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When to recap?


kswitzer

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Always hard to tell until you do it. It really helped my Cornwalls but they were built 20 years before your Forte II. I have a Forte as a center channel between the Cornwalls and have not done anything to it, it still sounds just fine. I'm betting yours are fine unless the speakers were stored somewhere electronically unfriendly. YMMV

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If you are currently happy with them then leave them alone.

.

But the issue is that capacitors have finite lifespans unlike most other electronic components. For most people they agree sometime after ~20-25 years that we replace the caps would be a good idea.

 

 

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Film caps in crossovers seldom fail or deteriorate to the point they need replacing. I realize this is a very controversial subject on this forum but technicians seldom replace film caps in electronic devices. Certainly if one replaces them the speakers will sound different but that is generally the case when one swaps different new brand of caps in a crossover as well. My personal advice is if you like the sound now do not try to fix something that is not broken.  

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1 minute ago, Alexander said:

 

If you are currently happy with them then leave them alone.

.

But the issue is that capacitors have finite lifespans unlike most other electronic components. For most people they agree sometime after ~20-25 years that replaceable the caps would be a good idea.

 

 

I agree. The ones in electronic devices that have a life span are electrolytic which do need replacing in 20 year old equipment. The film caps in very old equipment that are paper film caps do fail but we are talking equipment in the 50's or older which will not apply to crossover caps as a rule. 

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I agree that if the speakers sound good to you with crisp clear highs & mids then they are probably ok to leave as is. 

 

but, the main benefit of changing capacitors is to use higher quality caps than the somewhat cheap caps the factory used, there is a wide range of quality/prices for capacitors.  if you want to upgrade the quality but keep the values the same, do some research on here or even just google capacitor replacements & you will find all kinds of info & opinions on what brand/type of caps are best... all comes down to your budget & what you think you will gain, if you have average equipment then you probably dont need high end expensive capacitors.   

 

i have a pair of chorus2 that i bought used & they sounded very dull & muffled, like a towel was covering the fronts, i replaced them with some budget brand but excellent rated poly caps & they made a huge improvement, they now sound like new or better.  not sure if it was age or abuse that killed the factory caps but they were definitely bad.  on the other hand, ive owned 3 other sets of chorus 2 & forte & forte2 as well as 2 pair of K-horns & epic cf-4 that all sounded excellent with original caps, so its really a case by case basis & all depends on what you hear from the speakers now vs what you feel could be improved.  many people have original klipsch that are 30-40+ years old & they sound great, while others have the same age or much newer models that they think they need to upgrade.  the old sayings apply here, if it aint broke dont fix it & to each their own... & remember not everyone hears the same.       

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Play some music from your favorites and listen if it sounds good and right to you. If detailed and sounds better than what you have heard before all is good.

If not, their is now equivalent enough capacitors available to refresh the originals with.

Some critical listening then may help, since no reference available.

Thanks!

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I replaced the 47uf 100v caps on the woofer section of my 1986 Klipsch Fortes purely on the assumption that electrolytic caps that old should be replaced. The speakers sounded fine before and after, no appreciable difference. Old caps checked out fine after testing. Take away what you will from that. 

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19 hours ago, Alexander said:

 

If you are currently happy with them then leave them alone.

.

But the issue is that capacitors have finite lifespans unlike most other electronic components. For most people they agree sometime after ~20-25 years that we replace the caps would be a good idea.

 

 

I was wondering; i have RF3s, bought them in 2000. I remember reading that the "newer" caps don´t age as bad as the ones in my Heresys, something about older caps being "wet" and newer ones being "dry". Is that correct, or do the newer caps also come with 20 - 25 year lifespan?

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1 hour ago, AndreG. said:

I was wondering; i have RF3s, bought them in 2000. I remember reading that the "newer" caps don´t age as bad as the ones in my Heresys, something about older caps being "wet" and newer ones being "dry". Is that correct, or do the newer caps also come with 20 - 25 year lifespan?

