What's New?

We started the "What's New" page in December 2001. If you want to see what was new in 2001 and 2002, then click on the links at the left.

WELL IT'S HERE............... the time when we have to announce that SOME Platinum Ultra mods are no longer available. Availability of the BlackGate "big cans" is nil so the power amplifier mods are not available in current form though we continue to work on alternatives. (11-23-07)

WE'VE RECEIVED A NOTE FROM BLACKGATE............... to let us know that some parts are already out of stock. Fortunately only a few of the parts we stock and use are on the list, but that list is growing. Kiss those famous 100uF + 100uF/500V beauties good-bye, for instance. They imply that the final orders must be placed by the last day of August. If you've been waiting "Crunch Time" is here. (08-07-07)
Also kiss good-bye the 10,000uF parts in 100V, 80V and 63V. (11-23-07)

It's hard for you to believe we are making progress on something such is our glacial pace, but check this out. Here is a near production prototype of our phono stage that will be offered as an add-on for the Musical Design SP-2B(pictured) and also as a stand alone product. SP-2B is missing the faceplate and three knobs in the pic - sorry, nothing's perfect. (04-11-07)

OK, HERE WE GO AGAIN............ but it seems like the nightmare is here for real this time. BlackGate has ceased production! This information is directly from the Japanese exporter. We had never reported rumors before either, but circumstances changed over time in the previous cases to give the BlackGates a little more lease on life. This time it's the real thing! Will someone buy the rights to the name and have them made in China. Maybe a copy will ensue called say "CarbonGate" or something. I mean, really, who knows? The bottom line is that if you want a Signature or Platinum mod from us then the finish line is looming near. Yes, the Platinum and Signature will live on in a different form and we might find a way to make them equal or even better than the current versions. We have been working on this for some time and we have made some progress already. This is just a word to the wise. We'll try to meet your needs for these great caps but we can offer no promises. (02-16-07)
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WE ARE NOW STOCKING EXICON MOSFETS..........for your MOSFET amp.

EXPLANATION: As many of you know Hafler and other companies that were using the TO-3 metal can Hitachi mosfets cannot source them anymore. Only dwindling quantities are available on the spot market. Several years ago most makers switched over to plastic mount transistors which performed essentially the same. This is not too helpful if you need a repair on an older amp that has bad mosfets. We chose to use the Exicon devices for repairs since they appear, by specs, to be even a bit better than the originals. After repairing several amps with these it occurred to us that these repaired amps were sounding good indeed. We set up some listening comparisons and we like these even better than the originals. So we can repair the older amps, even at comparable costs, but read on for more fun.

WHAT CAME NEXT: In a stroke of genius :-) we decided this was a valuable service to improve the sound of the various amps that use Lateral Power Mosfets. We tried them in various Hafler amps with great results.

THE RESULTS: They have consistently sounded more open, notably more three dimensional and focused - i.e. great soundstage. They have solid, powerful deep bass with well defined fundamentals and tremendous octave to octave timbre and balance. There is a sense of speed that lends a quick delicacy to the mids and top. The overall experience is substantially more natural. We think it is worth every penny. Future Musical Concepts and Musical Design amps will feature these.

WE RECOMMEND: The product line has direct replacement parts which have similar specs yet they lend all the sound qualities mentioned with just a one-to-one parts swap.

FOR EVEN MORE FUN: Versions with doubled current are available in both metal and plastic cases. It's great fun to take a Hafler DH-120 or B&K ST-140, which both had a single pair of outputs, and give them a much more powerful sound with tight extended bass by using these to greatly increase the current available to the speaker. Any amp with a single pair of outputs can really strut it's stuff! We've even used these in a few of our Musical Design D-75B amps to make them sound like they have smooth, sweet, endless power. The double current versions (far rt. below, far left for older amps) cost a bit more but they can really put a smile where it belongs.

