Are any of you going to try QuickSilver GOLD contact enhancer on your crossover parts? I think more people should know about this....it lets the music flow a lot better! |
Duelund copper hook up wire is here as well as Mundorf solder.
The Duelund has this kind of natural smell to it like the caps do. The VSF caps to me smell. A good natural smell.
Duelund what stops the oil from drying out? |
I recently received a pair of 60uf VSF's and they had an interesting odor upon arrival. :D It went away in a few days though. |
Face 60uf!
That must have been a special order? Have you hooked them up? How do they sound? Replacing Electrolytics or poly caps? |
I am going to order a VSF .047 (400v) and Jensen .022 Copper paper tube.
Honestly, I am ready to throw in the towel and say Ok Frederik you win.
The only reason I am trying the Jensen is Duelund does not list .022. But Face if you got 60uf they must make to any size? Seems so expensive for .022 as well! |
Yes, they were special order, they are being used in series with my mids. Out of the box it wasn't a significant difference over the Dayton film caps they replaced, but after 10 hours or so the differences became more apparent. I have about 40 hours on them now, in another 10 or so, I'm going to put the Daytons back in for comparison's sake. But I would say the biggest improvement so far is the difference in tonality. They sound more life like, more open, and a little smoother. |
My goodness! 60uf Duelunds! Are they the size of a football? (o: |
Duelund makes any size, including custom... But if its not stocked at parts connexion takes an extra 3 weeks or more to get them. |
Here's a Duelund 44 uF VSF cap next to a 51/2" Scanspeak Mid/woofer. DuelundNot only big but heavy! |
I just put a 2.2uf VSF copper in my mini-monitors and these Duelunds are very big and heavy compared to the caps that they replaced. The speaker manufacturer I bought these Duelunds from emphasized that the Duelunds require several hundred hours to fully break-in. So for those who claim that the Duelunds sound great right off the bat, then they will supposedly only get better with time. (O: |
Face
The first caps I put in were Sonicaps compared to the vintage foil in oil. I did one speaker with each type. I then got my wife to come down and here the difference. (she had no idea which was which, so completely blind)
She said "Clearly that one is wayyyy better. This is the best thing you have ever done" (audio wise) She was very impressed!
The only problem was the speaker she thought wayyy better was the vintage one!
I just paid the $ for the caps and an hour or two farting around to install them and after 30 years of wear and new technology the old foil caps were wayyy better?
She said they sound like real people and real instruments. At first I was impressed how much quieter the Sonicaps caps were. The noise floor was MUCH lower.
What I mean by all of this is that (tonality) is what you are getting (and paying for) with Duelund. Once the Mundorf Supreme's went in they were as dynamic as the foil caps (much better than Sonicaps) and as dynamic as Duelund but everything sounded still like plastic.
Now is that worth it to someone?
Tempo Electric says
"A clear improvement over the runner up. Brass instruments sounded more like brass, violins sounded more like violins, and so on. Everything was cleaner, smoother, and exhibited less glare. Previous to installing the Duelunds, we thought the (now) runner-up was so good that we didn't recognize its flaws until they were gone".
Tempo was correct to not say they are more more dynamic or blacker backgrounds.
I do think foil caps are very expensive as well. Tempo also says of the Jensen's Aluminum foil in Oil that they are Tier F! That is not cheap for a Tier F cap either!
Jensen coppers were only Tier D.
This is where I am having a tough time Tier A V-Caps are fairly cheap. Tempo has not tested Duelund or the new Jensen Paper tube in oil, and I hate wasting money. |
Volleyguy, we hate wasting money too on crossover parts... that only give you a small improvement in sound "by theirself". Do like we did and put some QuickSilver GOLD on all your crossover parts and hook-up wires. You DO NOT put this stuff on any soldered joints....you put it on the LEAD wires on the crossover parts on the other side of the crossover board. I always thought that QuickSilver Gold was better on video BUT not any more....we can now listen to very cheap solid state gear with our HORN speakers all day long with NO side effects.... |
I can say inductors are wayyyy more complicated than DCR and Iron or Steel or air core.
