....Re capping improved midrange but nothing to noticeable elsewhere. These were built in 69! Caps that old and still sound good? I am starting to think this re capping business is a little Placebo but thats a hot topic. ....
No need to doubt the effect of replacing the capacitors for the better or the worse.
I have reported on my recapping.
This I did based on the assumption that these speakers had to have much more potential than I was hearing from them (impressive bass but muffled not clear sound in general)
for my first recap of I used somewhat high end and mid end material (cables / caps / resistors) .
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/wharfedale-owners-thread.543491/page-44#post-9399973
The difference after recap was night and day.
Gone was the "great warm vintage 70's sound , but still I will gladly sell you this speaker set for 100 Euro" type of feeling.
The curtain truly had lifted. This way the speakers all over sudden exposed the amplifier quality while before the would put a veil on it.
However, I remained skeptic about the need for those thick internal whoofer cables, large expensive caps, replace a resistor etc..
So I moved to the following test:
As I posted earlier I had another pair of wharfedales Dovedale 3 partially completed. After finding a replacement for a defect tweeter to complete also this pair of of Dovedale 3, I went to my electronic part shop and bought generic red cross over caps.
I assumed - since the speakers sounded so bad in raw non-recapped mode- I assumed that high end caps / cables / resistors were only accountable for the extra 5 % of improved quality in sound and that the overruling fact of putting new caps whatever the brand would suffice to get the happy result comparable with the first speakers and this at a fraction of the cost.
That turned out to be wishful thinking.
After having worked one speaker, replacing only caps, I could let go the idea that the easy cheap way would give satisfying results.
While I had a decent speaker which could be sold as "recapped" maintained, serviced or whatever it would never be declared a reference or keeper like the previous pair.
The cheaply recapped speaker did not at all provide the clarity the earlier set had given after recap / rewiring.
Conclusion: Same amp, same position, same relative humidity etc...the differences in speaker degradation or rubber surround let aside, your choice whether to replace caps, wires, resistors by cheap versions or not and use expert versions instead will surely provide different results.
Discussing Dovedale 3 there for will remain a vastly subjective matter.
Choice of parts do make a difference. Old parts sound tired and muffled compared to new parts.
That these speakers have great potential if refreshed despite the doubtful not so built to last cabinet material is also true in my opinion.
I do not regret my time and money invested in the first pair and the results overshot my expectations.
In my opinion I have wasted my time recapping the cheap way , there is not a single advantage in sound repoduction to be detected apart from more forgiving on amp harshness that the cheap brand new caps will provide.
I will have to redo the work and pay for extra good parts if I want 4 Dovedale 3's with interesting sound. Why not
It would be interesting to have a crossover with external sockets to swap the parts on the fly and appreciate the difference if any.