Preamp Deal of the Century

the screws aren't very long at all so any penetration inside the chassis is minimal at best from my recollection.

i received the tracking numbers from mick today and called dhl. they anticipate i'll have them by thursday or no later than friday. the amps arrived in los angeles today and have cleared customs as of noon today. now i get to enjoy the agonizing and constant checking of the dhl site for the next two days. but i'm still looking forward to a very merry christmas.

from what i recall, ray ordered a pair as well. not sure if he got his in yet though. i emailed him earlier today so maybe we'll hear from him shortly.

my malbecs were shipped on 12-18-06 and i received one on 12-20-06 and the other on 12-21-06 from what i recall. dhl managed to split the packages up in ohio. i live in mobile, alabama so you might be able to receive the sauvignon a day sooner. enjoy your new preamp.

paul:

i had no custom issues with my chardonnay or my malbecs, but i also gave mick my SSN before shipment.

maril555:

the malbecs arrived last week just before x-mas. unfortunately, there was an intermittent pop/crackle in one of the amps. i discussed it with mick and we did not believe it was a tube issue. i've shipped the one crackling malbec to kevin covi in new york. he should have it by wednesday due to the holidays.

with just one malbec, i've decided to wait until the other one returns to do any serious listening as i want them to break in together. i have listened to the one malbec i have and it sounds very promising. however, with just one amp, i want to hold off any discussion of the sound until i receive the other malbec back and allow them time to break in properly.

not quite the report i'm sure everybody wanted, but that's where i stand. i will say that mick has been great throughout all the problems and he is super quick at replying to emails, often replying several times in the same day.

duettasigs:

the primary options that mick has availabe for his preamps is home theater bypass swith and remote volume control. the cabernet already comes with a pair of balanced inputs/outputs. if you've got something specific in mind, just email mick. i'm sure he can set up most anything you desire.

previous to the chardonnay, i owned:

acoustic research sp-16l
pass labs x2.5
aragon soundstage (when 2-channel and ht were integrated)
ead theatermaster encore (when 2-channel and ht were integrated)

that's what $400 for shipping will get you. i'm sure your shipping fee will be less since the preamps aren't as heavy as two monoblock amplifiers and they come in a single box (at least my chardonnay did). the quick shipping turnaround also has to do with how quickly the package can get through customs. i always give mick my SSN so it moves almost immediately through customs. at the worst, you should expect to receive it in 4 days.

fyi:

my malbec is back from kevin covi. turns out it had a bad screen resistor. i'm letting the amps cook right now so i hope to be able to give some sort of mini-review/impressions within a month or so. i have two quads of EL34 coming in the mail as i'm not a huge fan of the KT88 sound which the malbecs came with. hopefully some other malbec owners can chime in as well once their amps arrive.

maril555:

i should be able to get in a decent listening session this weekend so i'll try to post my initial impressions sunday night or so.

nothing fancy. bendix 6106 rectifier, electro-harmonix 6SN7, sovtek KT66 regulators. i'm interested in trying out the different NOS 6SN7 out there, but presently would rather invest money into other areas of my system.

i must preface all my following comments by saying that my system has been “down” since i placed the deposit for my malbecs in june of 2006. my system has been through some major changes. i sold my art audio carissa (16 watt SET) which I was using with a pair of gershman avant garde rx-20 speakers. the gershman’s are fabulous speakers, but they do not lend themselves to tube amplification. previous to the carissa, my amplifier merry-go-round consisted of a pair of cary audio slm-200 monoblocks, plinius sa-102, aes sixpacs, aragon palladium II monoblocks, and an aragon 8008BB.

after selling the carissa, i found a race horse deal on a pair of von schweikert dB99 SE speakers (my "affordable" dream speakers). so, i sold the gershman's and purchased the dB99 SE. since i had sold the carissa, i had no "high-end" amplifier, so i made due by powering the dB99 SE with a denon AVR-3806 receiver.

i received the email from mick on 12-11-06 and sent the money later that day. the malbecs shipped on 12-18-06. the malbecs were separated in shipping and one arrived on 12-20-06 and the other on 12-21-06. unfortunately, one of the malbecs had an intermittent hiss/pop. i shipped it to kevin covi in new york for repair on 12-29-06. kevin informed me that the malbec had a bad screen resistor and he was able to quickly repair the malbec. kevin shipped the malbec on 1-08-07 i received the repaired malbec on 1-11-07.

