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 (251-300 of 1935)

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

07-31-08 Just spent a hour upstairs with the linn system. my kids who ... Volleyguy

07-31-08 Friend stopped by and had a listen. he owns a set of klipsc ... Volleyguy

07-31-08 After the friend left it made me start to think about speake ... Volleyguy

08-01-08 It looks like your friend might have to put some duelands in ... Sherod

08-01-08 Sherod i am going over to his house for visit. he left her ... Volleyguy

08-01-08 My wife was a bit put off by my oris 150 converging horn arr ... Johnk

08-01-08 Holy crap john 19ft! your wife and set? hmmmm care to specu ... Volleyguy

08-02-08 For those who read this in the future and are thinking of a ... Volleyguy

08-02-08 I did some digging on the linn speakers and i understand the ... Volleyguy

08-03-08 Volleyguy, found this under the news section on the duelund ... Stormen

08-03-08 Stormen thanks for the article. i used to find this diy stu ... Volleyguy

08-03-08 Stormen i hear in your thread you mention that passive (duel ... Volleyguy

08-04-08 If you want a pic of the massive oris rig email. used 2 watt ... Johnk

08-05-08 Interesting note. when i installed the sonicaps (mids and t ... Volleyguy

08-06-08 Interesting note. ask the youngest daughter (the one who as ... Volleyguy

08-07-08 Volleyguy, you should see the comment i made about the pass ... Stormen

08-07-08 Thanks stormen. just did not want people to think i am nut ... Volleyguy

08-09-08 Stormen ever tried the aluminum vsf's? i think my vintage fo ... Volleyguy

08-09-08 The first white papered cap, first real tested cap against l ... Undertow

08-09-08 Very good undertow. i was interested in how some people like ... Volleyguy

08-09-08 Volleyguy the mr clarity cap is not a mass produced cap lik ... Undertow

08-09-08 Volley oh and sorry what i mean by the odd shape of the duel ... Undertow

08-09-08 Undertow i did not mean anything bad against clarity cap. i ... Volleyguy

08-09-08 Volley no offense but i believe both of those comments you c ... Undertow

08-09-08 Undertow i can not comment on duelund in electronics. i have ... Volleyguy

08-09-08 I will update on the silver in oil. the last time i had it i ... Volleyguy

08-09-08 Undertow where do you find clarity cap prices? thanks Volleyguy

08-09-08 I realize not really anybody can comment on duelund in elect ... Undertow

08-09-08 Clarity cap prices here... http://madisound.com/manufacture ... Undertow

08-09-08 Thanks undertow next week i will be ordering inductors as w ... Volleyguy

08-09-08 Thanks undertow i wish tempo eval'ed clarity as well. as it ... Volleyguy

08-11-08 It could be interesting to try some small-value teflon caps ... Dgarretson

08-11-08 I have bypassed mundorf silver / oils with .1 sonicap plat ... Undertow

08-11-08 It's very easy to play with russian teflon, as ft-3 is $5. l ... Dgarretson

08-11-08 dgarretson sorry i see what your saying.. i missed the whol ... Undertow

08-11-08 Even in 1980 they were realizing possibly the biggest advanc ... Undertow

08-11-08 Been gone of couple of days. dgarretson i may take you up on ... Volleyguy

08-11-08 I have been looking into doing the caps in the linn speakers ... Volleyguy

08-12-08 Russian caps are available in various lot sizes. ft-3 teflon ... Dgarretson

08-12-08 Tearing apart the linn speakers tomorrow. looking at a less ... Volleyguy

08-13-08 I have asked on the linn thread about capacitors replacement ... Volleyguy

08-13-08 I took the linn speakers apart and it is a crazy idea as the ... Volleyguy

08-14-08: Undertow
Clarity cap MR… Well it’s the best cap made period, for the price none will come close.. A Vcap with 400 hours on it will probably sound 95% similar.. out of the box these bad boys are all there! Unreal soundstage, earth cracking huge, vast, tight and clear bass… Vocals are full and dynamic without a hint of glare. Highs are silk, better than the oil caps in my opinion even, how did they do it? I have no clue, some caps are best in certain locations or frequency ranges, this is the best Full range wide open cap I have heard.. I was very worried that they would need some substantial burn in to clear up, or have lower glare and distortion, they don't need anything.. They are what I consider for the price of about 60 bucks a 1 uF cap, perfect. My previous caps in my tube amps and preamps before.. Yes they were all in the same equipment and changed out over the years…Warning the MR clarity caps are HUGE and HEAVY

1- my equipment came with Auricaps "So so"

2- Cardas caps, very nice, a little rolled off, but as good as any teflon caps

3- Mundorf Silver oils, excellent with highs and mids, bass was a bit too soft

4- Sonicap platinums, might be slightly better than the cardas, definitely better bass than the mundorfs, also a really good bypass cap. Take forever to burn in however..

5- Dynamicap (TRT Wondercaps) A little too emphasized and zippy, but if you need to pep up some tubes these can help.. These were not bad on their own, and pretty good in speaker applications, but benifited very good from sonicap bypasses above.. I have used these in both electronics and speakers as with all the above caps.

6- Jantzen superior, best cost to sonic ratio also with best voltage handling to most of the above, for the price these kill the cardas type caps which are not cheap, and are similar but better, they don't take much to burn in, they are a tiny bit fuzzy compared to some of the teflons, but still very natural, distortion is bettered with a good teflon bypass cap making these a bit more "Solid" sounding.. They have the best bass out of the above caps as well as very extended highs.

7- Finally the Clarity CAp MR… For the price, build quality, and incredible sonic response, these are not beat.. Zero need to mix with some other cap to try and re-balance something, absolutely the best out of the box caps as well.. And they play nice with others, ZERO compression in the sound, Best darkest background and just depth, no doubt this is a worldclass cap, I can believe these for the money will probably beat out the V-cap types without question and are available in way bigger values than the v-caps… I would look no further than these if you want all of what these exotic caps claim like the Mundorf Gold Oils, and the v-caps, even the duelunds. These will work out the kinks in even the most critical applications I truly believe and that’s not just because I am now using them.

I have not heard the caps in a speaker like all the others above, however I can say I doubt they will not perform to the highest in that application as I have them running full range single caps right now handling virtually the entire signal feeding all my other caps in the system which are 100% Jantzen superiors, I dumped all the others. I am going to back them with a Duelund VSF in a crossover, this will be a world class mix..

My opinion, best cheap but not too cheap caps are the Jantzen superiors for sure, no contest even with the caps 4 and 5 times the price in the ones I have experienced, the MR's are that final just put it on cruise control level however, they do nothing but perfect.. Who knows once they burn in, but this is the first ones I have heard that I don't even care!!! Much like how some believe the duelunds off the bat are just better from the instant satisfaction. And Zero regrets on the money spent vs. some of the above which get questionable.
Undertow (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

08-14-08 Oh forgot to mention the jensen oil copper caps.. reason is ... Undertow

08-14-08 Mundorf electrolyics 2x around $30 each speaker 1x mundorf s ... Volleyguy

08-14-08 Volleyguy yep.. a full on no holds barred crossover will cos ... Undertow

08-14-08 Thanks undertow you are right and i am not that hard core. ... Volleyguy

08-14-08 I don't know about linn speakers.. i honestly just put forwa ... Undertow

08-14-08 Undertow a little confused? the new klipsch palladium series ... Volleyguy

08-14-08 Yes the crossover is excessively weak for a 20 k speaker was ... Undertow

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