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
michaelvv
52 posts
 
Duelund , thanks for this info. When i have finish the break-in on my V-CAP CuFT i will decide what should go into my Tannoys HPD-385A.
How big is the difference between your VSF-cu and the CAST-cu ???
/Best Michael
michaelvv
52 posts
 
V-Cap CuFT update.

Yesterday a friend of mine and I had a listening session to celebrate the +125 hours on this Teflon babies.
I borrow his pre-amp +190 hours , and modified 6c33 monos +125 hour , and we started the show.

We was playing om mine modified Tannoy's HPD-385a 303 Liters with Clarity Caps + jantzen polink coil.

First thing too observe. These teflon has a dynamic level which impress me again and again. As yolleyguy has mentioned these could sound "thin" but they have improved a lot over the last weekend , so we just have to put more time into them.

We was listening too a lot of different music but i will just list a few bands/artist which was extraordinary.

Bob Marley - Survival , what a timing and what a dry bass.
Chick Corea - Five Trios CD 5 , this drummer is playing like sitting just in front of me. I can recognize and feel the thickness of his drum sticks.
Mahler symphonie no 1 - Just newbie to more advanced classical music but i was nearly dropping my coffee cup several times , under this inferno of dynamic ranges. I can hear the lowest level in the music very clear , without disturbing my concentration.
Frank Zappa - Roxy & Elsewhere. On Penguin in Bondage there are some microphone feedback ringing under the intro it just sound so real. What a live recording and i had have it for 25 years -:)
Sarah MclachLan - Duet with Emmylou Harris , Angel Live when they are singing together it is hard no too be emotional moved. Christ i could kill some from the audience.
Cyndi Lauber - Memphis Blues , The Number Crossroad please check up on you microphone cyndi it's so noisy.
Eva Cassidy - Songbird , fields of gold this number was a little too high frequency leaned before now it's just amazing. What a voice , sorry for her destiny.

Cause it's on borrow amps , and my power amps 6c33 is not v-capped yet , the conclusion is yet they need more time. Even the warm in the music is starting to show up now.

One thing about V-Cap they run fine with other brands of caps , that is for sure. Could be fun to have some Duelund in my crossover , still saving up.

Will try to do one more review next weekend , then the power amps should be returned , almost crying.

Thanks michael


duelund_coherent_audio
110 posts
 
Michael,

I certainly think, that the CAST is in a league of its own. But quite a few users in this thread could probably answer that, without the question of my obvious bias...
face
516 posts
 
I agree, the difference between CAST and VSF is more than subtle.
k2_nl
13 posts
 
Frederik,

Can you please have a look at my question described a few posts earlier regarding my slightly disappointing experiences a few years ago with the 630 V Cast Cu foil caps (coupling caps in a preamp). The Cast caps had been playing for a couple of hundred hours and in the end only slightly outperformed the standard Jensen Cu foil (alu tube).

While this is quite in contrast to for instance Volleyguys experiences I wondered if this could have been the result of the fact that these Cast caps were actually the first produced by Duelund. I remember this fact very well from our emailconversations in the past. Maybe later generations of the Cast caps used different design/materials??? Very curious if this is really the case.

BTW: the tests were performed by a Dutch top designer. He got the caps on loan from the Dutch company De Audiofabriek while the guys of this company were very curious to hear from that specific designer how the performance of these caps was.

The system of the designer is of a quite high standard (see description above), the parameter the designer puts most interest in is "tonality".

The "weakest link" of the caps used in his system is Jensen and AudioNote PIO copperfoil caps. There's not any poly there.

Where the system revealed subtle differences after a long time between the alu tube Jensen PIO copperfoil and the Cast Duelund with the Cast Duelund being slightly better than the Jensen, the difference between the alu tube Jensen and the paper tube Jensen was more significant and immediate with the paper tube being clearly better than the alu tube.

Cheers,

Kees
More to discover