i’ve tried to allow the mablecs to burn in some over the weekend. i received two quads of EH EL34 tubes on friday. the malbecs have been playing non-stop for close the 48 hours. the fit and finish is quintessential supratek (first rate). though separated by almost 2 years, the chrome/piano black mablecs perfectly match my chardonnay. but you haven't read this far to hear what they look like.

the malbecs allow for adjustment of damping factor (left front knob), volume (right front knob), and negative feedback (on back) (all of which you can adjust "on the fly"). the chardonnay allows for multiple levels of gain adjustment. the dB99 SE also allows for adjustment of the bass level and ambience tweeter level. so, as you can see, my system is rife for fiddling and tweaking. i'm still toying around though i feel i've found a good balance. some more fine tuning will be necessary, obviously.

in my listening sessions, i played several CD's. among them, tool: 10,00 days, tweaker: 2 a.m. wakeup call, john butler trio: sunset by the sea, pink floyd: dark side of the moon. with the exception of the john butler trio CD, i have listened to these CD's probably 20+ times or more. cliched or not, it is still the truth that i am hearing things on these CD's that i've never heard before. layers have been peeled away to reveal subtle nuances and sounds that i never realized were there before. sure there had always been there hiding in the background, muddled by all the other instruments. now, they are more forward and present within the soundstage. there is more space between instruments and they can be easily located within the soundstage rather than just a wall of sound being thrown up at you.

the music flows out of the speakers with amazing dynamics and liquidity. the soundstage is centrally locked and very focused. the soundstage extends in all directions from the speaker though it's outward extension isn't as wide as it's height or depth. the sound is decidedly supratek. very musical. very alive. very different. the malbecs sound nothing like my cary audio amps, which were very syrupy and sweet. the cary's were excellent amplifiers, but the bass presentation was somewhat sluggish on my gershman's. the malbecs haven't exhibited much of tube romanticism that i've heard in other tube amplifiers. that is to say, they are not warm or sluggish. they are slightly more forward and very resolving, but not at the expense of being lean. when cranked beyond sane levels, there is no hint of compression. the music maintains it's texture and coherency even while it's running you out of the room.

praise without criticism is worthless in my opinion. the only fault i can find in the malbecs is a buzzing sound that comes from the tweeter. the buzz appears to be inversely coupled to the amount of negative feedback selected. the less negative feedback, the louder the buzz. this buzz is not mechanical noise inside the amp. the amp chassis is dead silent. granted, the buzz could be a function of the uber-cheap cables i'm currently using and/or the high efficiency of my speakers and/or the distance between myself and the speaker. it's only noticeable on quiet passages, but i find that it does detract from the listening experience even at low levels. hopefully, i will be able to resolve the buzzing issue i have in the coming months.

though my impressions are cursory, i really believe the malbecs are something special and (buzzing aside) i cannot see myself purchasing another amplifier. i guess if i had to make a comparison, the malbecs sound like they took the best attributes of the carissa and the plinius amplifiers i had previously owned. anywho...i hope this little micro-review is somewhat beneficial to those of you looking to purchase the malbecs.

my system consists of:

supratek chardonnay
supratek malbec monoblocks
von schweikert dB99 SE
47 labs shigaraki transport
47 labs shigaraki DAC
pure power battery power supply
exactpower EP-15A
purist audio design musaeus IC (DAC to chardonnay)
purist audio design musaeus PC (EP-15A to outlet, chardonnay to EP-15A, malbec to EP-15A)
signal cable classic speaker cables
mish-mosh of other crappy cables (used between DAC and transport / chardonnay and malbec)

the sixpacs are effectively a cary amplifier so they exhibit much of the same sonic characteristics as other cary amps. syrupy is the best way i can describe it. the malbecs are much more dynamic by comparison. of course, it's hard to make an accurate comparison as all my other amps were used on the gershman speakers while i'm using the malbecs on a new and relatively unfamiliar speaker (dB99 SE).

yes, the KT88 tubes buzzed as well. i don't think it's my cheap interconnects as the tweeter continues to buzz even when the cables are unplugged.

