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
Salectric, thanks for the tip on the North Creek inductors. I have had them in the crossover for about 50 hours. They replaced the Solen stock inductors of a very thin gauge. The NC inductors I used were 10 guage and about 3-4 times the size.

I was was little concerned the Q value would change as the NC inductors have far lower DCR values. As low as .04! I knew the sound would change, but was not sure if it would be better or need more tweaking by using resistors. My crossover has no resistors in it.

Well I learned a great deal because of this upgrade. I have never changed inductors before and felt they may not be as important as caps and resistors. I was wrong. Very wrong.

No need to add resistors as the result is stellar.

The NC inductors improved the sound as much as a Duelund cap vs Solen.

I will let these inductors settle in and then upgrade the caps to Jupiter.

$435 upgrade to a $16,000 speaker turned out to be wonderful. Thanks again for the tip!
Excellent news Grannyring! I am glad the North Creek inductors worked well with your speakers. They certainly do with mine. As I said before, I would not be shocked if the Duelund CAST inductors are even better but you have to draw the line somewhere. For my values, the two pairs of North Creeks ran about $650 total and the CAST inductors would have been $6500(!) at full retail.
I read with interest the comments and opinions above. I have been using Mundorf S/I/O caps, Deuland resistors, and Goertz 12 ga. inductors in my custom Tannoy HPD's for years now.

While the purchase of Dueland Cast capacitors are beyond my budget, Cast resistors and North Creek incuctors may not be.

It's something to consider, at least, and leads to speculation on my part as to how efficacious such a change might be. There's only one way to find out, I suppose.

I too, appreciate the input and information provided on this thread, and many others, and it has had a direct and positive impact on the quality of my music listening.

Regards,
Dan
Bill

Maybe the inductor change worked for you and not for me because your speakers have no level matching requirements.
If the inductor gauge of the Solens were both 16 gauge and the North Creeks were both 10 gauge it seems that any DCR difference would be linear and track with the drivers. Man that made my head hurt. Tom
I'm assuming that to build a better inductor, you'd need to worry about better wire, larger gauge wire and resonance control - does that sound even remotely correct?

I have a speaker manufacturer that has offered to do the job for me with his own "method" but, frankly I have no idea what that means...lol

Bill and Tom - I'm reading your posts about inductors and only some of it makes sense to me (naturally)......

Maybe I need to ask a specific question here - what does one look for in a high quality inductor? I think that could be a good place to start.....

Tas