There is resonance there as well. The more I hear the more respect I have for PWK. I paid $150 for the NC and would pay at least $200 or $300 for the vintage one. MUCH less resonance.
There must be some kind of interaction in the coil with the rest of the coil? I get a high freq noise. Is the coil vibrating? Before I bought this I would not believe 10 gauge wire could resonate?
I have moved the inductor much farther up the list of purchases. In my rebuild I am leaving room for a future Duelund WPIO. In the meantime the vintage in is VERY good in comparision.
IMHO tread lightly in inductors lower DCR is not all it is about.
Once again vintage parts could be a real alternative to modern parts. I expect the vintage inductor would beat any inductor barring maybe another wax paper inductor.
I just finished selling my plastic coated Linn k-600 tri-wire this week. Looks like a inductor will be next to go. |
A heavy hitting cap review oming. Pretty well the best of the best.
http://jimmyauw.com/2009/06/13/be-prepared-for-extreme-capacitors-battle/ |
I may have egg on my face.
I swithced amps to see how the inductor sounded on a SS rectified tube amp. Sound is very strange? The vintage is inductor very choked off? The North Creek volume is much louder?
I still can not believe the difference from one inductor to another? I have to admit I did not expect this!
One too muffled and choked the other to hard sounding.
I thought inductors would not show much difference as they do not age like capacitors. (as far as I know)
I am going to sell this just yet to give more fair comparisons. |
I read once on the net a guy joking about not taking apart a speaker because the inside (crossover) contained dragons.
In the beginning of this tests I kept two systems one a former top of the line Linn with all Linn gear right from the cartridge to pre amp amps IC's and speaker wire all Linn recomended. I thought even if they were not the best parts they should work well together?
It was good to have a reference. All the Duelund parts were tested with SS, tube amps, digital and analog to make sure the results were consistent.
I have since rid all of the linn gear except sources. So do not have two complete systems to test against each other. Only tube amps. It is nice to have a reference even if you are not keeping it.
George at North Creek said the Air core will make the Steel laminate core sound broken and he is right. I can not believe how different the two speakers sound. Even though he is right there is something not right about the big air core. Even though the old inductor sounds broken somehow it sounds better?
Both inductors sound as they look, oddly enough. The vintage constricted flow, dead with no resonance. The big NC much louder open but with a hard etched sound, which it is a big hard chunk of copper. |
Resonance and horns do not go well together. I can see why the CAST inductor was made for Burt's horn speakers.
Horns can sound really good and really bad depending on so many things and are very sensitive. I do not mean NC are not a good inductor either just not suited to horns. (IMO) |
Its called "Hearing whats really upstream now"
I can tell you this, I just purchased the 8 gauge inductors from northcreek, they are the exact opposite results.. I am running Class A amps directly into them, excellent sound, very smooth, very warm... 125 db deathmetal sounds as smooth as butter!
So you have many other things to look at once again vs. one part you get hung up on. Keep matching you will find something at some point I would assume. But its not due to an inductor being inferior, its because many other things are. You can discount everything everybody says until you hear it yourself as many times as you like, just remember many have put a lot on the table for you to ponder. And by the way thought you had the NC inductor on your woofer? Not the horns?
Mine are now on the woofers and my horns are on ERSE 14 gauge perfect lays with Perfect sound. I have replaced Alpha core Ribbons just out of curiosity. However the Ribbons are really just as good, but different, they might be a little warmer but nowhere near as low of distortion as exhibited by the 8 gauge north creeks, they are virtually impossible of an inductor to saturate. |
Just ordered a Duelund WPIO inductor.
I just have to hear the difference. I would love the CAST only the $$$ are stopping me. The DCR is almost and exact match to original so no changes there.
