Mistake .That one on the left looks like original too .I baught a lot of BG caps directly from Japan distributor , some of them has such view . If you wanna I can check my box and take some pictures .
Hi IanAS,
So would you share some better tuneups from your 17 years of knowledges ,Where would you start and what do you find works the best to change or upgrade Equipment? like do you start at the PS,circuit,bypass and work your way out?Please explain for a learner! Have you tried any purism caps?
Thanks for your input!
So would you share some better tuneups from your 17 years of knowledges ,Where would you start and what do you find works the best to change or upgrade Equipment? like do you start at the PS,circuit,bypass and work your way out?Please explain for a learner! Have you tried any purism caps?
Thanks for your input!
Suitable substitute for Black Gate
Hello again.
Thankfully, the Black Gates I've purchased are genuine!
What if we want to buy more caps, and the BG's aren't available(in needed value)?
I hear rumours that Rubycon's ZA is a suitable substitute, as are Silmic II and Cerafines.
Anyone seen a comparison of these sonically with the BG's?
I have BG's in one CD, one preamp, and two power amps; however, I have more projects on the shelf awaiting time on the workbench.
Thanks to all who helped correct and reassure me in these last posts.
-Chas
Hello again.
Thankfully, the Black Gates I've purchased are genuine!
What if we want to buy more caps, and the BG's aren't available(in needed value)?
I hear rumours that Rubycon's ZA is a suitable substitute, as are Silmic II and Cerafines.
Anyone seen a comparison of these sonically with the BG's?
I have BG's in one CD, one preamp, and two power amps; however, I have more projects on the shelf awaiting time on the workbench.
Thanks to all who helped correct and reassure me in these last posts.
-Chas
Hope I may interject my own opinion:
Personally, I always begin with any series capacitors (and resistors) in the signal path, then I evaluate the power supply and replace or bypass the caps nearest the active devices that are in the signal path, Finally, I go after the main reservoir caps, regulators, etc. My luck has been good with this (non-engineer) approach so far.
Regards,
-Chas
Personally, I always begin with any series capacitors (and resistors) in the signal path, then I evaluate the power supply and replace or bypass the caps nearest the active devices that are in the signal path, Finally, I go after the main reservoir caps, regulators, etc. My luck has been good with this (non-engineer) approach so far.
Regards,
-Chas
Hi, I did. It were BG NX HiQ 22 uF and 47 uF 6.3 V. I am very fortunate to have those in stock. They are the best for DACs IMO. They are 6.3 V max. so I wouldn't know of another use for them.
It is a pity they are quite rare now as I don't know better electrolytic caps. Also N series 4.7 uF 50 V are very good as coupling caps in amps and DACs.
And no I don't sell any except when somebody can produce a fine WM8804/5 + ES9023 PCB layed out for BG NX HiQ 47 uF for decoupling the power lines for me In that case I will happily trade for caps.
It is a pity they are quite rare now as I don't know better electrolytic caps. Also N series 4.7 uF 50 V are very good as coupling caps in amps and DACs.
And no I don't sell any except when somebody can produce a fine WM8804/5 + ES9023 PCB layed out for BG NX HiQ 47 uF for decoupling the power lines for me
In that case I will happily trade for caps.The only comparison I have found is here :
High End Audio - Electrolytic capacitors
I personally like SilmicII very much, esp bypassed with a Vishay MKP1837, in linear power supplies for analogue. For digital, I also like Nichicon HD but it seems the the Nichicon PLE / PLF might be better - yet to try these.
Ian - thanks very much for the advice about the PLE/PLF caps - I did a swap for a BG FK and it's not the downgrade I expected. There's a little more sibilance but overall, it's a great cap for digital. Thanks !
Have you tried them in analogue psu ?
Conductive Polymer Aluminum Solid Electrolytic Capacitors
Here's a PLF : 470uF 16V ESR 9mR
Have you tried them in analogue psu ?
Conductive Polymer Aluminum Solid Electrolytic Capacitors
Here's a PLF : 470uF 16V ESR 9mR
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An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
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I hope you all are keeping in mind that electrolytic caps, and I can speak specifically for Nichicon, which I use almost exclusively, can take 200-400 hours to approach fully breaking in, even when the caps are supply filters. The sibilance you speak of is likely to disappear over the next week or two of continuous run time.
