Stat amps on ebay

[JimL]

Currently there is a Woo WES and a HeadAmp KGSS-DX listed on ebay.  

http://www.ebay.com/itm/262862948306?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

http://www.ebay.com/itm/192110146358?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Going to be interesting to see what they go for.

Edited February 21, 2017 by JimL

[dcpoor]

The Woo auction includes a SR-009 so it's not completely worthless

[purk]

This is just a regular KGSS however given that the ultra special Blackgate capacitors were removed.

[justin]

not all KGSS DX (there were like 2 or 3 of them) had the black gate caps originally. it was a custom sized box that I got from Lansing

[purk]

I believe that this amp used to belong to Akwok and he had a tech some where to remove the black gates, and replace with a more conventional caps...then sell the caps on ebay for some profit.

[Craig Sawyers]

Before Rubycon pulled the manufacturing plug in Jelmax ten years ago (not enough volume I guess to keep Rubycon's interest), they used to be a bit expensive but affordable - similar price to Elna's Silmic and Cerafine. But since remaining BG stock has dwindled over the years, NOS or reclaimed ones go for really silly money. And of course the inevitable fakes.

If anyone is vaguely interested in the cryptic apps notes in quaint Japanese-English, I downloaded all 116 of them (from Parts Connexion) back when Black Gates were available. Index attached.

blackgate_index.pdf

[justin]

20 hours ago, purk said:

I believe that this amp used to belong to Akwok and he had a tech some where to remove the black gates, and replace with a more conventional caps...then sell the caps on ebay for some profit.

if true there would be holes in the right side panel where the capacitors were mounted, i dont see any. i doubt the panel was replaced

Edited February 26, 2017 by justin

[n_maher]

The buy it now price on the KGSS is certainly less than I'd sell mine for.  Seems like a bargain, honestly. 

[Pars]

15 hours ago, Craig Sawyers said:

If anyone is vaguely interested in the cryptic apps notes in quaint Japanese-English, I downloaded all 116 of them (from Parts Connexion) back when Black Gates were available. Index attached.

blackgate_index.pdf

Dontcha love marketing? I was laughing reading some of the article titles and thinking how self-serving these were

"Television Replaced With Black Gates is Superior to Any Ordinary TVs"... I didn't realize you could watch blackgates?

[Craig Sawyers]

Yup - a lot of them need to be taken with a pinch of salt. They were based on using carbon power in the construction (a bit like Elna Silmics use chopped up silk fibres and Elna Cerafine use ceramic powder). Whatever the physics behind using carbon, hence BLACK gate, the measurements in some of the blurb indicates that the ESR is lower than conventional electrolytics, and the inductive reactance is lower too. But only by a factor of two or three, or thereabouts.

A guy called Cyril Bateman, who used to be in charge of capacitor design at one of the UK manufacturers, wrote a series of landmark articles about the sound of capacitors. He did this by designing a sub-ppm distortion oscillator, a tunable filter to get rid of the fundamental, and spectrum analyzing the distortion residuals. Electrolytics were run without bias and at different bias voltages. Also bipolar electrolytics and using two conventional ones back to back. Plus reams of stuff on other non-electrolytic caps.

An archive of Bateman's output is here http://www.waynekirkwood.com/images/pdf/Cyril_Bateman/ for anyone looking for some light bedtime reading.

[purk]

16 hours ago, n_maher said:

The buy it now price on the KGSS is certainly less than I'd sell mine for.  Seems like a bargain, honestly. 

But yours likely have the black gates in the PSU correct?

[EdipisReks1]

Damn, I should have bought that DX.

[n_maher]

11 hours ago, purk said:

But yours likely have the black gates in the PSU correct?

Nope, just garden variety caps in my DIY KGSS.  

[justin]

i saw a USED 100uf+100uf/500v black gate sold for $549

i should have bought a stock of retirement caps

[purk]

I lost by 10 bucks.  Didn't want it hard enough obviously.  Great deal for a great sounding amp.

[JimL]

I have to admit I'm a bit surprised that the KGSS DX didn't get more bids - the going price was less than some used SRM727s go for.

 

Also, as the Woo auction also included a pair of SR009s, which are probably around $2500 for the phones alone, makes the WES about $3100, vs $4990 for a new amp w/o any upgrades.

[dcpoor]

1 hour ago, purk said:

I lost by 10 bucks.  Didn't want it hard enough obviously.  Great deal for a great sounding amp.

Don't feel too bad, the auction ended early because it was sold outside ebay.

I was planning on sniping in the ending moments with a ~1100 bid.

Edited February 28, 2017 by dcpoor

[Pars]

i saw a USED 100uf+100uf/500v black gate sold for $549
i should have bought a stock of retirement caps

I had heard some rumblings back when these were still in production that some users were experiencing failures of the HV BGs at less than their rated voltages?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[justin]

i probably used a total of 20 of the caps, and didnt have any issues

3 hours ago, JimL said:

I have to admit I'm a bit surprised that the KGSS DX didn't get more bids - the going price was less than some used SRM727s go for.

 

Also, as the Woo auction also included a pair of SR009s, which are probably around $2500 for the phones alone, makes the WES about $3100, vs $4990 for a new amp w/o any upgrades.

the KGSS DX would have gone for twice as much on head-fi. it was just the wrong place to sell it in auction format, not enough people looking

[purk]

6 hours ago, dcpoor said:

Don't feel too bad, the auction ended early because it was sold outside ebay.

I was planning on sniping in the ending moments with a ~1100 bid.

No need to fee bad.  My soon to be next amp, KGST, will comfort me nicely.

[DefQon]

It baffles my mind people are selling used, old blackgate high hv rated ps capacitors for many hundreds of dollars but it is complete stupidity for someone to buy them and claim they still sound like new. A fresh, modern CDE, Rifa, Aerovox BHC or equivalent branded cap designed for actual ps duties with excellent ripple and esr figures perform better than NOS or used black gates.

[spritzer]

This is where religion comes into play.  There is no logic here, simply the belief in this deity and how much better everybody's life will be with Black Gates. 

[wink]

I prefer Golden Gates, myself...

It bridges the gulf between superstition and reality.......   

[JimL]

Another WES plus 009 just went for $5100, which makes it about $2600 for the WES alone.  Not so great on the resale value compared to a  BHSE.

[kunalraiker]

4 hours ago, JimL said:

Another WES plus 009 just went for $5100, which makes it about $2600 for the WES alone.  Not so great on the resale value compared to a  BHSE.

I thought the amps were aiming different markets.