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
Break in

Hey Jude
Starting to open up (CAST) I can easily tell when they are playing the the tri-angle or when Ringo hits the crash cymbal and the tambourine is being played. You can hear the individual cymbals of the tambourine.

I could hear the tri-angle before but could not hear the tambourine's cymbals.

It's actually crazy the detail.

I need a better front end digital.
Volleyguy,

Congrats on those CASTs, we should start a club... ;)

Let the burn in take its time they'll only get better from now on.

I agree with you that the upgrade you get by targeting the cross over section is stupendous, we seem to agree on Duelund also.
Halcro,

My CASTs seemed to get better and better over a couple of weeks. Don't get me wrong, they were hardly lacking to start with...
Everything running without a glitch until Duelund went into the midrange. I went back to vintage and it clearly sounded better with the CD player. Just switched to the Lp12 and then going to put back in the Duelund.

I know my caps are bad (with out a doubt) but can not understand why a worn out vintage cap sounds better with the Karik in the midrange. I THINK it is just combo of the Duelund revealing the weak source and sounding digital.

This has confused me all along as my Lp12 has not sounded as good as the Karik and nobody ever feels that way. I once thought of just selling the Karik and not even having any digital it was just so far behind.

Still experimenting. Ideally I can get things back to the Kairn/Klout with the Lp12. I have all my money in the Lp12 and can not understand why things went bad. (following that Linn theory of spend all your money on the source)

Holy Crap!
To make matters worse the vintage amp just blew up!!!! Scared the crap out of me! Smoke rolling up by the transformers.

Thank Goodness I was just sitting here. Could have burn't the house down!!! Smoke rolling up out of the transformer and power output tube area.

Maybe I was playing with fire running an antique 24/7. Well actually I was!

Any idea of what could cause it? I think the phono stage has a defect or maybe a short and caused it to short out. It seemed to make funny sounds on the phono stage?

It happened right when writing this.
Well at least no damage to the speakers or the caps. Hooked up the SS to make sure it was not my wiring. I never seen a electrical device blow up!