And I don't give a dingo's kidney if any of you try to assert that caps don't have a break-in period. I have thirty+ years of practical experience as a high end audio servicer & audiophile that confirms that just about every part & bit of wire in any audio system has some degree of break-in during initial running.
And I don't give a dingo's kidney if any of you try to assert that caps don't have a break-in period. I have thirty+ years of practical experience as a high end audio servicer & audiophile that confirms that just about every part & bit of wire in any audio system has some degree of break-in during initial running.
Hi,
Dingo kidneys - are they expensive ?
Yep, I'm certain they break-in too. I left these running continuously for 48 hours before listening as this is normally enough but perhaps these will take longer to become more balanced. Good caps though, even at 48 hours.
I also tried the higher voltage ones (47uF 25V LF) - not so good. It seems it is the lower esr ones that are best ?
Dingo kidneys - are they expensive ?
Yep, I'm certain they break-in too. I left these running continuously for 48 hours before listening as this is normally enough but perhaps these will take longer to become more balanced. Good caps though, even at 48 hours.
I also tried the higher voltage ones (47uF 25V LF) - not so good. It seems it is the lower esr ones that are best ?
Here are mainly the PLE / PLF 820uF 16V and 820uF 6.3V on my PC soundcard. Mostly in analogue positions.
I mostly ran them for about three months, 24/7 before doing the listening tests. The comparison caps were also on there, or on another sound card, for a similar period.
It's a bit rough looking as it's a work in progress.
They are before and after analogue position regulators and one digital supply regulator. Also before the DAC chip and each side of the OpAmp.
It became clear that it needed three of the 820uF 6.3V in parallel before the DAC chip to do what was needed. Each time I added an extra one the sound became generally better, but more so in the bass.
I found the same when I upgraded a Dacapo DAC last year. Three caps before the DAC. One of those though was a BG N 220uF 6.3V that I happened to have. In that case, the BG gave a needed amount of extra bass but without the muddle that it also gave on the sound card.
I fitted back diodes across the regulators to be safe.
See my post 118 for the longer description of the comparison
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A couple of years ago I used the Panasonic ECA (for Audio) range of caps when I repaired half a dozen Arcam 200 amplifiers for someone, ostensibly a re-cap.
I was surprised how much better sounding were the amplifiers with the ECA caps in the input DC blocking and the feedback positions compared to the ones with the original caps in those two positions.
And...
I just became aware of 100 volt Nichicon polymer caps. Alas, the 80V and 100V seem to be not available. They might be good at as the caps from a higher power amplifiers output device ± rails to centre tap. And as pre and post regulation caps for the early stage.
Conductive Polymer Aluminium Solid Electrolytic Capacitors, LV are down the bottom:
Digi-key stock only up to 63 volts.
47u 63V; PLV1J470MDL1 493-3874-1-ND
22u 80V; PLV1K220MDL1
18u 100V; PLV2A180MDL1
Perhaps someone here knows or can find out if these 80V and 100V can be purchased?
I was surprised how much better sounding were the amplifiers with the ECA caps in the input DC blocking and the feedback positions compared to the ones with the original caps in those two positions.
And...
I just became aware of 100 volt Nichicon polymer caps. Alas, the 80V and 100V seem to be not available. They might be good at as the caps from a higher power amplifiers output device ± rails to centre tap. And as pre and post regulation caps for the early stage.
Conductive Polymer Aluminium Solid Electrolytic Capacitors, LV are down the bottom:
Digi-key stock only up to 63 volts.
47u 63V; PLV1J470MDL1 493-3874-1-ND
22u 80V; PLV1K220MDL1
18u 100V; PLV2A180MDL1
Perhaps someone here knows or can find out if these 80V and 100V can be purchased?
There is also similar Panasonic SP-Cap and Sanyo POSCAP.
They both can be found in the same homepage, only today get to know that Panasonic bought Sanyo in 2009.
Passive & Electromechanical | Products | Industrial Devices | Panasonic Global
My head is spinning to compare them by datasheats, I wish there would be some plots.
Both can be found on Ebay.
Sanyo poscap is tantalum solid polymer, what does it changes? Does anybody used them?
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