BE VERY CAREFUL WITH NON-STOCK umbilicals for Supratek preamps! One wrong connection by the cable maunfacturer and POOF!! its the end of your preamp. There are specific voltages being fed from each pin the power supply to the preamp section - get it wrong and you risk damage. At the very least you should send the stock umbilical to the cable guy so that he can circuit-test and make the cable exactly to the original.
Mick uses silver coated copper wire in the umbilicals, the same as found inside the preamps. I would have thought this would have been a good synergistic match, so why interfere? Just my 2 cents worth...
Regards,
Steve. |
Sorry to say Kwkwsr, but there's no contest between Supratek and the Prometheus TVC ...the Suprateks just sound much more alive and real, IMO! I've had the TVC in my home to compare alongside my Supratek preamp and while the TVC was very nice sounding (one of the better passives out there), it was a bit flat and lifeless next to the Supratek.
Regards,
Steve M. |
Hi People ...haven't posted here for a while. Just reporting that Mick Maloney visited my house a few days ago with Malbecs and Mondeuse monobloc amplifiers in hand, to try out on my Apogee Stage ribbon loudspeakers. Well, the amps sounded wonderful! Full of life and energy and the soundstage jumped right forward into your face compared to the ICE-250A digital amplifiers I was using. Midrange was solid and palpable, treble sweet and bass tight and strong.
The Malbec and Mondeuse amplifiers have lots of adjustability with switching from triode-pentode-ultralinear mode and variable feedback and damping factor to suit any loudspeaker. The Mondeuse seemed unburstable on the difficult to drive Apogees and easily took volume levels to 1.00 o'clock and beyond. Great sounding power amplifiers overall, in the same tradition as Mick's groundbreaking tube preamps.
More comments and pics here: http://cgim.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/vs.pl?vevol&1146370182&viewitem&o49
Regards,
Steve. |
Hi, I've used the Cortese & Grange preamps with Nuforce; Bel Canto; eAR; Panasonic and ICE based digital amps. Sounds good with all of them. Valves bring a certain dimension, body and lushness to the party that helps the slightly cool-neutral sound of digital amps.
Regards,
Steve |
Oops! sorry Fiddler not loss of memory, just didn't see Clipsal's reference to Srajan's article the first time (you'll notice that my first post on the matter is 13 posts down from Clipsal's so I musn't have read them all).
BTW Fiddler, what's the first thing to go if memory is second ??
Cheers,
Steve. |
I'd just like to say welcome to Srajan, your input to this forum is greatly appreciated.
As to tube rolling and cap swaps, I'm one of the Supratekies who doesn't believe in upsetting the apple cart and listen to my Grange preamp as the maker intended - with Auriecaps and the tubes as it left the factory. Living near Mick here in Western Australia and having known the guy for over 15 years, you get a feel for the way he thinks and the pride he takes in 'tuning' the sound of his preamplifiers before they are delivered to customers.
That is not to say I am not a tweaker as you can see from my many ramblings and playing around with my hi-fi at: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vevol&1146370182&view
So IMHO, its best to leave well enough alone and just enjoy the Suprateks as is.
Regards,
Steve. |
Agreed Fiddler, and a lot what you say makes sense and different tubes *do* sound different. However, you'll notice that what Mick proposes with tube swapping is changing the type of tube to alter the sound, say from a 45 to 300B rather tube rolling within the same type.
That said, I suppose it is common knowledge that some tubes within the same type are better than others, the Western Electric 300B being a good example of a universally praised 'best of' 300B. With Mick's preamps all I'm saying is that they leave the factory sounding pretty good, and a lot of us have found for example that his chosen EH-6SN7 seems to sound just as good (if not better) than the drawful of expensive Kenrads/Sylvania VT231's some of us have ended with!
In the end, I do agree with you that you need to trust your ears and if tube rolling or cap swaps give a perceived better result - then thats all that matters.
Regards,
Steve. |
If battery power was the be-all and end-all solution for audio, then all your portable CD players, ghetto blasters and car CD decks running on 12v batteries etc would be reference sources?? Which they are definately NOT ...
I've owned a tricked up battery powered esoteric Pioneer CD player and the N.E.W DC-33 battery powered Class A amplifier. Nice sounding equipment, but a pain in the a*s charging and replacing batteries when the time comes.
Regards,
Steve. |
Hello Abe, just checked out your system ...nice collection especially that Teres turntable.
I noticed you have the Linkwitz Orion open baffle loudspeaker, what's your honest opinion of it? I've been interested to try it out, is it as transparent as the Maggies or is it just cones & domes doing their usual thing? Also, does the OB bass go low enough for you (I notice you have separate subwoofers)...
Thanks,
Steve. |
This is interesting ...about capacitor rolling.
http://6moons.com/audioreviews/caprolling/caps.html
Regards,
Steve. |
Hi Fiddler, yes caps were discussed earlier but now expanded upon by Srajan as a fullblown 6moons article which I haven't seen before.
Abe: thanks for the comments on the Orion, sounds like worth following up on. I too am into SETs and point source drivers at the moment, currently Lowther DX3 in OB or Martin King's MLTL box.
Steve. |
All the Best in your future ventures Mick ...
Its a wonderful thing you have done to create Supratek, all those shining pre-amplifiers glowing in the dark, continuing to give listening pleasure to hundreds of music lovers Worldwide ...your legacy lives on.
You may have hung up the soldering iron for now, but I suspect the passion for good music continues to beat in your heart, so we shall see what the the future brings.
Best regards,
Steve. |
To keep the dream alive, some further Supratek comments and pics posted here ... http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vevol&1146370182&view
Cheers,
Steve M. |
That last post sounds like a Troll, please ignore it!!
I have owned four Supratek preamps Syrah-Cortese-Cabernet-and-Grange over a period of ten years and NONE have failed. In fact the Cortese that I sold some 8 years ago is still going strong, owned by a musician type, used regularly, never repaired - even the original tubes have not been changed.
The innards are a bit messy due the hand built nature of the thing and point-to-point wiring in the pursuit of short signal paths. If you look at the way the wire is strongly twisted at the solder points, great care and time has been taken.
At the end of the day hard wired valve amps like the Suprateks will last ten times longer than flimsy heat exposed circuit boards.
Steve. |
Mick uses an expensive variety of Sika-Flex, a long lasting temperature resistant polyurethane cement/sealant. Like the Selleys gutter sealants its designed to last 25yrs+. He once told me besides the convenience of it, it also has good damping properties and stops the caps rattling and vibrating against the metal chassis.
Regards,
Steve M. |
Anyone noticed the NEW Supratek website?? ...a good read and nicely presented. Good news is I hear some products are available again by special(patient) order ;-))
Regards, |
Nice post Tubegroover, and good to see that Supratek is still making preamplifiers Sorlowski - they are very special.
Still using my Supratek Grange preamp after many years of faithful service and have no inclination to look elsewhere.
Regards,
Steve M.
My audio blog: http://stevem1960.blogspot.com/ |