I hated my CD player until I got tubes and Duelund caps. I thought the CD player was junk. I may even get rid of the LP12? Not sure on that yet.
So far all Duelund products have been fantastic.
Takes 3 or 4 weeks to get here. I have come this far might as well go all the way.
I hope Duelund starts to make Autoformers as that would be the last non Duelund part in the crossover. (except tweeter resonance trap that is in parallel)
I would then be all natural all plastic free in the crossover. Removing the speaker wire from plastic would be next cheapest thing to do. |
Undertow, if you have a cap in your LF, what brand is it? |
Undertow you might be right. That is why I kept several different amps and sources to test the first Duelund products.
Yes the inductor is on the woofer circuit. The Lascala's and Khorns are considered horn loaded woofers.
I do admit to testing one part vs. another and try on different sources and different amps. I did have modern to vintage SS to tubes.
I do take advice that is why I tried NC and do admit it reveals weakness. |
Undertow
From someone on the board. I checked into it and did exactly what Audioism said got just one cap.
06-08-08: Audioism
have you heard Duelund capacitor? You owe it to yourself to try or at least audition one. It's one of the best if not the best cap right now. CMIIW.
cheers |
Mingles, Truth is a cap is in "Parallel" for my Low frequency driversĀ
The Inductor is the important part on those woofsĀ
I use Jantzen Superiors on the LF with excellent results.. However its overkill, a Solen cap could do just as well in most applications, only difference is probably tolerance is better on other caps to not float, but also vibration character is probably better as wellĀ
Beyond that I have done some friends X-over with just Mundorfs, Jantzens on the critical mid, tweets, and a cheap 2 dollar solen for the parallel cap in the LF with not too different results. Go for the best inductors on the woofersĀ
|
And volleyguy back to your issueĀ
HIGH Voltage.. Remember that term well! Check your house, I had the problems you have when I had Gear that was much less in power supply regulation, I.E. OLD vintage gear and caps. They like low Voltage much betterĀ
For example even my gear I own now runs best down around 90 Volts to 105 volts, and its high end, but when I was getting nearly 130 volts in at the outlet ouch!!! Get a step down transformer, or some type of power isolation devices and really hear what your gear to speakers sound like, any major voltage spikes etcĀ
Are just gonna make your amps bias and or speakers "Go thin", starving them more for currentĀ
Simply stated you heard the inductors ready to rumble, but did not have full current delivery.. Check into what kinda voltage your amps are getting hit with and most likely reduce it to get better current delivery and full sound. |
Volleyguy,
That explains the 1 pc. inductor order that just turned up.
I thought the mono people, had finally caught up with us. :-D |
Sorry Duelund
I am sure you will get another mate to the inductor.
I just want to be sure it sounds right. I probably should have just ordered two but last time after I heard the VSF I ordered CAST.
Are you getting into Autoformer's? I seen on a website what looks to be transformers coming? Would it be a simple process to make an Autoformer the same way as inductors?
I might be interested in one of those as well. (or should I say two at some point) |
Undertow
I have heard that about vintage. The voltage used to be much lower than today.
The vintage thing turned out to be kind of a fluke. I have never been into vintage. I am not sure I am even going to stay there.
When I was selling my speakers the guy turned up to buy my speakers with an old Fisher tube amp. I was kind of chuckling. He hooked it up with crappy (and I mean crappy) wire and my jaw hit the floor. Those speakers though not perfect were wayyyyy more real sounding than with my gear or my new gear with the new speakers. I had also heard some mega dollar new tube amps and systems and never really thought much of them. Nice but never felt like real people were in the room.
Really I was ticked right off. This $300 amp and and ratty speaker wire was kicking my systems ass. So I bought the amp and that is where I said I have to know what is going on?! One thing that system had by nature was virtually no plastic. All foil caps in the amp and speaker crossover. I knew it was flawed yet it still had some magic that the new gear did not.
