Supratek Chardonnay
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Agree with Runwell.... I just bought a Zesto Leto , it was NIB leftover but never sold. I paid $3500, worth every penny. I would look for something out of your reach new that you can afford used . That Zesto made it sound like I literally got a new system the upgrade was so night and day. It was not subtle!!! The preamp is the heart of a good system and one of the best places to put your money. |
@oddiofyl that’s the reason I’m looking to move on from mine. I like what I have but I feel like it doesn’t elevate the system. been looking at used Herron, Hornshoppe, Supratek, Backert. I run subs so 2 sets of outs are a necessity unless there’s another way around that. @jackd tell me more about the Supratek? |
I almost bought a Backert Rhumba, heard great things about it. The most impressive thing about the Zesto is despite being tube it's super quiet. 99dB speakers, no signal, turn the volume to 3 o'clock and nothing... silence. Not even the normal slightest high frequency hiss that you hear in most systems. Complete silence . From that silence comes explosive dynamics , the Zesto is incredible . My former cj preamp was great, it served me well but this is in another league altogether. |
In that range you could check out Hattor, “The BIG” which sounds really good and can do just about anything a preamp should do functionally.
List price is exactly $2,500 with the top options - XLR, AMRG resistors, and the NewClassD active stage. See it here. |
@unsound I’ve seen the SF2 used recently. Was going to ask about that. |
@mitch2 wow. So tell me how it sounds. Super interested. |
In short, it sounds great. Over a period of years, I went through many tubed and solid state preamps and finally ended up with a custom, unity-gain, McCormack TLC-1 that was modified by Steve McCormack at SMc audio about 5 years ago. Steve has told me "your preamp sounds very close to my VRE-1." It should, since it uses the exact same power supply, same Lundahl transformers, and same Shallco volume control as his first version VRE-1. The ONLY shortcoming of my modified preamp is the absence of a remote volume control and display. Having a remote and display has become more important to me in recent years so with Steve’s help, I took the volume control out of the circuit by replacing it on the board with a pair of Audio Note silver tantalum resistors so I could use the preamp as a buffer in conjunction with a passive unit that has a remote and display. That is how I became acquainted with Arek Kallas of Khozmo and Hattor. I had tried multiple passives and determined I liked the sound of the resistor units better than the transformer-based units. Khozmo offers a very nice passive with a large display and full-function remote so last year I purchased a dual-mono, balanced passive unit (picture on my system page) to pair with my buffer/preamp. More recently, I have thought about trying his larger Hattor preamp that also offers the option of an internal active stage using a choice of op amps. The goal would be to simplify and to remove the separate buffer and extra interconnects. Last weekend I inquired about having Arek make one for me and then the same day I emailed him the very type of unit I was inquiring about (with the NewClassD Dual Ultimate discrete op amps) came up for sale at USAM, so I purchased it. I received the unit on Friday and I am in the process of comparing the Hattor with my Khozmo/SMc preamp/buffer combination, and also comparing the sound of the Khozmo with the Hattor, when both are used as a passive with the SMc buffer. I had chosen the Takman REY metal film resistors for my Khozmo passive unit and the Hatter preamp has the more expensive Amtrans AMRG carbon film resistors. So far, my observations are that the Hattor with +3dB gain (through the internal op amps) sounds very close to the Hattor run passively through the much more expensive SMc buffer/preamp unit. I also believe that in my system, the Amtrans AMRG carbon film resistors sound slightly better than the Takman REY metal film resistors. Bottom line, if you want a full-function, solid state unit with remote and display, it may be hard to do better than the Khozmo for $2,500. |
@mitch2 thanks. To your ears does the Hattie achieve that “band/artist in your room” sense of presence? Do you feel the sound has adequate weight and dimension? |
@oddiofyl 100% agree and I feel like that’s where I’m at. I like my line stage but it’s the only piece that hasn’t “wow’d me” from its install. I feel like a great line stage for the money is where I can make that leap. |
To your first question, IME, no preamp can do that, and certainly not on its own without being but one piece in an otherwise really good system. To your “adequate weight and dimension” question, I would say that as a passive, both the Khozmo unit with the Takman REY resistors and the Hattor with the Amtrans AMRG carbon film resistors do very well at passing along what they are fed. My initial impressions are that the Takman REY resistors are a touch more revealing while the AMRG resistors are a touch more musical, or not quite as honest, and fall on the spectrum somewhere between carbon comp and metal film resistors. My opinion has always been that buffered or active preamps in most cases provide more weight and dimension than pure passives, which have usually sounded slightly thin when I have directly compared them to actives in my systems. Based on my listening so far, engaging the NewClassD op amp circuit on the Hattor (I have been using 3dB gain) adds the necessary weight, tonal density, and dimension that is similar to when I engage my SMc Audio unity gain buffer with a passive volume control. I am not convinced the sound through the Hathor’s op amp circuit is better than through my SMc buffer, but it may be close enough. |
@avanti1960 I had been looking at the RP-1 but read the RP5 is better. The RH-5 is interesting but without a second set of variable outs I’m not sure how I’d run subs. |
"The Truth" from the Hornshoppe. This took me completely by surprise, notwithstanding the rave comments from Arthur Salvatore in the Audio Critique. It's a buffered, active line stage but without gain and uses light diodes to control volume. I have had at least 20 preamps in my system over the last 50 years and I don't think any have matched the transparency and lack of noise that The Truth displays. |
with the RH5 you have multiple options for sub out- 1 use high level speaker connections 2 use Y adaptors on the RCA outs 3 use the balanced out for amplifier connection, RCA for sub or vice versa. 4 use a female XLR to female RCA adaptor on the balanced out connections. if you like a transparent, neutral, refined dynamic sound this is the one. should have kept mine. |