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
Interesting to read page #49.

Much talk about inductors. Oddly enough the part most will "draw the line" on and to be honest so would have I...

I have tried the vintage wax paper, North Creek and Duelund VSF. The North Creek was of a lower DCR and to me that is/was dangerous in changing tonal balance. With inductors my opinion is they MUST have a way of dealing with resonance.

Inductors make a BIG difference but do not get the hype of caps and resistors. I am not sure why? (even my vintage speakers used wax to deal with resonance)

The shocking thing was the Duelund gave a big high freq noise reduction in the woofer. I just did not expect that... (I was thinking more bass which it did but less noise?)

Maybe the biggest upside surprise to me was the money I spent on the inductors and have wondered many times if I should have got CAST...

That being said inductors are one off parts that are expensive. Mine are $559 each at current prices. The CAST ones are $1118 each all plus tax here... I paid a fair bit less...

As is being said on here I would not want to put $2k+ in inductors for parts for speakers to sell!!!

I think Jupiter could get into this making a high quality wax paper inductor. It would blow away anything else out there... (save CAST maybe)
Took apart the amp today to check on room for the small value Jupiter caps.

What I seen was my other Duelund CAST cap is leaking the other one to the pair. It is a fairly new leak just started. (I could not hear it still sounds great) Not thrilled about second Duelund cap leaking bad batch? No other Duelund caps leaking...

Jupiters will go in early next week if in stock.
The low DCR value of the North Creek was a very good thing in my speaker. Did not change the tone at all for the worse. Not sure the tone changed at all. Just a better sounding speaker now. I can put a .33 ohm resistor in series with the NC inductor to ground to match the higher DCR of the old Solen inductors. I tried that and quite frankly heard very little difference. In the end no resistor was needed.

George at North Creek was confident his lower DCR inductor would improve the sound and walked me through the reasoning. Based on my experience lower DCR is a good thing.

I suppose in some situations it may change the tone etc... a tad. It did not in my crossover and speaker. Just cleaner, faster, better micro detail, backer background, and more musical.
Jupiter caps are here and there is a MASSIVE size difference from the CAST. Not saying the Jupiter will not sound good but is much closer in size to the vintage than the CAST. In fact Jupiter is much smaller than the Jensen Copper Paper tube caps.

The small size might come in handy as CAST are not easy to put everywhere. In my amp I know there is spots where there just is not room for a CAST cap.