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

Showing 50 responses by duelund_coherent_audio

Volleyguy,

It is no fault of our dealers. Becoming a father 3 months ago has meant I'm behind with quite a few undertakings. I've recently begun getting sleep at night again, so I'm doing my best to get everybody including myself up to speed.
You certainly don't do things quick and easy. :)

Some day, you might end up doing more cap rolling, than we've done.
We see a clear tendency among our business clients, that they are typically founded and run by an enthusiast, who also handles the design of the components and perhaps even the purchasing of items for production. These are the types of companies that make out the vast majority of our business sales. Larger corporations where parts are bought by the thousands, typically do no approach subvendors such as ourselves.

I don't mean to say, that larger corporations do not make good products, just to say that a lot of the smaller firms out there see development very much like a hobby, and would like to know if cap rolling, changing inductors etc. etc. make a qualitative difference.
Some parallel functions show remarkable improvements in sound, when using better parts. It all depends what parallel function we are talking about?
At least relative to our components, avoid metal enclosures unless they are of the diamagnetic type such as copper.

Steen himself made wood enclosures, that were painted on the inside with graphite. He would literally make his own using graphite powder.

A fun experiment, is to remove the metal lid on your cd-player, amplifier etc. Then substitute with a wooden lid with either a copper shield or graphite painting on the inside.

It can make a very large difference, but is of course for the more tweaky inclined. And as always, experiment at your own risk. :)

Moreover,

I thought this thread had ended, you guys are fantastic!
I'm aware of the parallel inductor, don't get that many orders for 1... ;)

Sure beats 0 though.

I tend to conclude, it's either volleyguy, or we have a serious mono enthusiast among our clients.
Audiotweak,

It's an interesting question. Steen's ideas were based upon the assumption that mechanical control would result in electrical ditto - which would lead to assume that the Q factor would be influenced. I have been unable to find clear conclusions towards this in his written work that I have access to.
Volleyguy,

"Teflon seems to charge and discharge with lightning speed. "

Main problem with it.
An often overlooked part in this discussion seems to be the quality of and/or discrepancy between solderings.

We have clients who use per example 1uFx15uF instead of one 15uF. All things being equal this means they are substituting pure metal foil with 30 solder joints or so. If nothing else, those joints better be 100%.
Kees,

I didn't mean that all parameters were in fact equal. I just meant that, it's a consideration that you substitute pure foil in the case of our caps with solder joints. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather sell 15 1s than 1 15... ;)
Volleyguy,

What you're hearing is the absence of plastic around the wire.

Also what you're not hearing, brightness, less treble etc. Are again plastic induced artifacts that are suddenly no longer present, nor should they be, they were never on the recording in the first place.

Dgarretson,

I did the exact same thing first time I got cables from Steen Duelund, everything seems relaxed and slower, somewhat akin to the musicians being at ease with what they do as opposed to beginners who may sound hurried and flustered, everything gains an understanding and sense of aahh there it is...

I know this may sound strange but many have commented the exact same thing, when removing plastic from their systems.

Duelund himself talked about a lack of echo effect, he theorized plastic was inducing.
Volleyguy,

I think you misunderstand Michael's post - AB Audio will certainly not have called the Alexander better than the VSF. Not that the Alexander is bad by any means - at least not to my ears. ;)
As I know a lot of our clients follow this thread. I wanted to inform, that the worst rain in DK for the past 30 years, have rendered half our production covered in water, our mail and website are down as well.

I've posted a status with pictures and video on our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Duelund-Coherent-Audio/209346612428600.

At the moment we are looking at a production stop of up to one week.
Michael,

" Funny when i asked rabu-acoustics.dk they can not give me an exact price. What is the reason for that ???"

I don't know, they could certainly have got a quote from us?
Michael,

Rabu can easily get you quotes, otherwise feel free to mail me.

Best regards,

Frederik
Michael,

I certainly think, that the CAST is in a league of its own. But quite a few users in this thread could probably answer that, without the question of my obvious bias...
Undertow,

Not to comment on other manufacturers, rest assured the Jensen of today are orders of magnitude better than Jensen of old with regards to reliability.
I was told some confusion had arisen in this thread re. Parts sale of CAST630v caps.

I'm sorry to say, that having a 2 year old and a second on the way, has meant my internet time has gone down significantly....

To put the story straight. The Parts caps are genuine Duelund round CAST630v Cu. Their volume story is 100% correct. And is a huge help for our company.

In the future, if you feel you need an answer from me, always feel free to drop me a mail.

Best regards,

Frederik
Also, due to orders such as the one discussed, this is what 5% of my pre CAST setup looks like:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151063279663842&set=o.209346612428600&type=1&theater
Volleyguy,

Duelund used to describe part of his idea for the CAST to delete out-of-phase resonance anomalies - his take was that these would blur/lower/delete actual information on the record by virtue of being out of phase. This would of course in some way result in perceived less amplitude, as you would need to up the volume to make out small details.

I should stress, this is not something we can measure, but Steen was often very much one to take on a more philosophical approach and do listening tests, when he felt regular measuring available to him, couldn't take him further.

Frederik
Charles1dad,

Please mail me the types you've ordered and from which dealer,

info@duelundaudio.com

Just to check, nothing is wrong. It shouldn't be 11 weeks.

Best regards,

Frederik
Volleyguy,

"Sounds are sounds not blurr."

That's what I was trying to say in my best Danglish...

;)
Jwm,

Certainly, ;)

You'd start by the Series ones on tweeter and mid.

Best regards,

Frederik
Jwm,

I plan to. I take it you mean early next year?

I'm not exhibiting as such. We walk the halls to talk to visit business partners and the like. Anyone up for a coffee - or stonger, I'm all for it.

My participating is not set in stone as my wife is due February 24th.

Best regards,

Frederik
Oeaohoo,

If you get a more forward sound with the CAST, have you tried changing absolute polarity on the speaker? CAST makes that a lot more clear, and wrong absolute polarity would create a forward presentation.

Best regards,

Frederik
Oeaohoo,

I do mean phase/polarity. I can offer no technical explanation, but I find the change to be much more profound when done at speaker level by physically switching the loudspeaker cables. You might try it, when the sound seems forward.
Charles,

I may have put that wrong - What I meant was, if you decide to do something, my advice would be a simple solderable lacquer.

Hope that helps.

Best regards,

Frederik
Day 5 is usually, when the magic starts to happen.

Glad you're setup.

Best regards,

Frederik
Charles1dad,

I was in the absolare room a lot, to bad we missed each other.

Best regards,

Frederik
Charles,

Yes, when they were kind enough to throw in the amplifiers we do parts for, it really did do something... ;)

They certainly had good sound when I was there.
Volleyguy,

We've had a lot of questions regarding a CAST high uF cap, that wouldn't be prohibitively expensive or large. We stumbled on some Mylar film we hadn't tried before, which gave rather nice results when used in impedance correction and the like, as long as we CASTed the foils.