Other developments include greatly improved core materials, the super permalloy and the 55% Nickel cores, both of which have been improved by studying and improving the heat treatment processes over and beyond what is possible with standard heat treatment processes, again a sizeable investment both in time and money. 

Now to news on the Black Gate replacements, basically work on developing the necessary carbonised paper is ongoing, so far the paper manufacturer has not been able to mass produce paper with the completely even distribution of the carbon particles that is necessary to be able to mass produce the Black Gate replacements, processes have improved over the past 4 – 5 years, but we are still some way from having solved this problem, the other problem relates to the manufacture, sadly not only had Rubycon decommissioned the older machines before we managed to get through to their technical department and start the process of restarting production, but Nippon Kodoshi, the original paper manufacturer, had also scrapped the machines that made the Black Gate separator paper, which is essentially what makes the Black Gate capacitor so very special, so we are essentially having to start from scratch and so far this has taken 6 years and from the discussions we had with Rubycon in January just gone it is going to take at least another year or perhaps two for the first Black Gate replacements to go into production, so don’t hold your breath! 

Old & Not Great News! 

On June 23, 2016 the UK voted to leave the European Union, as a result the British pound has been declining in value week on week against the Yen (and US$ and Euro), unfortunately we buy a lot of our specialised parts in these 3 currencies, well, all of them in fact, so unfortunately we had to raise our prices of all the electrolytic capacitors on September 1, 2016 to reflect the considerable increases in cost we are facing. 

However, since most of you will be buying in one of these three currencies there is not a real increase as such. 

The tables below show the new prices, as the Pound keeps its slow slide in value, I unfortunately expect another price increase before the end of 2017. 

Introduction to The Electrolytic Capacitor Range 

In September 2014 we started releasing our new range of exclusively designed and manufactured electrolytic capacitors. We have a close working relationship with Rubycon in Japan which is allowing us to experiment with different materials and manufacturing methods, this is proving crucial in helping us understand the sonic properties of different materials and then develop the best sounding electrolytic audio capacitors possible, culminating in the development of the replacements for the famous Black Gate capacitors, once the various issues mentioned above have been worked out satisfactorily. 

The first types to be made available are the standard ‘Audio Note (UK)™ Electrolytic Audio Capacitor’, which were closely followed in October 2014 by the ‘Audio Note(UK)™ KAISEI Audio Capacitor, the AN KAISEI will be available in a standard polarised and a premium bi-polar or non-polarised version. 

Overall we will build as complete an audio capacitor range for each quality level as practical starting initially with values to primarily needed make our own finished products, but also to allow DIY customers to improve their own designs with either the Audio Note™ Standard, Audio Note™ KAISEI polar and Audio Note™ KAISEI bi-polar/non-polarized, and eventually the Audio Note™ Black Gate replacement range, which should also be available in polarised and bi-polar versions.