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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
 
Volleyguy,
The Jupiter in my amplifier has been a successful upgrade, but this is relative to the stock Solens (so likely not a surprising result). What I don't know is what would the CAST have done in this position? Without doubt the Jupiter is a very good capacitor. Is equal to the CAST in direct comparison? Grannyring says it's better, you have very reasonable doubt. Such is the nature of High End audio, it's purely situational and subjective.
Charles,
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,479 posts
 
Go figure. I replaced the Jenson paper caps in a set of Monoblock amps and a tubed DAC. They were nice caps, but not as dynamic, airy, and resolving as the Duelund or Jupiter copper foil. I found them a tad muffled and overly warm. The bass was a tad loose. Great cap overall, but not in the league of Duelund or Jupiter in my limited experience.

Funny results you have had. I never put them in a phono section however.
I least you found what works best in your rig! That is most important.
volleyguy1's avatar
volleyguy1
343 posts
 
Charles
Yes audio is subjective in the sense of tone. I could easily the less energy of the Jupiter's. Should it have been anything else? The CAST is way bigger. I am still waiting for the smaller cap to be as dynamic.

I am not even upset with the Jupiter's performance. Major work would have needed to be done to fit CAST.

Are they better than the vintage they replaced? Much quieter.

Grannyring I agree the Jensen's are a tad muffled loose in the bass. The Jensen comparison was in the amp section not the phono that was against vintage.

I still find the Duelund CAST in a league of their own in respect to energy. I found them much quieter than say the VSF not better tone just a lot more energy and stiffer.

Hence the question how big does a cap need to be to max out dynamics?

Mundorf Supreme were much bigger than Sonicaps and the tone was similar but the Mundorfs were much more dynamic...

Grannyring can you still compare CAST vs. Jupiter's in just this one context? Not which is quieter because the Jupiter have a very clear top end. Give the cap something hard to work with like live concert.
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,479 posts
 
Volleyguy1,
I no longer have any Duelund caps to compare as I sold them all. I don't recall dynamics changing much from one to the other? I would need to listen just for that one SQ attribute to comment on in the future.

My system is very dynamic as my preamp and amps are SOTA when it comes to this attribute. It may be their design makes the differences in the caps not very noticeable in term of dynamics only.

I have certainly found Duelund caps to be dynamic.
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,479 posts
 
I placed the new Pathaudio resistors in my crossover today. They are huge and built like no other resistor I have ever seen. I will post pictures on my virtual system page ASAP.

The seem to be smoother than the Mills MRA they replaced. They need to break in, but my initial feeling is these are very smooth and easy to listen to while being very pure and transparent.
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