2010: Replacement for Black Gate WKZ 100uF+100uF 500V

[dodolg2001]

As for today, what is the best replacement part for the Black Gate WKZ 100uF+100uF 500V?

Any one has experience with Mundorf M-Lytic and Panasonic THSA?

Thanks in advance for help.

[kmtang]

Mundorf M-Lytic or Jensen electrolytics are good replacement for Black Gate.


Johnny

[dodolg2001]

Thanks Johnny.
I will try Mundorf M-Lytic first then since it's much cheaper

Anyone try F&T (germany)?

[ervinl]

I use J&J 100-100 / 500V, so far it is good with the price far less than BG WKZ. The (sound) quality may be above standard Nippon Chemicon I used before. Never use F&T yet.

[LinuksGuru]

I think better to use 4x500V film caps, if space allows. They will be better and more reliable then any electrolytic caps on planet earth. I have a couple of 47uF/400V and dimensions are 45x70 mm. IMHO demise of Black Gate is largely due to development and sharp price drop of large film and multi-layer ceramic caps.

[kmtang]

I've tried using Solen polyproperene film capacitor for the B+ bypass. I just don't like the sound of it. It sounds thin and lack of dynamics. I used all Blackgate caps in my 45, 2A3 and 300B SE amps.

I still have one or two WKZ caps for my future projects.


Johnny

[jean-paul]

Originally Posted by LinuksGuru

IMHO demise of Black Gate is largely due to development and sharp price drop of large film and multi-layer ceramic caps.

This is definitely not true. The caps were produced at Rubycon that needed the production line for larger numbers of other caps ( AFAIK computer grade polymer caps ). Jelmax asked several times if there was a possibility to continue production but got no for an answer.

There was no price problem whatsoever compared to film caps. Black Gate WKZ were simply superior and they were well worth the money. Heard them a few times and I heard the owners being very satisfied with them. As I am not a true tube guy I never used WKZ but I still use N and NX HiQ series and I think it is a great pity that they are not produced anymore. I would not know what to use if my stock is gone as there are not so many caps so small and so good. Whenever I found a replacement they were much too big for my application, and way more expensive than BG too.

Only the standard series were not very special, you could compare those to large film caps ( but not multi-layer ceramic caps, no way ).

[Salectric]

I would recommend the Continental Capacitors Type A oil-filled---25uf, 650v. I am now using it as the first cap in my amp CLC filters. The second cap position is still a 100uf WKZ. I haven't done a side-by-side comparison with the BG WKZ and it's not an exact swap in any case, but the Continental sounds very good regardless. I prefer it to the other oil-filled caps I've tried in the same spot---ASC 20uf and GE 97F 15uf.

Dave

[LinuksGuru]

Originally Posted by jean-paul

This is definitely not true. The caps were produced at Rubycon that needed the production line for larger numbers of other caps ( AFAIK computer grade polymer caps ). Jelmax asked several times if there was a possibility to continue production but got no for an answer.

They could be manufactured at many others factories if there was a real demand for them. BTW, some Rubicons (and many other so called audiophile grade caps) are actually sourced from third-party Chinese OEM.

Originally Posted by jean-paul

There was no price problem whatsoever compared to film caps. Black Gate WKZ were simply superior and they were well worth the money. Heard them a few times and I heard the owners being very satisfied with them. As I am not a true tube guy I never used WKZ but I still use N and NX HiQ series and I think it is a great pity that they are not produced anymore. I would not know what to use if my stock is gone as there are not so many caps so small and so good. Whenever I found a replacement they were much too big for my application, and way more expensive than BG too.

Only the standard series were not very special, you could compare those to large film caps ( but not multi-layer ceramic caps, no way ).

It is not possible to listen caps alone because there many other components in between - from tubes to speakers and room. BG may have certain advantages over other electrolytes (and may not, taking into account continuous improvements of technology). And none so far conducted double blind tests which could prove BG magic sound hype. High-voltage 50uF film caps are quite large and quite expensive, but they worth their cost.

[Marcella]

Actually I'm statisfied in combining Blackgate WKZ with Mundorf M-Lytic.