Black Gate Standard caps

The top Black Gate caps are now almost extinct from the market and, where they can be found, they are super-expensive. But a few places still have limited selection of the "Standard" line at prices I might be willing to pay.

I never heard much about these, people always talked about the NX and FK series. What do they sound like, in either signal path or PSU application?

I always thought it was worth spending the $ for NX caps, back when they were more reasonably priced, at least in the one or two most critical positions (I have them in my Millett Hybrid Max, and Gamma2, and they sound amazing). Do you think I would feel the same about the Standard series, or are they not worth a premium over Silmics or Muse ES?

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomb 

I sort of agree with FA in principle, but shed no tears for Black Gates - the Elna RFS Silmic II's are every bit as good as BG NX's were in signal path applications.

I think the Silmic II's can sound quite good, but I would never agree that they are every bit as good as the NX.  They have very different signatures, so it's perhaps dubious to compare them too closely, anyway, but I still think the NX is the clear winner. I know it's difficult for many to argue the NX's were worth 10x the cost, or whatever it was, but they have incredible micro-detail - none of the other 7 or so electrolytics that I've tried comes close in that regard - while maintaining good timbral reproduction, and sounding musical overall.  The Silmics are perhaps better in the timbre aspect, but not all that detailed, in fact kind of smeary. And despite having a nice rich lower-midrange (the "warmth" people often refer to), they seem to make the music somehow thin and cold overall to me.

But this is just how my ears hear them. If you like the Silmics that much, have at 'em and enjoy your huge cost savings. :)

Yes, the need for regular usage, and a long break-in period, are definitely true and valid reasons to like the NX less. My setup is more or less permanently attached to my computer, and every day it gets a few hours' use (at least), since I use it for everything - composing, listening for pleasure, Daily Show clips/Youtube/whatever. So I don't really have to deal with that issue, it always sounds nice and broken-in. But I can see how people with other situations might not think they're worth the trouble.

I can also conceive how some might simply prefer the sound of the Silmics. I saw it described well somewhere - the Silmics are more "natural" sounding, the BGs are more "hi-fi" sounding. Depending on your perspective, either one might seem more accurate.

When it is possible to use a small-value Silmic alongside a larger-value NX - the idea being that the NX dominates but is infused with some of the nice timbral texture of the Silmics - that would be optimal to me. But only in some circuits does this kind of proportion-driven tweaking get the results you'd expect. (My old Emu 1212m did seem to work this way, and that's more or less what I did, but with the BG's being the FK series instead of NX. And it sounded lovely)