Black Gate caps

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.

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- Read the 'Industry Update' that I cited in my post(second URL). That was speculation(very plausible), but nothing else was ever mentioned as to why production was ceased, outside of a rumor of problems between Jelmax Co.,Ltd. and Rubycon Corp.

From the Stereophile article:

"One audio manufacturer we spoke with speculated that Rubycon, the firm that manufactured the Black Gate capacitors, was concerned over the expiration of the technology's patents, which date to the mid-1970s. Another Deep Throat insider claimed that it was simply a matter of supply and demand: The big demand for capacitors these days is for the organic semiconductor models used in computers, so that's what manufacturers, such as Rubycon, focus on, not low-demand, difficult to manufacture devices such as the "super" electrolytics."