer as well as the tweeter.
roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,982 posts
 
Grannyring,
Did you receive my PM?
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