Wyred upgrade

[Face]

The horrendously long break in period is why I don't bother with BG anymore.  Teflon caps can take almost as long too.

[shep]

Vast improvement! Unlike many burn-ins I have experienced which are often one step back and two forward, this has been one of steady progression. At around the 75 hour mark, things are seriously cooking and I have a very different sounding ICE amp. This is one for my books; the sounds is like...dark velvet. Very smooth, tactile, organic. All the edge has gone off. There's more to come! Nice. Very nice. I like dark velvet. Now if I could just have a bit more light in the darkness and greater spacial sense...

[richidoo]

Awesome!!   It will come... Be patient. Like you have any other choice? 

[shep]

No choice indeed! Funny..."dark velvet" is not a sound I would have attributed to either the componants or ICE modules in general. I guess yet again i have to trot out that old synergy word to account for this. There's still a bit of confusion in the sound-stage. The layering is somewhat veiled and the bass is not as articulate as I want but given that 150 hours is pretty much a minimum for caps burn-in (I'm doing it the hard way; (5-8 hours on, then turning it off for the same time) I'm hopefull all my doubts will be dismissed. At some point I will put Grover's cables back in and see what that does. Next up is yet another level of upgrading to the cdp. I hope this all comes together before my hearing goes, along with my mind! 

[tmazz]

I hope this all comes together before my hearing goes, along with my mind! 

......or you wallet. 

[shep]

So here I am at around 250 hours. My hopes have materialized. After a bit of side-stepping, the amp is really singing sweetly. Very rich harmonically and not a trace of hardness. I like these damn BG's! If there's more to come I will be a very happy puppy. I just put in an order for Silkworm Rca's to up the ante. Who's the most  nervoseac here???

[Face]

If you have a balanced preamp, the balanced input of your W4S amp is the way to go. 

[richidoo]

Great shep! You took a chance and it paid off.

No doubt you are still the nervosa champ. 

[shep]

Nope. This is an integrated. Not their's. But a lot of their handiwork inside.

[shep]

So to recap; my findings are that Blackgates need at least 300 hours to sound there best and I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't represent a plateau and they in fact need more time. I also concur that they don't especially like being powered down. It takes a good hour from a cold start for them to sound right. Hmm. So there. Is it worth it? If you are using tubes i would say no because you are surely shortening tube life. If you are using class A or an amp that uses a lot of current even at idle, I would say probably not. But for class T D or ICE, that use little current and prefer to be under power at all times, absolutely.

[rollo]

  Nice to see a happy camper. Shep try turning the amp off when the music is still playing to drain the caps. breaks them in a bit faster. The ol charge recharge the cap trick. One more thingie, demagnetize your system. It will open up quite a bit, the Ayre or Sheffield discs will do the trick. If you can get your hands on a Gryphon Demag. I believe you will be quite surprised as to difference. ENJOY!!!


charles

[shep]

Thanks for the tip about draining while playing. I do have the Isoteck demag disc. I imagine they are all pretty much the same?

[rollo]

Thanks for the tip about draining while playing. I do have the Isoteck demag disc. I imagine they are all pretty much the same?

  Isotek disc will work fine. Give it a go.


charles

[tmazz]

Thanks for the tip about draining while playing. I do have the Isoteck demag disc. I imagine they are all pretty much the same?

Shep, you have been awfully quiet for a while now. I guess you are just too busy enjoying those newly modded amps! 

I have tried several different demag discs (including the Cardas sweep LP) and I have to say that while I do strongly recommend doing regular system demags, I can't say that I particularly prefer one disc over the other.

[shep]

Not much to say really. I am waiting for some Silkworms from KCI and then to send my cdp to UK for another upgrade, probably the last. (and dreaming about other speakers of course).