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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
volleyguy1's avatar
volleyguy1
343 posts
 
Charlesdad and Sherod

I only posted initial impressions for someone else who may hear them. I thought the Psvane's were terrible out of the box and had not heard anyone say this? I even took them out to listen to music. I do have to admit even right off Sherod I knew they were going to be very good at the high frequency. I could hear they were low resonance tube though right off.

In the burn in process I would change the tube in and out and my daughter could hear the difference on a video game! (it was that big) I kid you not, double blind and she could hear the difference. She loves her video game hooked up to several thousand $$$ worth of Duelund caps! We have really got great family use out of the Duelund parts. Just two channel for movies but the sound is awesome!

The Gold Lions did not change in sound so much through the break-in.
quad-man's avatar
quad-man
131 posts
 
Personally, I don't care for the sound of Mundorf caps. A good similar German made cap is the Audyn. For top shelf caps I like Jupiter (USA) or Duelund (Denmark).
volleyguy1's avatar
volleyguy1
343 posts
 
At the end of the 12AX7 test whichever tube I think is the best will get the sales of replacement of my vintage tubes I will be retiring them to reference new tubes.

These are good times for tube lovers! Is this the tube golden era??? I can say none of my vintage tubes has the has anywhere near the high freq clarity of the Psvanes. (Wow!)

Is this going to end up like a Duleund CAST vs. a vintage cap?

I think the internet has been excellent for connecting a small group locally but larger group world wide who care about this kind of stuff to producers and customers. I think this is why we are getting real breakthroughs.
batalok
31 posts
 
Looking for perfection (I know it doesnot exist) I was wondering if a change to polyprop caps for the elco's in my psu (tube preamp) was the answer. Buying and trying them was fun (for the hobby) but although it cause an improvement to the elco's I miss something, a bit. Than Claritycap comes with the 450V 4-poly Kelvin polyprops. I buy two of them and .....wow! The sound becomes more crispier, tighter, has more weight, you can hear the acoustics better.
Has someone the same experience (or not)?
vn101606
73 posts
 
It seems that Krell Service is now using for their full-recap service work for FPB series the Nichicon PS(M) capacitors.

Has anyone compared these with Nichicon gold line? FG, KZ, FW, KW?

http://www.nichicon-us.com/english/products/alm_mini/pict_f.htm

Thanks!

p.s. My external crossovers are still not ready.
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