AudiogoN Forums: Capacitor log Mundorf Silver in Oil

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 (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

05-21-08

Responses (1651-1700 of 1945)

Click title to read one, or click date to read all below it.

05-27-12 Every step for me john. i took criticism for doing it that ... Volleyguy1

05-28-12 So have about 550 hours on all the duelund parts in the new ... Barrysandy

05-30-12 Forget the prior post. despite all the time on the parts, th ... Barrysandy

06-06-12 The room is being drywalled this week. i am putting down a w ... Volleyguy1

06-21-12 Sub floor installed. for sure a room changing sound. very ex ... Volleyguy1

07-03-12 System hooked back up after long wait! sub floor is down o ... Volleyguy1

07-13-12 Oppo is here. (mine a bpp95) (friend has 83se) Volleyguy1

07-14-12 Hi all. i just placed some duelund cast (copper) caps in my ... Grannyring

07-14-12 Agreed. i've had both the alexanders and cast in my preamp, ... Ait

07-15-12 Ait i sure hope not! i hope it is because of volume. i have ... Volleyguy1

07-15-12 I have a pair of the new .22uf cast and they are very close ... Ait

07-15-12 Alex caps are not handmade and these cast are as the label c ... Grannyring

07-15-12: Ait
Not trashing Duelund or the caps, just observing. "Handmade" could apply to any part of the process, such as the fitting of the paper tube or the CASTing in epoxy, it doesn't necessarily mean 100% handmade.

I bought them too, so I hope they are still the same as the previous hockey-puck style I have. It's just interesting that after they invested in new equipment to make the Alexanders that the CAST changed to a form factor very similar to the Alexanders. On the PCX website it quotes Duelund as saying ..."Investments in larger production machinery have made it possible to do a high volume series of Duelund Capacitors, at much lower cost than previously possible". Perhaps they are leveraging the same machinery but using different materials for the CAST caps - I think I read at one time that they used "cocoon silk" in the CAST.

Making sure expensive machinery is running as close as possible to 100% utilization makes good business sense.

Maybe Frederik will chime in with an explanation.
Ait (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

07-15-12 Ait, i hope you are wrong as i purchased these only because ... Grannyring

07-15-12 Again, i'm neither trying to cause any controversy nor injur ... Ait

07-15-12 Ait, i hope you are wrong as i purchased these only because ... Grannyring

07-15-12 It does seem to be a standard business practice. (not saying ... Volleyguy1

07-16-12 I emailed chris at pc today and he will confirm that the 630 ... Grannyring

07-17-12 I remember reading in steen's papers that the capacitors tha ... Volleyguy1

07-17-12 I just finished placing four duelund cast .22 uf caps in my ... Grannyring

07-18-12 Grannyring steen duelund would say 50% of the system $ shoul ... Volleyguy1

07-19-12 Oppo bdp 95 sounding somewhat better and is running 24/7 for ... Volleyguy1

07-21-12 I have yet to hear from from pc or duelund on this thread. i ... Grannyring

07-22-12 Oppo is already more detailed on redbook than my cd player. ... Volleyguy1

07-23-12 How abt upgrading the internal caps to duelund inside the op ... Horchai

07-25-12 I am looking to upgrade the bass capacitor in my speakers. r ... Grannyring

07-25-12 Horchai not a bad idea. i have not looked inside the oppo s ... Volleyguy1

07-26-12 Still no word from duelund or pcx on the new design of the c ... Ait

07-26-12 No word so i now wonder? Grannyring

07-27-12 All i know is they sound fantastic. did others buy them and ... Grannyring

07-30-12 I am back to testing the vcap cuft vs. the jensen copper pap ... Volleyguy1

08-01-12 I replaced (actually had someone else do the work) the coupl ... Sbrown

08-01-12 I replaced the rel caps in my aesthetix atlas amp with cast ... Grannyring

08-01-12 Sorry not a cap comment but the oppo bdp 95 is sounding bett ... Volleyguy1

08-13-12 Finally got the 17uf duelund cast cap and .82 & .275 mh cast ... Barrysandy

08-13-12 Barrysandy: please explain the rationale for using caps or i ... Jburidan

08-22-12 I think barry meant using a cooker on the caps? like he did ... Volleyguy1

08-23-12 Volleyguy & others -- yes exactly, used the cable cooker on ... Barrysandy

08-26-12 May be fredrick at duelund can best answer this question. h ... Dracule1

08-26-12 Barry, how exactly did you connect the cable cooker to your ... Davidpritchard

08-26-12 Barrysandy it is interesting you mention the vcap cuft as i ... Volleyguy1

08-29-12 Hmmm, the duelund "discount" caps have been expand ... Ait

08-29-12 Chris old me they were genuine cast and i assue frederick no ... Grannyring

08-30-12 David: to burn the parts, you must first disconnect and rem ... Barrysandy

08-31-12 Barrysandy i heard the same comment i mentioned by someone ... Volleyguy1

09-02-12 Question for those of you who may have some experience with ... Grannyring

09-02-12 Nichicon caps are it bad caps at all and to me they sound be ... Johnsonwu

09-02-12 This is an opportunity to substitute compact segmented thin- ... Dgarretson

09-02-12 I was thinking sprague or mallory computer grade not atom. ... Grannyring

09-02-12 Dgarretson, thanks for the heads up on that tc clarity cap. ... Grannyring

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