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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
justubes2
203 posts
 
They do clean up the hash.

But every brand, nada nada has different sonic traits.

I did have bridge doide on a header in a cdp years back and a brief comparision clearly shows a difference.

Each spec of the different low noise diodes/ bridge will be different, guess the materials and leads clearly make a difference too.

They are not expensive, but why to tediousm but they improvement is worth the low cost.
jetrexpro
506 posts
 
I have some limited experience with bypass stacks and it was not favorable. As some of you know I have been trying different types of capacitors in my power supply for the past three months. For the blow by blow you can refer to my system page thread. During this process I tried polypropylene with bypass stacks and it was not favorable. There are many ways to do this and I only tried one. I am sure someone with more patients and experience like Justubes2 can have fine results with caps stacks. I would like to try them again with different values and different types of caps. The variations are endless.

After 3 months of listening to different caps in my power supply I had excellent results with the new production Audio Note Kaisei 500v caps.

This is from my post in my system pg-

The Audio Note Kaisei 50uf caps have been in my amp for two weeks and have about 100 hours on them and their sound has settled so it is no longer changing. They have a purity and clairty that no other cap I have tried in my power supply has. I have tried oils, polypropylene, polypropylene with bypass. The Audio Note guys know the Black Gate sound and I believe they have worked on these caps so they sound like Black Gates. An open and very free sound. They don't have much of a sonic signature, they just somehow allow a clarity and purity to shine thru. Because I dont detect a sonic signature I feel confident in ordering more to replace the remaining oils my amp's power supply. Regards-Jet
justubes2
203 posts
 
Do they sound similar to blackgates. I know we are looking at 500v and wkz blackgate are not sold anywhere. How do the audionote character sound like, if you have used blackgates before in other applications

A pure film cap, whichever brand may sound smooth but lacking some kicking energy when used in the psu, did you find so?
jetrexpro
506 posts
 
Justubes2,
I have black gates in several places in the audio circuit of my amp and these caps have a very free and open sound like the Audio Note Kaisei.
I think the Audio Note team is very familiar with WKZ BlackGate and their goal is make the Kaisei sound as good if not even better than these.
I have not tried a pure film cap in my Power supply so I cant comment. Regards Jet
jetrexpro
506 posts
 
I should also mention that I have tried only the Wima Polypropylene caps in my power supply. Which leaves many that I have not tried like Clarity caps for instance. I know many many amps use Polypropylene caps so they must sound very good to many people.
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