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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
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Tas,
The capacitors are 1 per channel (so just 1 pair is needed). If you click my system page and then click my Yamamoto DAC you'll see a picture of the installed CAST. If Grannyring believes the Jupiter is equal to the CAST that's very good news and saves you money. I'm not familiar with your DAC but surely superior output capacitors can't hurt.

Here's my perspective, The 1 pair of Duelund CAST cost me 459.00. You could easily spend 2-3x that (or more) for a pair of quality interconnect cables and not get the same improvement rendered from the CAST capacitors. For me the CAST represented a substantially high value/reward result.
Charles,
tasouli
39 posts
 
Bill, Charles,

thank you very much. I've contacted a technician (does mods locally) who I will get to identify the values of my output coupling caps and my next step will be to order the Jupiter Copper caps from Parts Connexion. This last step will be a sublime pleasure. I'm so close to total and absolute satisfaction I can taste it.

The speakers are wonderful, really wonderful. I'm still running them in and they're now better each time I listen to them. Purer, bigger, more lifelike - love them.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Tas,
Your description of the speakers is precisely what I hear, "purer, bigger, more lifelike". Crossover capacitor quality does matter, significantly.
Charles,
ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
I also picked up a few Jupiters and burned them in for about 50 hours before installing. I used a .1uF in my speaker crossover as a bypass to the in series caps, a 1.0uF in my phono stage as the coupling cap, and a .01uF as a bypass to a V-Cap OIMP in my preamp output coupling cap.

After the 50 hour burn in and installation things sounded very well balanced, but flat. Another 10 hours made them open up, where I got the top end extension back. Another 10 hours and later Sunday night I heard the dimensionality return. They now sound very nice indeed. Well balanced, extended, airy and without any hint of hardness or sibilence.

I bet there is a bit more burn in to go, but they are sounding very sweet indeed right now. Plenty of air, nice texture, good dynamics, balanced top to bottom, extended without glare or forwardness, great image/soundstaging, a "real" palpability to instruments. Just hugely musical.

Took about 70 hours of break in, which is definitely on the light side for premium caps. We will see if there is more to come as time goes by.
audiolabyrinth's avatar
audiolabyrinth
4,555 posts
 
@ Ptmconsulting, The fact you said that the jupiter caps did not sound forward got my attention more than eany thing else!, I hate forward sounding equipment and cables, does not sound real, alot of people do not realize they are hearing this, they believe it must be better because of the in your face perspective, magnified, so to speak of, I enjoyed your post and others posting here, I know I am reading seasoned audiophile's post, they know a forward presatation is not realistic, and at the end of the day, two dimensional.
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