slowhand:

yes the buzzing comes from both speakers. it may possible be i'm hearing the noise floor of the amp, but i'm not really sure. i've been emailing kevin covi back and forth as he and i are at a loss for the reason for the buzz. like i said, it might just be due to the 99 dB efficiency of my speakers.

tom:

i think part of the issue is that power cables connected to the speakers are unshielded and one power cable on the right mablec is unshielded as well. hopefully i'll win the lottery soon and be able to purchase the remaing 3 purist audio power cords i need. : )

powers:

i use a bendix 6106 and have verified with mick that it is swapable in the supratek circuit. i haven't heard the phillips metal base so i can't comment on the sound, but the price difference is substantial. $400 for the phillips versus $40 for the bendix.

i'm a big fan of 47 labs gear with my chardonnay. i have a shigaraki transport and dac with a pure power batterly power supply. the transport and dac by themselves are excellent, but with the battery power, it's extraordinary.

shoot mick an email. i'm sure he can point you to a source for the remote.

i'm not real familiar with the tubes in the phono section of supratek's so take all this with a grain of salt. from what i can gather, the M8081 is the same as a CV4031. i tried searching a few sites for both and came up with nil. however, there is a person in switzerland selling 31 CV4031's for $60 on eBay right now. it's not my auction. it was all i could find on short notice. good luck in your hunt.

powers:

the malbecs sound very open and dynamic. the best way i can describe them is they are a bridge between tubes and solid state. taking all the positives of each and very little (if any) of the negatives.

tom:

thanks for the kind words. i live in mobile, alabama. enterprise is about 180 miles northeast of here. the weather was definitely bad and we were under a tornado watch for most of the day, but i don't think a tornado was ever spotted around here. typically, the biggest worry around here is hurricanes. only three more months until the start of the 2007 atlantic hurricane season!

i live in west mobile, around schillinger and airport.

just cd. no vinyl as i can't justify the added expense of the equipment as well as having to purchase all the "necessity" albums. couple this with the fact that most of the music/bands i listen to rarely, if ever, release on vinyl.

simon:

i think mick uses dhl now, but the 25kg fedex box that my chardonnay arrived in measures roughly 17" x 22" x 14".

richmon:

i believe you can just insert a flat blad screw driver into the gap at the bottom and pry the fuse holder open. you might wanna double check with mick first. obviously, make sure it's unplugged before probing around with a screw driver.

jtgofish:

that's odd that mick has such an aversion to silver cables. from what i recall, he wires the entire preamp with silver wire. i once asked him which cables he preferred to which he stated that anything over $200 for a pair is ridiculous in his opinion. i guess that's his way of staying neutral in the great cable war.

mark:

i'd suggest you email mick and see if you can't ship the sauvignon to either him or kevin covi (depending on your location) for repair. i know you stated that you had the preamp checked out, but i would tend to believe that mick or kevin could find the problem if it is indeed in the preamp as you suspect.

jaguarcondor:

are you referring to supratek preamps? plenty of people have received them. i just sold my chardonnay in favor of mick's reference linestage, the cabarnet dual. the supratek website appears to be up and running to me. try here:

http://www.supratek.biz

stiltskin:

still waiting on the cabernet dual. nothing to report on the malbecs per se. i think i mentioned it before, but the malbecs are very unlike any tube amp i've ever used. they aren't particular warm, romantic, or colored, but they're not sterile and uninvolving like some solid state amps i've used. they are essentially the bridge that joins tubes to solid state.

zachzdb:

srajan uses the definition pro which allow for bi-amping. he has a rane eq which sends the low frequency to the woofer arrays. not sure what his reference bass amp is. he appears to switch between the yamamoto/supratek and the melody integrated for the top.

now, i don't recall him making any mention of using the monad for the woofer array and the yamamoto for the mid/tweets. the best thing F1a could do is email srajan directly. he's replied to several of my emails in the past. however, due to his wife's recent surgery, he may not reply too quickly.

fyi:

mick updated the supratek site with new pics of the malbec and mondeuse. i didn't notice any other changes though.

slowhand:

i remember mick discussing a DAC as well. he was considering selling it for $500 for basic casing and upwards of $600 in a preamp-matching wood (piano black)/chrome casing from what i recall. i was going to wait on it, but found a great deal on the 47 labs setup i'm currently using.

