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
It seems like someone else has heard the magic of the vintage amps. Got the caps replaced and end of the magic.

So JohnK is it just "my tastes" or is their really something to foil caps. I already know the answer.

I am glad I have kept one all original EL84 Fisher to have as a reference for the Jensen vs. Duelund test because the cheap alternative is just the vintage amp but like many said on the other thread the vintage does have faults. Faults in dynamics but for sure not tone and aliveness.
I'm a little confused. Are you saying that when you replaced the caps in the amp with the Duelund VSF, that's when you lost the magic?
Sorry Sherod for the confusion.

No I was just posting a link of a guy who owned a vintage amp (who loved it) with foil caps got it back from being overhauled (no doubt with poly) and it lost the magic. I too found the same with my speakers. It was much harder than I thought to replace the vintage foil caps and get something as good or better. That is where Duelund came in. It was only then did I find a cap better in all ways. I had mentioned when I heard all foil (for the first time) from amps to speakers one would have to deaf not to realise there is something real about the sound.

In the amp I only have used foil caps, Duelund and Jensen. I had heard the same story as the link I have posted (changing to poly caps) so many times I did not even do it.

As Frederik said even Steen stayed with vintage caps till his own went in. (VSF) In that other thread that Atmashere said

"Most older paper coupling caps while not very good performers were in fact very nice sounding and are actually sought after for some of their qualities".

The gist of that thread was (to me) while replacing caps you get better low end freq less noise but can lose the "magic". Magic is hard to measure as opposed to S/N of which poly would excel.

We need a magic meter! (just kidding) Something that could measure how accurate the instrument sounded.