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
hi Reynolds853

The Mundorf s/g/o i have used in my HPD-385a Tannoy is only
replacing the 1.5uF in the signal path.

I have just ordered a pair of claritycaps 4.7uF for the other caps in the signal path.

Tannoys are a little laid back , so using the Mundorf does not tilt the sound to the too much high frequencies.

I'm having only Tube Amps so my setup is not aggressive at
all.

/Michael

This is a very interesting thread.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1308149563&read&keyw&zzmarantz

This is basically what started this thread. After having my new gear blown away so clearly by vintage this thread started on the why, not whether it was but simply to figure out why?

I would have bought a Marantz vintage pre and amp but you do not go and change parts in a valuable vintage piece. So I used pedestrian Fisher amps to test.

I have not heard a Marantz but have no doubt they sound fantastic. Look at the size of the coupling caps. Marantz 9

http://pic8.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/image?ampstube&1312686115&pic&class&i/c/f/1273441533.jpg&Marantz-Model--9-(Original)

They are MUCH bigger than the ones Fisher used at the time the Vishay ERO caps. Marantz at least was aware of this affect even then. So was Fisher as the better models would have more bigger caps. (physical size)

When changing to the Jensen Copper Paper tube they were MUCH more dynamic (and wayyyy bigger) then the original. The VSF even better.

One thing of this thread was you just do not go throw in new coupling caps and be better than the original vintage ones easy. By the looks of the size of the Marantz coupling caps one better be ready to spend $$$ to replace them as with as good....
Hi VolleyGuy

Have you tried the VSF as decoupling Caps in some of your vintage Fisher
Amps ?? I have heard from a company here in Denmark who have done
a lots of upgrade on existent pre-amp. The said that a lot of people who have
bought quite expensive tube pre-amps was shocked about the difference in
sound quality.
For sure Micheal.

I have VSF in the Fisher. Big difference and that is from Jensen Copper Paper Tube which was even a bigger difference from vintage.

I am looking into going all VSF and CAST for the entire signal chain.

The only spot I have not tried VSF is the pre-amp section and the phone section.
Hi VolleyGuy. Yesterday I replaced the 2.0 uF caps in my friends la Scale like yours. He's not on the same budget so i have choosed the ClarityCaps MR.
After installing the CAPS the noice level from the orig caps was gone. He need to do a lot of burn in time but it was amazing. He asked me for doing the same for the 13UF , but according to you , it would require very expensive caps from for instance duelund. I think i had read that even VSF would not be a big upgrade. You have not tried any other PIO as for instance ampohm etc.
/Best Michael