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Black Gate caps

I'm curious to know if those of you who have ever modified or upgraded the stock capacitors in their SS preamps to Black Gate caps, could hear a difference or an improvement after the mod. Seems like maybe 2 or 3 years ago when these caps were going out of production, quite a few people were jumping on the band wagon of modifying/upgrading the capacitors in their audio gear to Black Gate's. I'm sure enough time has passed for these caps to break in, so, I'm just curious to know how it turned out for those of you who made the mod, or even for those who have an opinion this subject.. Thanks.
gslone
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Have Black Gate in ARC SP15 POWER SUPPLY FASTER QUIETER..great mod by GREAT NOTHERN SOUND.
br3098
1,000 posts
 
Black Gates are good. Not sure if they are worth the price, though. IMHO even the cheapest Taiwanese capacitors made today are much better then the best capacitors that were made 20 years ago. YMMV
rodman99999
6,206 posts
 
Taiwan(China or anyone else) has NEVER(yet) manufactured ANYTHING that can compare to the Rubycon Black Gates, in sound OR technology. We(modders) lost a valuable resource when they discontinued the line. Read: (http://www.acoustic-dimension.com/blackgate/techEcap.htm) What's stated about distortion is measurable, and verified here:(http://www.stereophile.com/news/022105industry/#) Read paragraphs 6,7,& 8 of the article. The closest we have now is the Sanyo OsCon, and(unfortunately) they are only made in smaller values. I have them in the power supply of my TacT RCS 2.2X. (http://www.diyparadise.com/oscon.html) PLEASE NOTE: In the above; I am(mainly) referring to the use of electrolytic capacitors, and power supply mods. There are a number of excellent signal caps currently in manufacture, though none(that I am aware of) from Taiwan or China.
sherod
1,690 posts
 
It was a sad day for me when Rubycon announced that they were shutting down production of the Blackgate caps. A large chunk of their inventory was sold to Parts Connexion in Canada, but the inventory is slowly being depleted. Many values and models are no longer available. Like many revered NOS tubes, I'm sure that certain values of NOS Blackgates will probably sell for a premium, but then, unlike tubes, capacitors have a finite lifespan. I can only hope that some manufacturer will take over where Rubycon left off and begin manufacture of comparable or better, with technological advancements, audiophile-grade electrolytic capacitors.
rja's avatar
rja
2,382 posts
 
Does anyone know why Rubycon stopped manufacturing the Black Gates?
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