[acidtripwow]

Did anybody see the article in the July 2002 issue of Hi-Fi News on Black Gate capacitors? I thought it made for an interesting read. Do any of you DIYers use them? Just wondering.

 

[Tomo]

Hello,

Would you mind me asking what it says? Closest bookstore is like 10 miles away and I got no car. And it's going to rain. Oh, I just remembered my rear wheel has to be realigned. T.T

Thanks,

Tomo

 

[aos]

Of course we use them. They're the well known. Most expensive but supposedly the best, not without quirks though (such as burn-in which needs to be repeated if unit is not powered most of the time). I would chime in with Tomo and ask what does the article say though?

 

[acidtripwow]

The reviewer/writer basically did a DIY job and replaced some capacitors in his equipment with the Black Gates to see if they made any difference. He came to the conclusion that they did make an improvement in his audio equipment.

 

[aos]

Oh, this is pretty common. Many people even do this for others - you send in your stuff, they upgrade some parts and your sound improves. The standard upgrade is always capacitor upgrade, and many people use Black Gate for that purpose.

 

[eric343]

I didn't know the Black Gates were quirky on the burn-in...

I guess Cerafines are the way to go

 

[Tomo]

Hello,

BG and ELNA aren't "significantly" better as the "significant" price differences. Don't get me wrong it sounds better. But I am talking "how much" better.

I own BG and ELNA. It did not lower noise floor as significantly as many proclaimed when used in bypassing.

Signal coupling with electrolytics is about the only price where change is a little bit more than subtle. But then, polypropylene caps sound better than my Cerafines. (Removing caps entirely by modifying design, for me, seem more effective and economical. But that is entirely the domain of personal taste and insanity.)

I tried Duorex too. But I fear they perform exactly the same as my HFQ panasonic or my huge Spragues.

But it is possible to speculate that existing caps on the amp is very low quality. In which case, the performance difference will be quite large.

Tomo

 

[ppl]

Anyone used the Tonex or Silmic II ?