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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
 
Nice Irish65

I would expect with Duelund tradition you will notice a difference.

You never really could say what you thought the difference was in Duelund vs. North Creek in inductors. To me the NC is good down low but hardens the sound.

I am going to keep the North Creek until my whole signal chain is at least Jensen Copper Tube type. I want to be exactly sure and fair to North Creek. One thing is with out a doubt Duelund is very unique (to me) and not one of those parts that reveal weakness in your system. They seem to go with the flow.

Both the North Creek and Deulund both reveal that the vintage 28 (or something like that) guage inductor is really choking off a lot of signal. Which of course only makes sense. The North Creek let you know you had problems upstream. There was more there and more problems. Duelund to me is so unique that things sound much better without screaming problems elsewhere.

I have more Jensens to install this afternoon. The Duelund coupling cap and more Jensen's are on back order and will be in later in the month. I suspect it will be a full Duelund signal path when I am done.
duelund_coherent_audio
110 posts
 
Irish65,

I'll give the short version. We are using a new tube fused with our CAST material, which both lowers resonance and allows heat to better "escape" the resistive element.

Further, we are using a new type of glue around the resistor, which better controls resonances through means of a low Q nature.

Initial reception has been quite positive, which is always nice.

Att: Volleyguy, glad you like the Wpio, Steen was very fond of the design.
duelund_coherent_audio
110 posts
 
76doublebass,

We are sharing a room with the Kaiser Kawero loudspeaker. It features a predominantly CAST based filter.

I hope to meet if you guys decide to show up.
face
516 posts
 
Fredrick, does it use the same leads as your other resistors?
ait
480 posts
 
From what I read, carbon composition resistors are the noisiest type - how does the Duelund resistor differ from an old carbon comp type, and why would this sound better than a bulk metal film? Is it because the graphite is not present as separate grains as in a carbon comp?

I have used the Texas Components TX2575 metal Z-films in electronics and they are incredibly clear sounding, although only 0.6W in power handling; I'm thinking that paralleling a few of those into a higher wattage for use on tweeters should sound better than a carbon-based resistor, no?
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