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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
jwm
918 posts
 
How about some good Cab. wine at NFS room in the Flamingo Hotel. Are you familiar with Anton and the NFS room.
volleyguy1's avatar
volleyguy1
343 posts
 
Barrysandy

I would say people knew about capacitors different sounds far before 1980. In the vintage amps I have better quality caps were used in key places in the 50's and 60's. West German Vishay ERO's used over generic caps in key spots.

A Marantz 7c has beefy caps and almost for sure not co-incidence.
duelund_coherent_audio
110 posts
 
Jwm,

All too familiar... ;)
volleyguy1's avatar
volleyguy1
343 posts
 
Break in should be near done.

When listening in stereo the mind focuses on the channel with the CAST.

When the balance goes back and forth the CAST side has (as Frederik mentioned) less amplitude.

Interesting. Does the mind focus on dynamics over volume?
oeaohoo
4 posts
 
Volleyguy, first off thank you for all your efforts and analysis in evaluating the Duelund caps..

Secondly in response to the above..I believe that it's the mind that does the responding to the volume whereas the eardrum responds to the amplitude/dynamics..here's why..

I'd been breaking in the Duelund Cast caps in my Almarro A205A MkII integrated tube amp for the past 3 or so weeks..I'd probably logged a couple of hundred hours so far..

My initial impressions were of a much reduced noise floor and a resultantly less full presentation..by that I mean less distortion, a blacker background..and consequently less haze. The haze I feel contributed to a fuller sound by masking the details..

Coming from Ampohm PIOs, and other similar caps, this was a sound I'd never heard before in caps, even with V-Caps. The Ampohms gave me that fuller euphonic sound, no doubt due to the increased inherent resonance and consequent haze.

However the Duelunds were a complete transformation. At first I couldn't work out why I had reduced volume..the music was there in abundance but there was no fullness to it..to compensate I kept on turning the volume up trying to get that, what I initially thought, was a richer sound I'd had with the Ampohms. This eventuated with me listening, at prolonged times, at pretty high dB levels >100db.

Probably not the wisest thing and I ended up with Tinnitus in one ear approximately a week ago and its still there..

This is were I reasoned that the dynamic punch or increased amplitude was the probable culprit and when I came on here to see what you and others had been finding, it pretty much confirmed what I had suspected.

So the eardrum paid the price for what the mind had been accustomed to and was lacking ie. perceived volume.

I am unsure whether with further break-in the Duelunds will change much. I'm inclined to think not..their characteristic low resonating clarity is pretty much nailed on..but is this a sound I'm content with??

In addition I went through pretty much another similar change recently. Going from a high jitter DAC in the Bel Canto to the sabre-chipped '0 jitter' asynced EE Minimax DAC+..same increase in resolution at the expense of a hazier, more forgiving sound..and I was divided between those two quite different presentations. I eventually settled on the Minimax as I felt I'd give something different a go.

Now with the Duelunds in the mix I believe I've got too much of a similar thing going and I believe I've lost the balance/synergy..

In the Almarro I've tried all manner of different tubes, both signal and power..Mullards, Amperexes, RCAs etc. and have finally settled on GE oval plate EL84s and a Mullard long plate 12AX7 to tame the sound..two of the warmer sounding tubes in their class.

So were am I with the sound? I'm willing to give the Duelunds a little more time to break-in and I hope they get a lttle warmer and perhaps a little less forward..

However it's more likely I'll be back to the Ampohms for a more balanced system.. We'll see and will report back in time. For now will have to give the ears a break to come to their senses..
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