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
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.
My wife is a pre-school teacher and was at a course today and part of it was about getting plastic furniture out of the room and going to wood.
The reason was static electricity. Seemed like right out of Steen's playbook.
Hi Volleyguy. How is life with your v-cap cuFT. My Pre-Amp and 6C33 have both over 400+ hours and it's like magic.
I never thought my Tannoys HPD-385A could play that deep bass. Of Course they are in 303 Liter of boxes measured inside , but anyway holy Christ.
The midrange and highs is so smooth and special female voices are fantastic.
I'm not thinking that much more on HI-FI , but i'm just happy with what i have done. I owe you a great deal of thanks , this thread is the one which really changed my view upon HIFI.
A funny thing.. My HIFI Tube builder had make a new very very delicate pre-amp.. He called me and said that it would perform better than my older SSRP coupled amp. So he brought it to my home and BANG it could not compete with my V-CAPPED amp. He have used the mundoft silver-gold-oil.
He just said to me.. You are right it need better caps.
michaelvv,

when I replaced the mundorf silver/gold in my omega duos a few years back with teflon v-caps it was an ear opener. the v-caps are in an entirely different league than the mundorfs. it's like going from a 911 to a F1 car!
Micheal

Still doing the burn in. I have been very busy lately getting ready to finish the basement for being a sound room. So spending more time on should I insulate for sound deadening reasons etc than the caps. I knew I was getting into a long break in with the VCaps so have just tried to stay relaxed.

In going out to hear all the Hi-Fi systems I could the one that struck me the most was the one I bought his CD player and DAC from. He works for a high end Audio store in Toronto I would guess for maybe 20 years. He did a fabulous job integrating his sub into the system. I was VERY impressed. His system was better than mine in one area his bass was integrated into the room almost. I listened to his quite modest system after hearing $100k+++ systems the same day.

How many guys are using subs? Most of the time I hear this they sound disconnected from the system. His was awesome!

Right now mine excels at tone compared to anything I have heard but can for sure be beat in bass. I need a sub.