That is where I had to find out what was going on part by part. Even that article I posted (from Linn) that claims that 50% of the signal is lost in the crossover. That is a mind boggling number when you think about it.
So I have went from a crossover (Linn speakers) of cheap electrolytics, cheap caps, cheap circuit board, cheap iron core inductor to this in the Klipsch.
I am coming to Steen's conclusion the crossover is an area of almost unlimited weakness but I have had to go through it part by part.
Which comes back to Duelund I hope you can make Autoformers? |
Where do you have an autoformer, in the HF circuit? Is there any schematics/plans out there to replace it with other parts instead? I wouldn't imagine an one-off autoformer being cheap at all.
My Tannoy's originally came with an autoformer, but I eventually replaced it with a resistor and inductor...and now it even measures flatter. |
Face
The Autoformer is a step down voltage change as I understand? It is the first part that the signal runs through. The look of the part is very similiar to the woofer inductor. There are taps out of it to the different drivers.
http://www.critesspeakers.com/autotransformers.html |
In looking for SET amp info I stumbled across this site.
http://home.earthlink.net/~ivol/audio/other.htm
Still debating SET or EL84?
Of interesting note he thought the EL84 EICO fantastic. (for sure with NOS tubes) But more interesting he had the same speakers owned by Dennis Had of Cary Audio used in 89-'90 at the CES audio show. Showing off 300se mono blocks.
What is more interesting is
"Yet, I have to admit, they were immediately thrust to backup duty after 10 minutes with the vintage Klipsch Cornwalls"!
What I think the owner does not realise is he thinks it is all ALNiCo magnets or horns as did I. What I found out beyond a shadow of a doubt is it was the mosty the foil in oil capacitors. When Sonicaps went in the speakers sounded VERY cheap!
One of the coming tests I am going to do is ALNiCo tweeter vs. ferrite. I have both. I have always understood ALNiCo (known as the singing magnet) coveted by guiter guys the world over for tone, to be better. but I have never heard a direct comparison. The vintage Klipsch ALNiCo certainly go for much more $ used always a good indictator. |
Peter Qvortrup (Audio Note) rates amps on a 8 point from -2 to +6. He says a Class 0 Push Pull tube amp is the minimum anyone should have for recreating a live event.
He thinks the slide in quality started around 1965 to use cheaper parts.
He is not a fan of any SS calling them (semi conductor amps) half conductors.
In push pull he is a fan of EL84's which no problem with that statement but I have not heard level 3-6. That much better???
He also says a good test is low volume of sound. Which is interesting. I always said my SS system needed to be loud to sound good at all. Yet the big ass klipsch sound very alive at low volumes.
Audio Note is back to putting very little insulation in the boxes as well. My Linn speakers could not take anymore insulation.
Most of all what's with Denmark? I have not been there in 20 years and did not see all these high-end audio people?
http://www.audionote.co.uk/articles/art_level_system.shtml |
If you have high sensitivity speakers, my personal preference is SET. I have driven horns with push pull, and there is more synergy with SET. And for horns, the SET to have is a 45 SET. Add that with a 26 tube preamp, and one can end the search right there. A 26 mixed with a 45 has a certain magic. I owned highly tweaked K-horns, Lascala and Cornwall. I like the Cornwall, best of the 3. But then I have heard a stacked Cornwall/Lascala, that sound is even more special (the 2 speakers are driven in parallel by a 26/45 SET. I feel there is a massive positive difference in the sound when the SET amp has AC filament heating. |
Thanks Quoc
I will check into that. |
I am frustrated and confused.
This is not what I expected to find out.
The most important thing in an inductor is dampening. The vintage inductor hard as a rock with the wax paper dampening. Much smoother especially in the mid range.