sorlowski:

here is a picture of an auricap:

http://www.soniccraft.com/images/Auricap.gif

i can see where the A does look like a Q. regarding the change from 1uF to .56uF, i think mick or kevin would be the best person to ask about that.

i'm not sure if anybody else has seen this, but i found an interesting interview between mick and a member (perhaps mod) at an aussie audio forum from march 2007. pretty good read.

http://www.stereo.net.au/forum/index.php?showtopic=2550

audioforever:

if you're going to go with a supratek linestage only preamp, i think it would be best to go with the cabernet single (or better yet, dual if your system allows). i think that the cabernet would hold better resale value than a sauvignon. just my opinion. not to mention the cabernet is supratek's reference linestage and the sauvignon is one down so you'll likely never worry about "what if?".

i had a chardonnay which i sold and now i'm awaiting completion of a cabernet single. the reason i chose the single over the dual is that my speakers do not allow for bi-amping and i have no intentions of replacing them.

the cab single uses the 101D so i would presume it would better the modwright in srajan's option since he claims the 101D is where the cab "pulls it's unfair advantage". of course, it really comes down to a matter of taste for the end user. just because srajan likes it, doesn't mean somebody else will.

I am working out a couple of input/output issues perhaps someone can address. First, how does the HT feature work?

from what i recall, the ht bypass is set on input 4. you connect input 4 to your pre-pros front channel preouts. there should be a toggle switch between the two towers on the cortese. referral to your manual as to which way is on and which way is off.

when you want to watch a movies, just turn the cortese on, flip the switch, and you'll be good to go. all this info is based on my recollection of how my chardonnay (which i sold months ago) worked. the input number may be slightly different from your cortese, but the basic premise remains.

thanks for the heads up, maril. i wasn't sure and it's been a long time since i had even used that feature on my chardonnay.

Vic:

the remote is volume only.

darkmoebius:

the original home depot/lenco thread was about 3700 posts, but i was deleted in a hacker attack from what i've heard. there is a new home depot/lenco thread at about 537 posts, so add those up and the supratek thread still has a long ways to go, but technically since the original thread is no more, this supratek thread is likely the longest current thread.

fedex trashed a htpc that i sold. i had properly insured it. all i had to do was provided documentation that it was worth what i had insured it for and they reimbursed me in full. this was only $425 or so. i have no idea how they react when having a larger payout like your's will be.

BE SURE TO READ MY NEXT POST. I HAVE VERY BIG NEW FOR ALL SUPRATEK OWNERS AND POTENTIAL OWNERS!

come on, tom. don't leave us hanging. especially as i'm still waiting on a cabernet.

Slowhand:

i would love to go, but, even a year in advance, i don't think i'll be able to make the trip due to more pressing financial obligations. did mick say who he may team up with in regard to source/speaker/cabling? on his end, i assume he'll be bringing the grange, dual cab, mondeuse, and malbec at the very least.

here's a dumb question:

how do i call mick? i have never made an international call. from what i gather, i dial 011 61 8 97572639 or 011 61 8 97579786. which of these numbers is the best number? i can't really tell if one is a fax number from his website info.

before you say it, i already know that mick is 13 hours ahead of my time zone so i will call at an appropriate hour.

thanks.

slowhand:

i tried a million different combinations of grounded, ungrounded, shielded, unshielded, cheater plugs, and nothing could get rid of the buzz. it wasn't a ground loop hum, it was an electric buzz.

my malbecs are sitting in the closet, boxed up, and waiting to be returned as a trade towards a cabernet. they've been sitting there for close to 10 months at this point. they had a horrible buzz which emanated from my tweeters that i could never get rid of. not some quiet buzz, but a buzz that could be heard at my listening position almost 11 feet away. no other amp i have used since then has ematated the same buzz so i can only believe it is a problem with my pair of malbecs. i can only hope other malbec owners had better luck than i did.

goatwuss:

i think the best you can do is plug your ht processor into an unused input on the syrah. when you want to use your ht, switch the syrah to the input your processor is on and turn the volume on the syrah up to 12 o'clock. this way you can use your ht processor's volume control, but mostly you'll be using it to attenuate the volume of the signal. i can't think of any way you can do without the syrah's volume control being in the signal path.

goatwuss:

i can't honestly answer that. contact mick and see what he thinks. if you live in the USA, you could ship it to kevin covi in NY if it's doable.