You just have to hear one of our modified amps with these devices. We'd gladly compare it to anything! It's a stunning experience in the best of systems! (11-13-06)

Update! These are selling well and customer reaction is positive to say the least! (02-15-07)

WE WAITED UNTIL AFTER NOV. 1........to raise the price of the SuperConnect IV cable to $79/0.5M, $89/1M, $99/1.5M and $109/2M. (11-13-06)
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ON OCT. 1 WE HAVE TO INCREASE THE PRICING OF THE SUPERCONNECT IV ...... so you may want to order now. Sadly copper prices are skyrocketing with no end in sight. Our raw materials costs are double what they were five years ago. We have steadfastly held the price, but reality must have its day. (08-04-06)
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NEW! OUR PLATINUM AND PLATINUM ULTRA MODS WILL NOT ALWAYS ...... be available! Unlike the case with the resurrected BlackGate these resistors will disappear. We have been buying these from the NOS (New Old Stock) market for several years and when they're gone, they're gone. I have been informed that some of the resistors will not be available after we placed our current order yesterday. More and more - we can't get the parts we need. It is possible we will adjust our design a bit to use parts which are available, but the end is inevitable. Those of you who are wanting a genuine Platinum product should step up your schedule. (04-20-06)
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NEW! AT THIS POINT A LOT OF MAKERS............ might not lay their cards on the table, but I guess we're different. Look for a Platinum SE in our future and, of course, a Platinum Ultra SE too. We have carefully listen-tested many resistors, including the audiophile darlings, against our reference Platinum. None stood out - save one! This, mostly unknown to audiophiles, sleeper part that will be used in the future in the above models. It has the added attraction of being available in ALL values and at reasonable prices. Ok I said "reasonable", not cheap but, yes, pocket change compared to the Platinums. The parts are "mil-qualified, 100% tested" - yes each part- and they have "established reliability" for inclusion in sensitive military applications. That's a far cry from the cheap imported resistors used in most audio gear and several steps above the quality level we've seen in very expensive components. These are 90% or more of the sound quality of the Platinum parts by listening consensus of local audiophiles. These, you would think, would lead to vastly reduced pricing on the Platinum SE and you're right. Now in the case of the Platinum Ultra SE the price will likely stay about the same or just a tad lower. Why you ask! We like the results of using a new English MOSFET to replace the original Hitachi MOSFETS in the Hafler amps. We like it quite a bit, so it seems logical that they should be in an "all-out assault" like the Platinum Ultra! (04-20-06)
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NEW! BEAUTIFUL SOUND DESERVES BEAUTIFUL COSMETIC TOUCHES........... so we are asking for your opinions on the idea of offering an attractive face panel for the Hafler DH-200, DH-220, DH-500, XL-280 and XL-600. We have seen, especially with the DH-500, a lot of damaged faceplates over the years. The smaller amps suffer too many bent heatsinks. Why it took us so long to think of doing this please don't ask - some kind of mental constipation I presume. So please call or drop an email, jhillig@musicalconcepts.com, to give us some direction. (04-20-06)
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AFTER MESSING UP TWO BATCHES IN A ROW............ our cable manufacturer finally got lucky. Many of you who have been waiting for SuperConnect IV interconnect cables can finally get these great cables again. We apologize for the delays, yet it was out of our control. (02-12-06)
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THE LC-500 CAPS ARE BACK..........and in stock. The LC-500 caps are our replacement caps used in the Hafler DH-500, XL-600, some Adcoms and, of course, by intrepid custom builders. It seems our manufacturers are getting fashionably late. We hope this means the economy is humming right along. (02-12-06)
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THE INCREDIBLE UP AND DOWN OF "BLACKGATE RUMORS".......... we now have a "definitive" statement from the Japanese exporter to clear this up. We are told that the case for continuing production went to court and a settlement was reached to continue BlackGate production for "several years". Assumptions that we made regarding the idea that a new manufacturer would be making them appears to be incorrect. They will, apparently, continue to be manufactured by Rubycon. This is good news indeed. Those of us "holding our breath" over this can now relax!

It is worth reminding all of you that you can see our collection of BlackGate parts by clicking on Musical Concepts above, then click on Components and then BlackGate or click here. Each part has a hyperlink so that you can view a picture of the part.
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The following items appeared in our 2003 "What's New" and now it seems appropriate to add these notes here!

After listening to these phenomenal caps for a while, I just had to add the following to our components page, repeated below.

FK series has a different sound quality as compared to the N and NX series, but with it's own powerful rewards. It's very natural with awesome bass, great inner detail and still it is smooth as silk. Yes, reduction of noise, distortion and improvement of ESR is quite beneficial in 'digital' power supplies. They have a special excellence in switching power supplies which are getting ubiquitous in most digital equipment. These are polarized capacitors unlike any you've ever heard.

