2. speakers
  3. 1211428524

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
 
I just can't get over it. I have spent more time listening to the Silver vs. stranded copper and the difference is big, very big!

The Silver is MUCH more dynamic. It also is MUCH more natural sounding. I have always wanted to know if Steen was correct on plastic giving the sound of plastic. I know it is true his capacitors do not sound like plastic but there could be many factors as construction etc.

Well the plastic coated speaker wire for sure sounds more platic but I still do not know for 100% as one wire is copper stranded plastic coated and one solid flat silver Silk, cotton wrapped.

So is it the stranded wire? or the plastic coating? I really can still only guess.

I suspect the solid wire (Silver) keeps the signal intact.

I suspect the stranded wire garbles, dulls and muffles the sound jumping from strand to strand.

I wish some more guys to test the wire. I think you will be very impressed. Try in a low cost area as yes the Duelund Silver sounds much better but a $25 a foot (two strands for speaker wire) compared to less than $5 for the stranded copper it should.

Frederik I know I have asked before but can you make Autoformers? My whole crossover would be Duelund then or is this something that is much different to make than an inductor?

Thanks

I can say for certain I am really dragging my feet on using the Silver wire as hook up in my other speaker as one fully Silver wired (except woofer) speaker is more enticing than 2 speakers using copper stranded speaker wire.
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Running an almost all Duelund signal through one channel. Still have one Jensen cap in the pre-amp.

I am curious for electronics is Duelund is worth the extra over Jensen. Tony has not tested Jensen Copper Paper tube yet. I find it MUCH better than ampohm but can not yet say compared to Duelund VSF.

Soon the Silver wire goes into the speaker and I am going to compare Jensen vs. Duelund.
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
It looks like new competition.

I was reading on Jimmy's site about the new Vcap Copper Teflons. Anyone tried them? I will not be as I am almost done.

Just want to hear Jensen vs. Duelund VSF.

Jimmy has been very accurate in my mind.
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Test of Jensen vs. Duelund VSF

The Duelund for sure has the richer tone. A more liquid sound in the midrange but it seems the Jensen Paper Copper Tube is more dynamic.

Now some joked about this but the Jensen is bigger cap. In every case I have tried the larger cap is more dynamic. So at what point is the cap big enough???

This is all from memory. Going to a better comparison with both speakers wired. Just wanted to hear an (almost) all Duelund all Silver wired set up.

As it stands right now I am going to stick with what I have. (which is a mix of Jensen Duelund in the amp)

Duelund VSF strength (tone, tone tone) everytime I have added a Duelund I pick up sounds of more instruments.

Jensen Copper Paper Tube (swing) Like Jimmy had said on his site the cap has excellent swing. I suspect that the Jensen has more in common with the CAST.

CAST might be the answer for best of both worlds. (at a very high cost)

Will try the Ampohm vs. Jensen as well but can already say Jensen is in a different league in the bottom end.
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Speaker all wired up. End of that experiment.

Testing 2 Duelund VSF vs. Jensen and Ampohm. Ampohm was still in and later vs. 2 Jensens.

Of note.
Duelund Copper very tough to work with. I had no woofer for awhile did not get the wire clean enough. That silk really must be cleaned off. Not a big deal but the Silver is much easier to work with.
More to discover