I'm looking for a new preamp. for my BAT-75 SE. I never heard Supratek pre-amp., but all reviews sound so exciting, that I decided to put it at the top of my options list. I listen to all kinds of music: Rock (60-70%), classical, vocals, etc. I generally don't like forward and bright sounding systems, and would take musicality,naturalness, some warmth and liquidity over detail any time. My room is 25x16x8, acoustically treated. You can see the rest of my system below. I would also appreciate any other suggestions regarding preamp as well. My budget is about $4-5 K. (new or used).
Keith, I can understand your position on balanced preamp/amp. combination. Supratek does offer an option of balanced outs on Chenin. I don't think it employs balanced design though, but Mick's position on balanced connections is quite different, he doesn't seem to think it has any significant advantage over single ended. P.S. I certainly shared your impression of Lamm's room at 2006 HE. Regards.
Well, since nobody came forward with the impressions of BAT-75SE and Supratek combo, I decided to be the first one to try it, so I placed an order on Chenin preamp. Mick's response to my question was:" I never met an amp that haven't been a good match with Supratek", or something along those lines. Cheers.
The Cary is $7,500.00 and it rocks! I disagree with TVAD. I used to work for a Lamm dealer, I never liked the preamps, the amps were very good, the preamps clean but bland, and the Lamm stuff is very expensive for what you get. To each his own, check out the postive feedback review of the Cary. It was a rave, rave, rave!
Owner of 75SE, I use SF Line 3 SE with great success. ARC Ref 2 MK II might give you a little more bass and dynamic, but SF Line 3 SE will rival everything else. Superb detail, soundstage width and depth, inner harmonic and imaging capability are all world class.
Looking at your system, I will put equal priority on upgrading your speakers (VS VR-4 jr) as upgrading the pre amp.
i've seen (and written some of the) many comments about synergy between Supratek & MacCormack amps--don't know much about the BAT. The McCormack comments range through the line and include much modified (SMC Audio) units.
If the BAT is in the same sound space, this comment may help... (and the Chenin is a beautiful piece of kit)
I just took delivery of a Cary SLP 05 it trounced my older VTL 7.5 and the Cary was very musical. The VK 51 SE is a very good preamp but it is a little on the dry and analaytical.
I would take a close look at the Cary it is really, really good, it is one of the best preamps out there
"Brighter" does not mean it is bright. It just means it is less warm than the other gear. So Brighter can still be a warm sounding pre-amp. I have heard the BAT Vk-31 and Vk-31SE, and they are not bright at all. Good luck :)
Rgurney, It is also on my list of preamps to audition. I heard an opinion though, that BAT 51SE is brighter tnan Supratek, and "bright" is something I would try to avoid. Regards.
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