SIZE DOESN'T MATTER, performance does - Abandon your concern with how large your present power supply caps 'should be'. These will outperform them. Do you have an outboard capacitance supply with an entire farad in it? Forget it! The BlackGate FK 10,000uF/100V parts easily outperform our own 39,000uF/100V LC-500 caps we use in the Hafler DH-500. This is a new paradigm. It rewrites the old thinking about power supply caps needing to be large as possible. They need to be as good as possible first. These large computer-grade filter caps for the main power supply of your solid state amp are simply in a different league than standard type filter caps. These large can types used as the power reservoir for a solid-state power amp demonstrate, for us, the clearest indication of the superiority of the BlackGate technology. The sonic improvement over 'computer-grade' caps is truly shocking. It is sort of like comparing a bicycle to a car. What's to compare? Incredibly tight bass totally in a class by itself, wide dynamics and totally effortless reproduction -ultra-fast, ultra-clean, ultra-everything, comparable to high performance film caps. Truly astonishing - one of the few very expensive items in the audio world that are worth every penny! The FK is available in smaller radial lead parts for the front-end of a power amp, preamp power supply, DAC/CD player power supply. Sweet, sweet, sweet!!!! See a Hafler DH-500 with our PA-3B Platinum Ultra dual-mono amp. (1-19-03)

The BlackGate praise just keeps on comin'! We spoke to an audiophile this morning who had just put the BlackGate (BG) FK 10000uF/100V caps in his Phase Linear 400, an old but well liked amp. He also put BG caps in feedback loop and power supply areas. He has also put some BGs into his pair of classic tubed Marantz 8B amps which drive the electrostatic top end of his system. He was so impressed after installing the BGs in the 400 that he decide to listen to the amp on the system in full-range mode. He was blown away by how great the amp sounded. Since the Marantz 8B sets such a high bar, that was quite a compliment.

A few days earlier we had sold some of the BG FK 100uF/100V caps to a customer who already had installed the Platinum mod into this DH-500. He was extremely impressed by the improvement in an amp that had already blown his mind. These fit on the PA-3B or stock Hafler boards where the front-end power supply caps are installed, two per channel. If you haven't thought about it, I remind you that the standard caps in that position, in the Platinum mod, are 2700uF/100V, they're pretty good caps and 27 TIMES larger!!!!!!!!!!!! Hard to grasp isn't it!!!! This cap, the BG FK 100uF/100V, has garnered about the highest praise in improvement per dollar of any we have sold. It is only $19.95, so your set of four for any Hafler amp and many other amps is less than $80. They offer a towering improvement, almost unimaginable for the bucks until you hear it. This is now our fastest selling BlackGate!!!!!! (04-21-03)

WE ARE ACQUIRING A PIONEER DV-285-S............ to investigate as an inexpensive modified CD player offering. The price would be $299 or less. Affordability is key with the product. We think it is a good thing that it only has one pair of R/L outputs and not the triple DACs with multi-channel outputs like many other DVD units. The multi-channel capability is passed out via the digital output - simplicity is good!! It lacks universal compatibility, i.e. SACD and DVD-Audio compatibility which is probably another good thing if your opinion of these formats is similar to ours. It is very basic in control features, but we suspect more flexibility can be accessed with the remote as with almost all other players. While 90% of our customers use our players only for CD audio playback, it does have a 12-bit, 108MHz video DAC so the video looks hopeful, no pun intended. We hope it's a real diamond in the rough!!! Stay tuned here!(11-04-05)

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THE LONG, LONG AGO ANNOUNCEMENT........... of a price increase for the PA-3C boards in the various versions has arrived on Nov. 1. New price is $329 kit and $459/installed. All versions except Platinum have gone up $30. If your unit is currently here on premises awaiting modification or in transit you'll get the old price. (11-02-05)

NEWS ON BLACKGATES..... we have recently been able to purchase some more BlackGates but we were told that some we wanted were already gone or in low supply. The era is ending and our sales have been brisk. Now is the time to think about these absolutely peerless caps if you ever intend to use them. (10-28-05)

