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
I have put back in the vintage foil caps in the midrange.

The sound is much smoother voices more real. Instruments do not have that jagged edge of poly caps. All poly caps I have tried are the biggest downgrade you can make to the sound.

I have put the order through.
I went with Duelund CAST midrange and 2 Duelund CAST tweeter caps.

I could not pull the trigger on the inductors. Although I am sure they are an excellent product I just do not know how much better they would be then current vintage inductors or Alpha or Mundorf Inductors. I know the Poly affects the sound but I do not know how much on the inductor it does. I think Poly is a skin effect thing and that is high freq. At Alpha or Mundorf prices I can try and see if they are better than vintage at Duelund prices you just have to know what the effects are going to be.
The Teflon caps are here.

I am going to listen to some vintage mid caps put the Mundorf's back in and then leave the Mundorf's and bypass with Russian Teflon.

So far favorite tweeter caps
1. Duelund/Duelund
2. Duelund/Supreme (maybe Silver in Oil after time the tilt to the high end calms down)
3. Supreme/Silver in Oil (only have one SIO)
4. Sonicaps
5. vintage (wayyyyy to much noise)

Fav's in the midrange (Duelund not here)
1. Vintage Foil caps that come with speakers (by a long shot)
2. Mundorf Supreme (dynamic but fake and rough sounding)
3. Sonicaps (not near dynamic enough

I have no idea what to expect of Teflon as a bypass.
Retesting the vintage and Mundorf's. The gap is closing with the Mundorf's as they break in. (compared to vintage)
On the plus side Mundorf brings out more bass.
They still sound rougher than the vintage and always sound fake but they are quieter. They have a "stereo" sound to them vintage foil has a "real" sound.

I will put in Teflon for bypass.
I put what I thought was the Teflon at only .44 of 12.7uf total value and thought the sound was smoothed out somewhat.
I find out those were the Paper in Oil ones. I was surprised to be honest of any change with such a small bypass. But the change was real.

It would have been interesting to try a pile of the Russian Paper in Oil.

I have the Teflons in now.
I have the Russian Teflon and the Russian K40y-9 PIO. I really liked what the PIO did when they first went in. I thought they were teflon's (Russian caps you can't what they are) but they seemed to smooth things out. With the Teflon it does not sound as good.

In another cap review I hear they are considered one of the best Russian caps. Ahhh another guy who thinks all plastic caps sound like plastic! I was shocked to find a small by pass reduces the plastic sound of poly caps.

quote from someone else on these caps.

"I must thank “Bob B” and “Les Lemmars” for kindly loaning me these K40y caps. After the usual rocky burn-in ritual, this PIO cap settled into a confident, natural sounding device. There are some audiophiles who rank these PIO caps as the best of the Russian military caps, including the FT-3 and K72 teflon caps. I may agree with this sentiment when it comes to utter naturalness and ease of presentation as well as the lack of a subtle “plastic” sound, which of course all plastic (film) caps have".