Congratulations Stephen - it's always a little hit and miss when you replace drivers with new types with no knowledge on the parameters of the old ones, but apparently you've found a good match.

The service manual is on site for silver and gold members - but why not just replace all electrolytics with foil types? They are not that much more expensive, and potentially sound better when new... and definitely better when the bipolars have had time to age.

I used Intertechik MKT caps for my RL60.2's and Pentas, and was very happy with the result. It might be easier to find Solen caps over there (they are made in Canada I suppose).

Tournedos,

          You give sound capacitor advice. I have used foil types almost exclusively for recapping speakers in the past. The sole exception being once using bipolar electrolytic in parallel to the woofers in my Klipsch Chorus. I didn't think of it, the kit I used from a well known Klipsch shop that provided it for that purpose said there was no sonic benefit to justify the additional cost in that application. I took their word for it, and the result was excellent.

         That being said, sonically there's no reason not to use foil cap.s for bypassing voice coils either. It boils down to two considerations:

1. Cost - In the larger ratings (as are typically seen bypassing woofer coils) bi-polars are much less expensive. If that were the only factor, I'd go with foil unless I were absolutely sure the application was to bypass of the voice coil.

2. Size - I'm not familiar with your RL60.2's or Pentas, is usable interior space available in them? Mounting large capacitors in the RL-140 is not a task I relish being able to accomplish effectively. Very tight in there. This tips the scale in favor of bi-polar electrolytics to be used in bypass applications. Now to go get the schematic and make sure......

         Are you a native Finn? You're English is excellent, better than that employed by many Americans to be sure. I'm presently trying to learn Italian, which is giving me a greater appreciation of the difficulty in actually mastering a second language.

Yes, the MKTs cost a bit more, but I thought since these speakers were keepers, I'll only need to pay it once (and never do again!). There aren't that many caps in the RL crossovers anyway.

I used 160V caps; the higher voltage ratings would be unnecessary, and physically much larger. There was plenty of space in the RLs. The Penta crossovers are much more complex, and contain two pieces of 68uF caps each - those are indeed fat, and you need to cut away a small piece of an internal support in the base plate to make them fit.

The RL's improved surprisingly much, it wouldn't take a trained ear to notice the difference. Almost like different speakers. The effect on the Pentas was much more subtle, but they may have been less tired to begin with.

Thanks for the compliments. Finnish is actually quite an easy language, even the kids speak it over here 😂

tournedos wrote:

Thanks for the compliments. Finnish is actually quite an easy language, even the kids speak it over here

😂😂

...and I thought your excellent language skills came from reading Cadillac manuals!

tournedos wrote:

Thanks for the compliments. Finnish is actually quite an easy language, even the kids speak it over here

Maybe I should try Finnish instead of Italian.

burantek wrote:

...and I thought your excellent language skills came from reading Cadillac manuals!

Tournedos, Do you have a Cadillac to go with the manauls? Please don't tell me you've got a red '59 Coupe DeVille convertible.

Stephen V Franco wrote:

Tournedos, Do you have a Cadillac to go with the manauls? Please don't tell me you've got a red '59 Coupe DeVille convertible.

Pretty remarkably close... I'll let Mika take over from here! 😂

Stephen V Franco wrote:

Tournedos, Do you have a Cadillac to go with the manauls? Please don't tell me you've got a red '59 Coupe DeVille convertible.

'62 Coupe de Ville in Olympic White, but close enough 😁

A beautiful example of that glorious American style of excess and exuberance so freely exercised in the late 50's/early60's. That Caddy has got to be the baddest ride in all of Finland.

Speaking of which, how did that thing wind up there? That's got to be a good story.

Well they are not that uncommon over here - Cadillac is actually the 36th most common car make in Finland (2200 vehicles, more than Rover for example!), and a large part of them are oldtimers.  A lot were imported after the car tax changed so that you didn't have to pay it according to a similar new car...

As far as I know this car was bought new by a pilot who liked it enough to drive it until at least 1975 (there is a faded Western Airlines parking sticker on the front bumper). I have an old registration by the same guy from 1984, it may have been put to storage after that. The car stayed in CA until it was imported here in 1991, and I bought it from those people in 1997. The interior has been restored at some time already in the States and everything on the car is correct and in place, which is a little rare around here - will need minor rust work and a new paint in the near future, though. Kinda stuck on me, I don't think I'll ever sell it!

Obviously I expected your Caddy to be a bit more of a rarity in Finland. A very nice ride at any rate. Vintage SoCal (if that's where it came from) cars are prized as the climate is very dry, and the rust cancer not so prevalent in them. That car tax must have been a killer if relief from it makes shipping something like a '62 deVille economically viable.

The afore mentioned '59 red/white interior convertible Cadillac is #2 on my dream car list. #1 is a red/tan interior '72 Ferrari Dino 246 GT, complete w/mechanic to keep it running.

Ok, back to reality and RL-140's. Capacitors are ordered, and I'm very excited about the potential for sonic improvement. Results will be posted.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

Franco