PA-3C IS ABOUT TO DEBUT......... Fear not those of you who have the PA-3B, there's really no need to change to the new board. We have added a coupling cap position to the board, adaptable to a wide range of caps, and done some other "housekeeping" work on the original PA-3B. When you're so happy with a design then why change more than needed? Signature and Platinum versions will remain available as long as possible. Take advantage of the introductory offer, of $299/kit, until November 1, 2005 (08-10-05)

UPDATE - We've changed our tune a bit on the PA-3C board since we now have one burned in for nearly a week. We neglected to mention in the above posting that the layout is different to accommodate the new coupling cap and we have added a "shield plane" to the component side of the board. The shield plane would reduce component interaction and thwart any UHF noise. These changes have produce an improved sound which we did not anticipate. We've noticed a greater sense of location, focus and a sense of unfettered reproduction with more minute detail intact. This is, of course, to our ears and we will need to have about two more weeks on the unit until it is completely burned in, but to say we're happy with the PA-3C would be an understatement. (08-19-05)

UPDATE AGAIN ........ After the break-in period the boards are even better. Purchasers are waxing ecstatic over the sound.

WHILE WE'RE ON THE SUBJECT OF PA-3Bs........ it is important to note that versions of the amp boards over about 9 months old are not entirely up to date. A small change to the boards made a world of difference. It was a stunning update. Updating mostly up to date PA-3B modified amps costs $95, early versions of the boards need a lot more change, they cost $195, and conversion of PA-3 boards to latest PA-3B circuitry costs the same. (08-10-05)

BLACKGATE CAPACITORS........ will remain in production at the Rubycon plant for a limited time only. Last orders have to be in this week. The worldwide distributor felt that they had renegotiated a contract for "several more years" of production, but alas, negotiations fell through. They're still negotiating but it doesn't look good. We're sad indeed! It's bad, bad news! There's no replacement for the best. We have something up our sleeve on that issue though. P.S. if you have what you believe to be a candidate replacement cap for these please let us know. (08-10-05)

WE JUST ACQUIRED MORE AS OUR SUPPLY WAS NEARING EXHAUSTION(12-02-04) -- UNBELIEVABLE NEW TUBE: How much better can our SP-2B preamp sound -- or for that matter any other 6DJ8/6922 based audio piece? Lots better apparently! We have found a limited stock of a New Old Stock (NOS) 6922 tube. These appear to be made in the 60s. That's right, they were made in the golden years of craftsman-like tube manufacturing.
Where to use them?: This tube type can replace the 6DJ8 /6922 /ECC88 /E88CC /7308 /6ES8 and other tubes compatible with the 6922 specs. They have been used in all sort of high-end preamps and power amps with one result. consistently we are being told by customers that this is the best 6922 they've ever heard!!!!!!!!!
The Sound: It is a phenomenal 6922 tube with an ambience retrieval more complete and accurate than any I have heard. It is pure and sweet from top to bottom. The vocal range is strikingly natural. It is genuinely 'human' to a startling degree. I could go on and on, but I think you get the drift of my thinking. Selfish me, I've already put aside a significant stock for my own future use. It is that good! Who knows how long we will have these fabulous tubes - so re-tube and stock up now!
Our price: At a very reasonable price of $49/ea these are worth every penny. These tubes are a raging bargain in "bang for the buck" and deserves comparison to any NOS tube out there!!!!!!!! (03-30-03)

It will bring stratospheric performance levels to the audiophile on a budget. Customization will allow you to find a "favorite" sounding configuration. For now we'll go so far as to say that the preamp can use multiple tube types. We're not sure this qualifies it as unique, but some other features surely will. As we get closer to production we'll roll out some more information on its design features. There will be a kit available too! We're excited! (08-04-04) --------UPDATE!!! We are in the first phases of production now. We'll post some pictures soon. ( 09-23-04 ) --------Metal vendor problems threaten to push introduction past the first of the year.(12-02-04)

A lousy headline in my opinion, but I didn't make it. Yesterday we received a letter written with great angst from the Japanese exporter of BlackGates. The contract manufacturer for BlackGates is slated to cease production of these incomparable components in 2005 for the Japanese exporter. In fact, we are being asked to make our last order in September if this situation is not reversed.