Electrolytic caps are the ones called wet not film caps which are in the signal path of most crossover networks.  Film caps are considered dry being nothing more than metal plates separated by some type of material. Generally referred to as some type of plastic. The old style capacitors use paper as an insulator between the 2 separate metal plates which requires oil on the paper to prevent the paper absorbing moister from the air shorting the plates together.  

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16 hours ago, wetowne said:

I replaced the 47uf 100v caps on the woofer section of my 1986 Klipsch Fortes purely on the assumption that electrolytic caps that old should be replaced. The speakers sounded fine before and after, no appreciable difference. Old caps checked out fine after testing. Take away what you will from that. 

There is a lot of  restorers of equipment from the 60's and beyond that do not believe in replacing all the electrolytic caps but only the ones with high ESR resistance. I am in the camp they need replacing being the manufacturer of electrolytic caps in the data sheets describe the life span of their caps are generally 15 years. I do not want an old electrolytic cap that test good today to fail next week being 15 years old. 

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1 minute ago, AndreG. said:

Ok Henry. Wich makes me think film-type caps don´t need replacement, right?

As a general term no unless the caps are in the 50's or earlier. They rarely test bad even after decades of use and are still serviceable. The ones I have found that push replacing caps and crossovers on forums are mostly the sellers of caps and crossovers. Absolutely nothing wrong with doing so just because but do not expect a significant difference if you like the way the speakers sound now. I have experimented with coupling caps in tube amplifiers using different brands and their are differences in the sound for those that are critical listener's but that does not mean different ones are going to sound better. More like different is what I would describe it. If one decides to replace crossover caps I advise to keep the old ones in case you do not like the way new ones sound. Then there is always other brands to try but it takes a lot of time and $ swapping in and out and taking time to listen when you go down that rabbit hole.  

 

Again as other have said "if it ain't broke don't try and fix it."

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Years ago I experimented with 20 or more different crossovers and caps for my LaScala's. Some I designed myself and all that I could find on the web from other sources. There were some that I liked better then the AA's which were more pleasing to my ears and setup but at the present time the AA's are back in my LaScala's as plenty good enough. The ones that pleased me the most are the ones I designed myself without using the autotransformer. The main reason I put the AA's back in is when my time is over they will be easier to sell being stock for my kids. Paul Klipsch did an excellent job designing the crossovers for his speakers for what he had available way back when. But most here already know that. 

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Measure the capacitors with a voltmeter that can measure for capacitance. You can usually do this accurately with the capacitor in-circuit (disconnect the leads from the specific speaker driver, if possible). The tolerance of the spec on the capacitor is often printed on the capacitor. If not, typical tolerance of an electrolytic capacitor is 20%. So using that as a guide, if you measure a capacitor which is more than 20% outside of its nominal value, then replace it. Otherwise, don't bother.

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I would not expect an electrolytic in a crossover to out of spec that much being so little voltage it sees. Not much chance of breaking down. ESR is a better measurement but there is a lot of misconception of reading the ESR of a capacitor. When the spec is say 2 ohms of ESR and one reads 3 to say 5 ESR it does not mean the cap has failed. Only the ESR, resistance, has increased a slight amount which really has very little effect on the sound. What I call splitting hairs. Most technicians consider a cap is bad when the ESR is stated as 2 and it reads lets say 10 or much higher. Then a technicians determines it needs replacing. Not all technicians mind you there are perfectionist in every field but one really does not require perfection in a piece of entertainment gear. Most consider polypropylene caps superior to polyester but Klipsch generally consider polyester caps plenty good enough in their crossovers and I agree. Who am I to disagree with the electronic engineers working for Klipsch. Nothing wrong with someone spending hundreds of $ for one cap if they want to but the cost vs improvement is going to be very low. Money probably better spent elsewhere if looking for improving sound. 

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