I can not understand why only Duelund, Jensen and Jantzen that I can find do proper inductors? I think Jantzen uses a poly in there that rings alarm bells to me!
http://www.jantzen-audio.com/image/Wax%20Coil/About%20Wax%20Coil.pdf
The North Creek is coming out and vintage back in. The really the big test will be is Duelund WPIO better than a vintage inductor???
This will be the second time the fight will be with Duelund vs. vintage and not any new part.
I do hope Duelund wins as I will have wasted $$$.
The frustrating part of this rebuild is the poor qaulity of most of today's parts.
http://www.partsconnexion.com/inductor_solen12.html
That Solen inductor looks like wire wrapped around a toilet paper roll with some cheap ties!
I guess I know why old Klipschorns cost $4k (here in Canada) 30 years ago.
In today's parts you are looking at a Jensen (my best guess) for the woofer inductor to be the same as original. A Duelund Aluminum VSF for the mid range and 2 Duelund Aluminum VSF for the tweeters.
This crossover would cost around $1200 to $1500 to be the same or slightly better. My guess is even the Duelund Aluminum VSF tweeter caps are better. Bob Crites sells the crossovers (with poly caps) for $285 but you need to add about $1k for Duelund Aluminum foil in oil to get back to spec.
A new amplifier scares the crap out of me. It could be loaded with cheap plastic! Do new output trannies have a plastic bobbins?
Anyone ever dealt with Maple Shade? They give a 30 day money back guarantee.
http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/audioproducts/tubegear_hub.php |
Break-in time for the QuickSilver GOLD tweak will be different for every system. Some will sound really good after 28 to 45 days..others will take 60 to 75 days or more! We believe this is one of the best things you can do to a speaker for better sound! |
The moniker quicksilvergurl is as yet unclaimed. |
I see Tony has updated his site.
A couple noted changes Mundorf Supreme down to 9 from 10 (I think)
The Silver in Oil down to 10.5 (I thought 11)
Most importantly is the CAST is up 14! That is more like it. I thought the rating would be 15 when it came out as they are much better than even the VSF. (in noise reduction)
I would not be surprised to see Tony change the ratings again. Once you get a grasp on what these caps do. I suspect he is getting more synergy. Foil caps work better with more foil caps. |
I am looking into possible reasons why the vintage inductor sounds much smoother.
The NC inductor gives and takes away. Yes it has more (low end) detail but the down side is the noise factor. One of the biggest differences is the hard sound and how all the S's become SSSSSSS's. There is a hard ringing to the sound which becomes frustrating. Detail you know is there, but hard detail.
The vintage (wax paper) is more muted in sound but much smoother in the mid range. Much more musical.
I suspect resonance. One of the biggest surprises to me was the difference in resonance from the VSF to CAST. Astonishing is the best word. How the world's #1 cap could make the world's #2 cap seem noisy! I was shocked at how much noise was coming though from even a very, very good cap.
I suspect that is why the NC can not compete with a vintage wax paper inductor. There is no internal method to deal with this resonance. One wire just resonates against the other.
What I did not understand (until now) is that the woofer circuit is very critical. I thought all I was dealing was low freq. This is clearly not the case. The inductor resonates a high freq that comes through the woofer. The problem is the woofer is not designed for it.
The NC inductor removed all of the gain from the VSF and CAST capacitors gave in the mid range and tweeter.
The reason I am doing this part by part. One poly cap in the mid range and 80% of the Duelund tone was gone. Wrong inductor and you think you have problems with your mid and tweeter caps.
This I never suspected. If I had a hard noisy sound I would go after the tweeter caps as the culprit. I am shocked it could very well be the woofer inductor.
Tony really needs to do inductor reviews of this critical part.
I wish I had ordered the Duelund CAST inductor when I got my Duelund caps. Back then you did not have to give your right arm for the CAST inductor.
I think I have a grasp on what that inductor would mean and it is not all about the bass. |
Checking on whether to get new amp or not. I am very much leaning to just fixing up the EL84's I have and maybe buying a vintage SET down the road. New amps (unless you spend a ton of money) will likely be loaded with plastic. Something I very much want out not in!