The manufacturer is converting the former BlackGate plant to the production of low-voltage organic semiconductor capacitors. It appears that OS capacitors have as much as 30dB greater noise contribution than BlackGates. The most well known OS capacitor is the Sanyo OS-CON which is a part used in some audio products, but more so in computer decoupling applications. Some of you may have listened to this part in comparison to BlackGates. The OS capacitors we have tested are not in the same league sonically, not to mention that there are no high voltage types. Our exporter has requested that we quickly express our opinions to the manufacturer since that could possibly change their minds. If you would like to have your say by writing us an e-mail we will pass it along to Japan in the hopes we can reverse this disaster. Will some other manufacturer step forward to make these parts? You have to consider that wishful thinking, so have your say and maybe we can reverse this thing.

Oh yeah, I'd hedge my bets if I were you and order whatever BlackGates you want if that was something you were putting off! ( 05-25-04)
This still looks to be FACT! ( 09-23-04 )

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After listening to these phenomenal caps for a while, I just had to add the following to our components page, repeated below.

SIZE DOESN'T MATTER, performance does - Abandon your concern with how large your present power supply caps 'should be'. These will outperform them. Do you have an outboard capacitance supply with an entire farad in it? Forget it! The BlackGate FK 10,000uF/100V parts easily outperform our own 39,000uF/100V LC-500 caps we use in the Hafler DH-500. This is a new paradigm. It rewrites the old thinking about power supply caps needing to be large as possible. They need to be as good as possible first. These large computer-grade filter caps for the main power supply of your solid state amp are simply in a different league than standard type filter caps. These large can types used as the power reservoir for a solid-state power amp present, for us, the clearest indication of the superiority of the BlackGate technology. The sonic improvement over 'computer-grade' caps is truly shocking. It is sort of like comparing a bicycle to a car. What's to compare? Incredibly tight bass totally in a class by itself, wide dynamics and totally effortless reproduction -ultra-fast, ultra-clean, ultra-everything, comparable to high performance film caps. Truly astonishing - one of the few very expensive items in the audio world that are worth every penny! The FK is available in smaller radial lead parts for the front-end of a power amp, preamp power supply, DAC/CD player power supply. Sweet, sweet, sweet!!!! See a Hafler DH-500 with our PA-3B Platinum Ultra dual-mono amp. (1-19-03)

Update: These tubes are selling well and eliciting extremely high praise from buyers!!!!!!!!!!!! Check some of the reviews here. (04-21-03)

Don't lose faith........ we continue to work toward our new, affordable tube preamp kit that will be unlike anything ever available. We will give you more info on a unique twist of the product as introduction comes nearer.
Shortly after the introduction of the unit, an excellent two-tube phono stage will be made available for internal installation into the preamp. Then shortly after that a stand-alone tubed phono stage will appear.
Our prototypes have been playing for months now and the reliability is impeccable. We have not released the final pricing of these new components, but you will smile when you see them and celebrate when you hear the sound. (03-30-03)

Update: We are getting the final prototype circuit boards in this week, so we are moving forward with the final design soon. (04-21-03)

Want to nearly triple the power supply capacitance of your Hafler DH-200/DH-220? Hot off the assembly line, arrived today!!!!!!!! We have upgraded the LC-200 capacitors. They are now rated at 27,000uF/80V, i.e. 2000uf more capacitance and 5 volts higher rating for more potent and conservatively rated operation. Now a dual-mono power supply is 108,000uF, yes huge. New too is the return of the screw mount terminals which is exactly like the original Hafler DH-200 and DH-220 terminal hardware. Same great part is even better now and easier to install - home run in all aspects. The best news is that the price stays put at $89/pair in kit form. See them here! (04-22-03)

Many new photos of BlackGate caps are linked to our "Electrolytics" page in our Musical Concepts component listings. Click on the links in the table of values to see the individual close-up pictures. See them here: www.musicaldesign.com/electrolytics.htm . (04-28-03)

New tubes, new NOS 6922, 6H30Pi and others have been added to the tube page. (04-29-03)

Well, it's about time that we could bring a more affordable "universal" audio player to our customers. Pioneer has introduced the new DV-563 which plays all formats: SACD, DVD-Audio, etc. In my first sample the video is adequate, but the sound quality in stock form is very good. It sounds much better when modified to even our most basic level. Now we can offer you a universal player for $499-up. Yes, the player with the mods for $499! Here is a picture for your approval. My comment is that in the flesh, when you can see the finish details, it looks very nice, quite handsome indeed.(8-14-03)