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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
regismc
112 posts
 
Hi Fellas, Merry Xmas! I've went & had some copper teflon vcaps (.22s) dropped
into my custom pre for close to 50hrs now. They replaced the Clarity's & feed
into a passive biamp of a G8000 Sansui (lows) & my Dueland Alex powered 'Mig
amps' (tweets) into a pr. of Castle Conway III's. I was concerned about the break
in time but the Vcaps sound very nice w/a real improvement in the lower mids,
& overall improvement in detail. I like em a lot & the setup has a certain
'rightness'. I run Audio Magics liquid cables from Modwright Transporter to custome pre, toSansui, to spkr. & solid silver/teflon to migs, spkr, & JBL supertwtrs. Somehow,it all matches up to a lovely, bold, compelling sound! Success! I think that if you r familiar w/the sound of the big Gseries, it somehow matches up well w/the Alexs coming from the migs. The Gseries have a big, robust, if a tad warm sound for a solid state amp, that matches up well w/the copper foil/oilAlex's.

It 'only' took me 15yrs to finally find out how incredibly effective bi-amping is
for certain spkrs. I picked up those Castles for a song, & have several other spkrs that cost much more, so it is pretty remarkable the sound that they r
capable of producing in such a set-up. Two thumbs up for the copper/foil
V-caps!
volleyguy OP
789 posts
 
Merry Christmas to you too.

I have been listening to the system (when i have time) with taking up the carpet. Getting ready to start the project. So just concrete and I do not like it! (which is no surprise) I am not sure if a wood sub floor will be better than just carpet over concrete which I was listening to before but am starting that test.

Jim Smith's book Getting better sound he claims nothing matters more for tone than the wood or wood sub floor. He was an installer and former Avantgarde Speaker distributor for the U.S.. He was also a retailer of many high end brands so clearly heard a lot. He also placed tone and dynamics high on his priority list.

He says wood floor more important than ANY pre-amp difference....
cady586
4 posts
 
I'm sure this has been said somewhere but I've been unable to find it so far. Has anyone compared Clarity MR to VCap TFTF or CuFT in a tube amp coupling location? The amp is a Audio Research VT-50. Other recommendations other would be appreciated as well.
michaelvv
52 posts
 
Hi Cady586

A friend of mine , have a RIAA Vcapped CuFT , i just order Clarity MR for mine. So within a couple of weeks i can try to explain what kind of difference i can hear. Just to be fair to the Vcap the need at least 350 burnin hours..

/Michael
michaelvv
52 posts
 
Hi Again.

First thing to take in consideration. The RIAA which is equipped with V-cap is better and a lot improved compared to the Clarity unit.
The Clarity MR has now 6-7 Hours , The V-Capped has about 60 Hours.
We are using a pair of Telefunken ECC803SS and they are properly some of the best ecc83 series tubes money can buy.
I know that this is a little early to write about anything but it's a lot of fun to listen to the performance dying the burn in period.
Both units sound very accurate , but the V-cap is a lot ahead at this early state but the Clarity isn't bad at all.

I own the Clarity equipped RIAA and the Telefunkens , so i'll be able to post about Clarity , but just to be fair these to caps are absolute not in the same league. But for sure the Clarity MR , had make me dust of my Micro Seiki RX-2000 and i have started to enjoy analogue again.

/Best Michael
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