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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
junker
6 posts
 
Here are few pics from the install today! ;-)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58102603/IMG_5021.JPG

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58102603/IMG_5017.JPG
junker
6 posts
 
Initial impressions right out of the box were less detail and a compressed soundstage. Also, less exuberant and a bit quieter. A short time later I wasn't certain they were much, if any, quieter, but rather encouraged me to play louder due to a reduced sense of shrillness. Detail? shrill? Hard to say but the Supreme is a damn good $30 cap and anyone on a budget can't go too wrong for this price point. A few hours into the new caps and they are sounding great... Not finding much to comment on at this point other than they are easy to play louder, and thus far don't have any obvious faults. Let's see what happens over the next week or two. After going through a banshee-like burn-in process with the Supremes I will not be surprised at all if things change significantly. After all Gee did lead his review with the following sentence, "Sound: After many hours of burn-in time the main thing that I kept writing about in my notes was how natural the Duelund RS-Cu sounds." =)
jetrexpro
506 posts
 
A weekago I wrote this about my .1uf Duelund copper cast 630v caps:

Salectric, We may not be so far apart on the Duelund's sound as my description has made you think. They are more natural sounding but I don't like the extra darkness they are creating in my system at this point.

Another week of break in has past and I need to amend this comment. The Duelunds are still a bit darker sounding than my Vcap TFTF but now they are letting thru a very detailed rich tonal pallet that is more natural sounding and is connecting me emotionally with the music. This emotional connection is very important to me. They are warmer than the Vcaps but now all the detail is coming thru in a more natural way. Richer and warmer but with more detail. More detail and with a bigger richer color tonal pallet than the Vcaps. This actually might be special. I'll know more in about a weeks more of listening time - Jet
junker
6 posts
 
Thanks for the info Jet! Even though your CAST are bit different than the VSF / RS how long would you characterize the break-in period...maybe not to the very last iota of finality, but say 80% the way to their final voicing? 2 weeks?

My previous Mundorfs took a good 2-4 weeks and it was a real roller coater and a process that I hated because I was never sure if I had made a mistake or not...in the end it was a damn good $30 cap. So now I know to hold off on making any rash judgments.

I'm pretty sure the RS's are starting to improve after a few days, but yesterday I kinda had fun a put on a 0.01uF Sprague Vitamin Q that I just received for fun. After another week or so I'll play around with and without to see if it's worth doing, or if the RS's should be left sacrosanct. ;)
jetrexpro
506 posts
 
Junker to be honest I have lost track of how many hours are on the Duelunds. They have been in for over three weeks and may have a little more than 200 hours. They may only be one half of the 400 hours folks say they need to be broken in. So to answer your question wait about 200 hours before starting to evaluate their sound.
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