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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
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Thanks Fas948 that is what I would expect but have never done an amp upgrade. Heck until I read Steen's paper on what matters in a system I would always have just bought new gear. After the cap (Duelund VSF and CAST) upgrade in the speaker not only the best money I spent I now understand why guys mod gear.

I did want to ask you did you come from plastic caps in the amp before? If that was the case I can easily imagine the change as it would be a fundemental change from no plastic as well as quality change.

Until I rebuilt my speakers I was on the upgrade itis that companies have you on. That is when I found Arthur's site and he said there had not been any real big improvements in amps in 40 years and if a company told there was they were lying. Then finding out from Frederik that even Steen used vintage caps until he made his own convinced me we were not really on the right track.
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Vintage Mica caps? Steen talked about these being very good sounding. Anyone ever heard them? Wikipedia says they were manually intensive and high cost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_mica_capacitor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_(component)
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
I have put the CAST back in one speaker in the tweeter and the VSF in the other just to see if my earlier impressions were still the same and whether I should buy VSF coupling or CAST but I kind of had my mind made up on this even before hearing again.

For sure a large part of me agrees with Dgarretson on balance.

Not doing this again as I only end up frustrated. It shouldn't be but it is.

The CAST make the bass way tighter, deeper and easier to follow. I know they are tweeter caps but they cut noise so much they tilt the sound downward and make it even more natural. For all the guys on here singing the praises of CAST over even VSF saying it is a whole different level they are right but Frederik the prices! Frederik I would love to go CAST everywhere but would have to re-mortgage the house to do it! They should be standard on highend gear. To bad all gear was not made with these caps.

I going to switch back and put one CAST and one VSF in (and I was very happy) before I do something stupid.
face
516 posts
 
I did some more testing with Claritycap MR's and Duelund VSF's and am truely
stumped. I had an 6.8uf VSF on my tweeter and the soundstage was amazing, then
I ran 3.3uf, 2.7uf, and .82uf MR's in parallel(to achieve 6.8uf) and the
soundstage sucked. For the hell of it, I decided to lower my crossover freq and
threw a 10uf MR on my tweeters and the soundstage opened up just like the VSF. So it
appears using 3 caps to make up the value I needed could have been the issue. Now with the
MR's, it's more dynamic with a blacker background, with slightly better separation, but sometimes cymbals are a little
sharp. In comparison believe the VSF's may have a slight edge in tonality. Which
leads me to this, has anyone tried both the CAST's and MR's? If the CAST's have all of the
MR's characteristics with the tonality of the VSF, then we have a winner, then the only issue left is cost(ouch!)

Best of all though, my speakers measure even flatter with the larger value, I just hope I don't exponentially lower the life span of my tweeters. :D
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
I have parts coming and am getting on to fixing up an amp.

Anyone ever try VCap Teflons in Electronics? I am starting to weigh size and price options.

I would love Duelund but price and size might be a problem.
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