... again about Duelund's Coherent Audio PIO caps

... taken from Jimmy Auw's superb site, about his experiments and experience with exotic capacitors...

"No surprise, with around US$ 822/pairs, this should sound special. Compared with Jensen Pure Copper Foil Paper Tube, this Duelund CAST PIO definitely has more resolution and better staging. Compared with VCap, this has better and sweet mid-vocal. Not as revealing as VCap, but the details are there - without have to be over aggressive. Is it too forgiven character? Not really, since every details are maintained perfectly, not more, not less. Cymbal is cymbal, full with its micro harmonics. If almost all capacitor has its own speciality, whether it’s emphasized on sweet vocal or in high notes, then this Duelund simply has none to be proud of. It’s just maintain the music and all the micro details, included staging and layering. The low is soft, layered, natural. The mid-vocal is just right. The high is very detail, but not sharp or over emphasized. If I have to use words to explain, I would say “Natural”, “Resolution”, and “Pricey” to describe the Duelund CAST PIO.

I think, you can (should) use Duelund if you already have a “near perfect” system. I would suggest a VCap for a “dull” system, a MCap S/G/O to get a live sound (average), and a Jensen “classic” or Paper Tube in a too revealing system. But Duelund? Use it if you already have a “near fine” system, and Duelund will help to add its “perfect touch” on it.

About Duelund’s price tag (which sooooo expensive, the 1 uF/630VDC Silver Foil version sold around US$ 1000 each!), I have to agree with Tempo Electric and I quote them as below:

In an age of $17,000 phono cartridges, $27,000 speaker cables, and $120,000 turntables, he could be right. On the other hand, silver bullion has been selling in the range of 10 Euros (US$13.00) per ounce for years now. How much silver is really in these things, anyway?

If you could afford US$ 9000 CD Player, US$ 10,000 Power Amplifier, or even US$ 5000 for a turntable cartridge and another US$ 20,000 for speakers, why dont you spend US$ 800 for capacitor? Don’t ask me Sighhh… But still, few hundreds bucks only for a capacitor is considered “insane”…

Added 18 August 2009:

Frederik at Duelund Coherent Audio emailed me and said that Jensen Pure Copper Foil Paper Tube and Duelund CAST PIO are not the same in terms of construction. I completely agree that we (I) never know whether they are the same or not inside (well, no one knows except the manufacturer). But from a standard customer point of view, they both have similar brown/black color tube, same Copper Foil, and same Paper In Oil type capacitor. I think it’s natural if most people would think, perhaps, they both share similar “technique” or “construction” (both from Danish and both “are” Jensen). But from the ears point of view, definitely, they both sound different.

Added 21 August 2009:

Frederik at Duelund Coherent Audio emailed me to clarify the question whether Duelund is made by Jensen. You can read the detail explanation here:

Cooperation with Jensen Capacitors

From time to time, we get the question if a Duelund capacitor is simply a rebranded Jensen capacitor, as is so often seen in the industry. The short answer is “absolutely not!”, whereas the more detailed response is that we do collaborate with Jensen Capacitors, but the products themselves have nothing in common with a standard Jensen capacitor besides being a “wet” capacitor. "

NoB - I also wrote Duelund's for technical support - about my improved passive 4-ways crossovers for Gotorama system - and received a reply from Frederik... more later...

BTW... Jimmy's "my own in-bold/enlarged" advice is absolutely wise and intelligent... exactly what I recently heard in an horn-system using ALL Duelund's caps x-overs...

Thanks, Jimmy.