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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
 
Now at around 10+ hours.

When the Duelund went in the speakers it was not many hours and I was shocked at how easy it was to pick out every instrument.

I can't say that is happening with the Jensen. (as far as new tonality) I can say (but Jimmy already did) is that that cap has great swing! I am already listening almost exclusively to the speaker with the Jensen.

The musical message is much better than the vintage now. This is an enjoyable cap to listen too.

I will be installing another as the pre-amp coupling cap.

As always I like to leave one signal original and change part by part.

I will be interesting to see where Tempo puts this cap. IMO it is better than a Mundorf Supreme. (I have not put Mundorf into electronics)

I am excited to see if the Duelund adds tonality in electronics like they do in the crossover.

Speaking of that Frederik is that cap and inductor coming?
phildsp
2 posts
 
03-12-09: Dgarretson
You will have even more shocking results using the Clarity MR on your woofers than the tweeters :-)

03-12-09: Undertow
Thats where the clarity really excells, best bass I have heard from any system, WAY more impact than any mundorfs have in Low frequency response as you state above.

How were you guys evaluating the bass response? With an MR cap in the shunt position of the woofer low pass filter? Or the series position of a midrange bandpass filter?
In a second order or still higher filter?

Does the better MR capacitor in the shunt position provide a significantly noticable improvement or is it a great amount of overkill to put an array of very expensive caps (for the large values needed) where they shunt the out of band signal to ground?
dgarretson
2,601 posts
 
Merlin VSM is a two-way with a second-order crossover-- one series cap in tweeter section & one shunt cap in woofer section. You can easily hear what the cap in woofer section is doing from 2200hz crossover down to around 30hz. In other applications I've also found that improvements to shunt cap make a difference.
face
516 posts
 
For large values in the the LF circuit, you can probably get by using a smaller value MR to bypass a cheaper film cap.

I found a very noticeable difference using MR's in the shunt position(parallel notch) of my Tannoy's HF circuit. I've also used them in the shunt position of my custom speaker's midrange and woofer. There I found the difference in the LF subtle in comparison though.

IMO, they're the next best thing to the Duelund CAST.
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Face

Have you tried this new Jensen?

We may have a new #3 cap in the world? CAST, VSF and then Jensen Copper Paper Tube? It will be interesting where Tony puts this cap but it is going to be very high!

I sure concur with Jimmy's affection for this cap.

I have ordered a few more for later this week when the Duelund inductor comes in.
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