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Dueland CAST PIO

Hello I had a few questions regarding this cap and was wondering if any owners who have heard this cap first hand can help me out.

I am thinking about adding this as a CAP upgrade on the speakers I am trying to get. I have heard from owners on forums saying it made a significant difference to their speakers for the better, but when I contacted some other speaker manufacturers they tell me that just because you add the Dueland CAP does not necessarilly mean you will get better sound. They say withs ome speakers they might sound great, but with some other speakers, they might even make the sound quality lower.

My questions are.

1. Will the Dueland CAST PIO cap upgrade change the signature sound of the speaker as intended by the designer?
Or will it simply make everything sound a bit better not effecting the original sound?

2. How much did the Dueland CAST PIO improve your system?

thanks.
ssos101

Showing 6 responses by salectric

salectric
758 posts
 
In my vintage speakers, the Duelund CAST was the best sounding of many, many caps I tried in the tweeter high-pass crossover. It had the best inner detail and overall coherency. As far as I am concerned, there were no negative qualities in its sound at all, which is something I cannot say about any other capacitor brand.

In general, I do agree that simply substituting a high priced boutique capacitor for whatever the designer used in the first place is not always an improvement. That applies to some very expensive caps like V-Caps and Mundorf Silver/ Gold/Oil. But in the case of Duelunds, it's hard for me to imagine a situation where its superior clarity and coherency would not be an overall improvement.
salectric
758 posts
 
What types of capacitors are in the speaker now?
salectric
758 posts
 
On my 2-way vintage speakers, the Duelund CAST cap made a much bigger difference when used on the high-pass (tweeter) than on the low-pass (woofer). In each case, the Duelund was replacing a Mundorf Supreme (regular version) so this was a fair evaluation.

In general, if funds only permit upgrading one cap in a 2-way crossover, I would go with a Duelund on the tweeter since that should give the biggest improvement for the buck. In a 3-way crossover, things are more complicated. It's possible the midrange may benefit the most but the crossover will also be more complex so you may need more Duelunds.
salectric
758 posts
 
A single Duelund CAST cap (no bypass) will sound significantly better than an OIMP with or without a V-Cap bypass. I am not a fan of numerical descriptions of sonic differences---What does it mean to say something is 10% better? But the benefits of a Duelund over an OIMP will be quite easy to hear and very rewarding. That isn't a very hurdle to surpass.
salectric
758 posts
 
Oops, I left out a word in my last post. I meant to say that an OIMP cap is not a particularly good sounding cap, with or without a bypass, and a Duelund CAST cap should surpass it easily and pretty much in all respects.
salectric
758 posts
 
Vapor1, I didn't mean to offend, but in the context we are talking about----Duelund CAST, V-Cap TFTF and CuTF, and Sonicap Platinum---the OIMP falls considerably short. I also don't find it to be a particularly good value. For the same or less money, I would choose a regular Mundorf Supreme (not Silver, Oil or Gold) or a Sonicap Gen1. Not to say that either of these is in the league mentioned above, but with proper selection of other parts they can provide very good sound for the dollar.

Duelunds really are at the top of the heap, however, at least in speaker crossovers.
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