Hi, can anyone please advise me on what to do or what is correct. I have a Rotel RCD965BXLE UK spec. I bought this player back in 1991 before I went off to study. As a result it got little use perhaps a couple of hours per month until last summer when I got back into my music and hifi. A friend in the state has been guiding me on cap upgrades for my amp and now I am looking to upgrade the electrolytic caps in my Rotel CD player. I have had a look and most of the output caps are Black Gate F (gold and black coloured). I have read that these caps are the holy grail of caps and would appear to be a source of much heart felt debate.
The questions are, do I replace these black gate caps as they are 20 years old now or are they still good (i.e. not dried out like I have read caps can do). My friend recommends using nichicon muse as a replacement to the BG caps. Are muse caps on par with the Black Gate F series cap or after 20 year are the BG caps still better? I have popped in a pair of Muse caps on the final output stage and the sound does seem different not sure if I can say better at this time as the caps still need time to burn in. I find myself wondering if the improved 3D imaging of the presentation is real or my imagination. Any help is most welcome as I am just not sure what to do. I will be replacing all the nichicon power caps and the JPN caps with good quality audio grade ones. Richard.
The questions are, do I replace these black gate caps as they are 20 years old now or are they still good (i.e. not dried out like I have read caps can do). My friend recommends using nichicon muse as a replacement to the BG caps. Are muse caps on par with the Black Gate F series cap or after 20 year are the BG caps still better? I have popped in a pair of Muse caps on the final output stage and the sound does seem different not sure if I can say better at this time as the caps still need time to burn in. I find myself wondering if the improved 3D imaging of the presentation is real or my imagination. Any help is most welcome as I am just not sure what to do. I will be replacing all the nichicon power caps and the JPN caps with good quality audio grade ones. Richard.
I'm not familiar with the player as such but I think the biggest change in sound quality will come from swapping any opamps, particularly if they are originally of the NE5534 type and used for I/V conversion etc.
From experience I know it's easy to "want and wish" that a modification or different part has improved things... so only you can answer that... but opamps do make a real difference and subtle change. All depends on what is in there of course.
From experience I know it's easy to "want and wish" that a modification or different part has improved things... so only you can answer that... but opamps do make a real difference and subtle change. All depends on what is in there of course.
I really don't think you should worry about old Blackgates. They are not electrolytics in the strictest sense and they should not dry out. Mooly is right - look at changing the opamps to better sounding types. I would also advise you to add a precision after-market clock.
for autput stage beter Nichicon Muse BP
BG its good for Analog power
Oscon for Digital power
its my mean
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