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
Halo All,

I am a newbie hobbyist. This thread has been an inspiration for me, I actually read from page 1, it took me 3 days:) Thank you all for the amazing info.

I am building an external cross over for JR150 speakers. My system consist of Oppo 105, 3 Quad 909 and 2 Quad 405, and Denon AV500n preamp for 7.1 system.

Can someone please give me suggestion about caps in the JR150’s crossover?

The value I need and my plan:
6uf, 7uf, 20.2uf: Clarity MR
12uf (tweeter): Jupiter copper wax or RS (both similar price)
50uf (bass): Clarity MR (Jupiter or RS will burn a hole)
125uf: Clarity MR
4 Inductors: Northcreek?(are they still open?) Goertz alpha core? Solen? WPIO?
3 Resistors: Path Audio

Will this combination give good synergy? I read in this thread the MR can be tweak with small value Mundorf SIO to enhance it even better. or should i use Vcap CuTF instead?

For the tweeter caps, which one do you think will suit my system better? RS or Jupiter? Which one will match the MR better?

I have never try any of these caps, for film cap I usually use auricap xo for my mod.

Hope someone can give me insight.

Thank you,
Dan
@santodx5

Woah, take it easy! :)  That's a lot of money to spend on upgrades.  They won't give you different speakers you know.

If you are happy using the JR150's as a learning experience I'd consider series caps with the tweet and mid (if any) the first place to start.  What do you have now?

I am a Clarity fanboy, but that's a lot of money you are proposing without having heard them.

Instead, I'd suggest start small, and see what you like.  Try Mundorf MKP, Supreme and Clarity MRs in the tweeter. Which do you like best? There's only one way to find out. :)

Replace series resistors with Mills.

Maybe you'd like the Mundorf Supreme's. They add some Disney sparkle to the top end. The Mundorf MKP's are great bargains, have huge amounts of low level detail once broken in, but warmer.

You may really want to take this conversation over to the DIYaudio/multi-way forum, where you can post pics and ask many speaker designers and hackers about it.

Best,

Erik
Hi Erik,

I have mundorf MKP in the bass and 125uf value, others are auricap xo now. I have another pair coming so I want to try different caps, I want to go with almost  the best :)

Sadly PCX does not have the Jupiter at this moment.


My point was really just to try to keep it all in balance.

Have you tried SonicCraft for your Jupiters?

It doesn’t make a lot of sense to spend $500 on a cap unless you are sure your tweeter is worth it. :) Mind you, some inexpensive tweeters are ridiculously good for the price. :)

I"m about to do a 2-way Be tweeter which will give me the opportunity to experiment yet again with caps. :)

Best,


Erik
I will experiment with the clarity MR and Mundorf SIO combo this time and next time I may go with Jupiter route.

I am not sure how good my speaker is but my friend who is a sound engineering and work in the audio industry, actually bought the lesser model JR149 after he listen to the mod version.

Thanks