There are so many areas that concern me in a new amp?
Output transformers? What is the insulation material? Is there any plastic?
Plastic bobbins?
From a Audio Note article on output transformers.
"We have therefore experimented with every man-made plastic insulating material available, but in the end we found that the best sounding material is a special type of paper. Paper is a natural material, and although subject to variations as are all such natural materials, it is more conducive to creating a natural sound. As with all Audio NoteĀ products the ear was the final arbiter as to which material was to be used".
http://www.hificollective.co.uk/components/trans_output.html
I also have concerns about the small value capacitors.
Steen was a fan of the old fashioned Mica ones. What are used today in modern amps? |
I have just ordered a Jensen Paper (630v) in tube copper cap and a Duelund VSF cap for coupling caps for the amps.
I am just want to see how they compare to the vintage ones. I have really wondered about the SET craze. I do believe people on the purity of sound. I have heard with my own ears what a plastic cap can do.
I just do not know if SET is that much better or the lack of plastic caps? I sure do not hear anything but slight congestion with these amps and lack of ability when the going gets tough to sort out. But very good tonality.
I e-mailed Tony to ask him to do inductor reviews. He did agree though that it is an area of not enough attention. |
Expectations of couling caps.
The vintage ERO FOL II's .022 are very tiny. They are just one half inch long and 1/4" in diameter.
The Jensens are .7" in diameter and 1.5" long.
Using pie x R2 the volume is in metric.
So 3.14 x 3mm2 x 12.7 359 cubic mm. Vintage
Jensen 3.14 x 9.5mm2 x 38mm 10767 cubic mm Jensen
So the Jensen is 30x larger in volume. The Duelund is about 10x bigger.
I know some guys do not believe the size of the cap matters. This has NOT been my experience. I expect the Jensen's and Duelund's to be much more dynamic. I also expect both to be much quieter. Even on the better vintage amps like the Fisher pre amps the size of the caps get bigger.
I am hoping for the kind of change I got from changing the tweeter caps from vintage to Duelund.
I have been doing much reading and am going against the SET route. (for now) My gut tells me much of the benefit of SET is less coupling caps. It is a given that the less amount of coupling caps the better the sound especially the poly cap kind.
Stereophile review on the EL 84 EICO
"Toss in a full restoration, and for well under $2000, the HF-81 can beat the pants off many amps and shame the SETs at their own game. I unconditionally recommend that you find an EICO HF-81, restore it, and hear for yourself what the fuss is all about". (END OF REVIEW)
I also read another review that the reviewer who was reviewing and Audio Note SET and said it was not as good as a Leak vintage tube amp.
So I do not want to give up the bass.
I think/expect a Duelund coupled vintage tube amp with no plastic and Duelund's top notch caps will sound fantastic. |
Parts Connexion is running the sale for another month so I will be getting more parts.
Vintage amp has a weak phono stage. Too noisy. I will be seeing if that is caused by poor (noisy) foil caps in a critical area. I expect so. I am going to start with some Jensen .022uf caps. If that does change the problem I may go to Duelund CAST at some point for the phono stage.
Listening to Ray Charles and Norah Jones and must say Ray sounds much more real. Both good recordings but vintage Ray Charles sounds colourful and alive compared to clear black and white for Norah. I suspect tube recording gear and foil caps in the chain. |
For those interested in the comparisons.. I have now been able to try out Duelunds and the Clarity MR's in pure speaker applications head to head.
On Face's recommendation as stated in some threads the Claritys are probably a better cap, mixed however with the Duelund is probably the ultimate solution as they really do something special hand in hand on a crossover. He stated having more dynamics and a little clearer with the Claritys, but a little more texture from a Duelund, and ultimately using both for the application definitely shows a lot of the smooth natural sound of the Duelund, with some enhanced definition and dynamics of the Clarity MR's.
