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
In traveling around to hear other systems one can hear strengths and weakness of their own.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1315679530&openflup&32&4#32

In this recent forum someone had just heard a set of Klipschorns and noticed right away their strengths and weaknesses. In the area of weakness image depth. It is my belief to a large extent image depth is created by Audio. Whenever I listen to live music I close my eyes and can not tell who is in front of whom. There is also image overlap. I hear separation only in Audio but not live. The instruments will overlap and crowd each other.

I am not saying it is bad what is done in Audio with depth but is it real? On the downside Klipschorns can not by nature produce depth in image. Is it there in the room? maybe? I should say they can but the image needs to be shrunk by the pre-amp to be very small so you can have front to back depth. I would assume anyone who like Khorns loved the life sized sound.

So all comments in this thread have all been about improving image tonality and no cap has made the speakers have great depth.

Still burning in the VCap Cuft.
I am not sure if others have done this but I have tested my ears on my wife's iPhone and should disclose I have the poorest frequency extension of hearing in the family. I think around 15khz. My wife 16khz and the kids around 18khz.

So I am the one commenting on audio with in at least by some measures the poorest hearing in the house, but am the only one who cares!
Volleyguy,

We don't listen just thru our ears. We should include other mass forms of our body. Skin, muscle, fat {darn it] bone and other body hair all become receptors for musical enjoyment. I think a seasoned experienced listener who may have lost some hearing sensitivity can make up for it and more by recognizing and using all textural areas of their body. Tom
Tom
For sure and by no means did I not mean some of these Audio terms such as sound stage are not truly enjoyable, but are they real or created? (for our enjoyment)

I have heard that theory before on body hair being a receptor for high frequency and known as a possible reason many do not find CD as enjoyable as vinyl or high res digital that can go beyond the ear sensitivity range that CD was designed for.