Anybody familiar with Mundorf silver&oil caps

Hi Jade.

Thank You for the detailed overview. Kind of you!

Interesting your experiences mirror my suspicions between the V-Cap and Dueland VSF. I'm anxious to form my own impressions.

Being that both caps are foil types (which I generally prefer over metalized types), I'll definitely condition them on our 'dharma for about 168 hours before I make any serious comparisons. I did this with the Mundorf caps and that settled them very nicely - certainly beyond what the music system could do by itself. Nice tip for anyone investigating the different sonic character of different caps. As you mentioned Jade, some caps take a (long) while to settle and that can get kind of discouraging and if they're being settled in using a music system, I wonder if they ever fully settle in.

Cheers!
Robert
RSAD

Hi Robert, it looks like we could not use the Duelands as the voltages are far too low.

I stand by my earlier comment about bypassing: bypassing any coupling cap with another will result in smearing and there is no way to get around this. The rather in depth comments about the V-Cap, Dueland and Mundorfs earlier refers to bypassing and does cause me to wonder how to take the comments in the face of the known/repeatable effects of bypass smearing.

BTW, we liked the top line Mundorf a little better than the V-Cap in some areas, but leakage issues kept us away from it. The question did arise whether it was slightly more romantic or not, as everything seemed a little more 'beautiful' with the Mundorfs (even things that were not supposed to be so beautiful). The V-Caps did not do this, but they did reveal other subtle differences we didn't hear with the Mundorfs. My personal opinion is based entirely on the use of circuits that we regard as the world's most transparent, lacking transformers altogether and using a fair amount of direct-coupling at both the output of the preamp and the output of the amps, both of which are all-tube.

So you will have to regard my comments in that light- that I regard a transformer in the way as presenting a synergistic effect with a coupling cap that may skew the findings!

My comments here are not intended to offend, but to give you a better idea of how we came to where we did.

We also believe audio should be fun and entertaining... and DIY is clearly one of those areas.

Hi Ralph.

...it looks like we could not use the Duelands as the voltages are far too low.

I suspect that's why they specifically recommended the VSF for loudspeaker applications - the lower voltage rating of 100v along with their physical parameters doesn't appear to make them practical a lot of electronics. I would be a little concerned too about the materials stability in the harsher heat environments of a lot of electronics.

Cheers!
Robert
RSAD

J.D.,
I'm curious if you tried a V-cap or Mundorf by themselves( un-bypassed ) in the outputs of your preamp. Also, what is the output impedance of your preamp and what value of cap is in your pre outputs?

I replaced the output coupling caps in my Altmann DAC twice..and now have the .82uf Mundorf silver and oils in place. Rolls off the low end into the 50kohm input of my preamp at 3.9 hz. Everything in everyway became more musical and more detailed. All is more attached to each other and more phase coherent. This is the latest of the mods I have or have had another perform on the Altmann Dac and the battery and capacitor bank now attached. Some Mundorf silver and oils are going to find their way into my Caravelle's as part of the upgrades I am now performing on these speakers. Tom