Cost wise this also seems to be the most effective, minus going completley Cast caps which just ups the pricing in most cases 3 times more.
As for performance value, definitely the Clarity MR wins. They are far better in the mixes or on there own over the mundorfs in the applications I have used now. Claritys are perfect in electronics, and seem to be mostly just as good in crossover networks being isolated to limited frequency response. Clarity MR for full range applications still for the price nothing matches in my opinion. |
CAST are the real deal, more to come later. ;) |
As the thread moves into the rarefied air of CAST, it would helpful for Duelund Coherant Audio to share some specific models of commercial loudspeakers that use CAST. This would give more DIYers and audiophiles the opportunity to hear these caps and to rationalize their cost. |
Reference 3a has both the VSF copper and Cast in stock. I'm not sure, but I'm going to assume that the Cast is offered as an option for upgrade. I recently upgraded my Dulcet and the president gave me three options:
1. Mundorf Silver/gold
2. Duelund VSF copper
3. Duelund Cast Copper
I opted for the VSF since it was just marginally less expensive than the Mundorfs. |
Face looking forward to what you have to say. I find the VSF is getting lost here. It is after all Tony Gee's #2 cap in the world. I am finding out that (to me) resonance is much more of a factor than I ever imagined.
Sherod VSF was LESS money than Mundorf? I have not heard the Silver/Gold/Oil but can say that VSF is money well spent over Silver/Oil.
I am just waiting on coupling caps and inductor. Excited about both and am looking at CAST for critical areas as coupling caps like the phono stage. I just need to know what Duelund can do in a amp before spending that kind of money. I am starting with low voltage VSF before blowing the wad on CAST. My feeling is a lot of Duelund (either one) is better than a few CAST caps. (of course that is just a feeling) |
Sorry, the VSF was a little "more" expensive than the Mundorf. I should have proof-read my post better. |
Dgarretson,
Well, I've got some cases where the manufacturer has published they use CAST themselves:
Tidal T1
Kaiser Kawero
Peak Consult (Momentum line)
Perfect8 Technologies
New American speaker, hopefully debuting at the Rocky Show.
Hope that helps.
Frederik |
Here's my quick impression.
The CAST are the best caps I've heard so far. But are they worth the price, probably not for everyone.
Over the MR, they offer a little more transparency and better tonality. Imaging, soundstage, dynamics, are similar with both caps. Must be something to do with their anti-resonance designs.
I've experimented with MR, VSF, and CAST in three different speakers. My Tannoy Saturns have perfect synergy with MR's in the HF circuit, I have no desire to try anything else in them. My Tannoy HPD-385A's use three caps in the HF circuit, replacing all three of them with MR's gave a little sheen, I replaced one of the caps(the only in series) with a VSF and found synergy. Since these are in a secondary rig, I couldn't imagine fronting for a CAST in that position. Now for my dedicated two channel rig, I use custom speakers consisting of Seas Magnesium drivers and a Scan Speak Air Circ tweeter. I've tried a few different caps in them, including Mundorf S/O, VSF's, and MR's. MR's worked the best overall in them, but I still preferred Duelund's tonality in that rig. I then ordered a pair of CAST's for those speakers. While waiting for them, I ordered a pair of small VSF's to parallel with a pair of MR's. Paralleling the two gave me most of what I'm looking for, but still wasn't perfect. I like to use a single cap in the HF circuit whenever possible. I found that paralleling or "bypassing" caps in the HF circuit usually leads to some signal degradation, I haven't noticed this in MP or LP circuits though. Finally the CASTs arrived(ahead of time too!). As I mentioned before, they have the same large soundstage, and precise imaging as the MR's, but with a more natural tonality and little more detail without harshness. If I had unlimited funds would I buy these for all of my speakers in every position...no, because I still do prefer MR's in some speakers. I still wouldn't mind having another pair or two though. |
