Forward with the rear gain knob 1 notch down from the top. If I switch the toggles next to the 6sn7's to low gain (back) I lose dynamics. |
Hello Larryrosen,
Do you have the stock tubes in your Cabernet? I have found my Cortese to be dead quiet with the stock tubes in it. No microphonics like my Syrah had. I have not done any tube rolling yet. |
Hi Guys, I just wanted to wish everyone on the thread a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I wanted to thank everyone for contributing the this thread and for spreading the word about Supratek! |
Mick is probably updating his site. Maybe he is updating the site with regards to the new amp he is working on. |
Do any of you guys have the LP Soular Energy by Ray Brown on Pure Audiophile label? I got it for Christmas. WOW! this thing will test the limits of your system. The LP sounds fantastic! Some of the bass notes from Browns bass shake the whole house! I do experience some mistracking because of all the energy on the LP. I am tracking my ZYX Yatra at 1.95gm which is fine on my other LP's, but not on this torture test. If you run analog and don't have this LP, I highly recommend it. |
Thanks Simon74,
I have been looking around, but I don't see anything on this Cartridge Man Isolator. Can you tell me where to look for it? |
Thanks for the link Simon74. |
Looks like Supratek site is back up! |
Thanks for coming on the forum and clearing things up once and for all Mick. Hopefully, this will put people at ease. I have known you long enough to know there is no way you would compromise the quality of your products for ANY reason. |
Hello Allanblissett,
Welcome to the wonderful world of Supratek! I own a Cortese with the Sheoak wood and black top. It is absolutely beautiful. The Sheoak looks much better in person than it does in pictures. Mick told me when I ordered mine that the pictures don't do it justice and he was right. It has a beautiful lace look to the wood. I owned a Syrah before I got my Cortese and it had the Jarrah and Chrome top. I like the Sheoak much better (although the Jarrah is very nice too). These preamps look like pieces of art! But, better than that, they sound fantastic. I have had my Cortese for over 3 months now and I still have the stock tubes in it. I have plenty of NOS tubes, but it sounds so great, I have not had the desire to try the NOS tubes yet. Don't worry, your preamp will look beautiful. One note, the chrome tops are harder to keep clean and free of fingerprints. |
Yes, I got the gold knobs on mine. |
Hi JT,
Welcome to the Supratek family! Wow, it must be great getting a chance to listen to all of Mick's designs. Enjoying the music is what it's all about for me. No more looking for the latest greatest thing out there. Mick's designs transcend time, so you can truly focus on the music. |
Mick has not set the price yet, but he told me $2,000 to $3,000! That would be great! |
Tried a little tube rolling in my Cortese today. I have had the pre since November and have only used the stock tubes up to now. I took out the stock rectifier and put in a Phillips Miniwatt metal base GZ34. To my surprise, I saw no improvement in sound over the stock tube. I then tried a Bendix 6106. after a few minutes of letting the tube warm up, the pre started making noises I did not like (this was with the sound muted). I took the Bendix out and reinstalled the stock rectifier. The pre plays fine. I have not tried tube rolling any other tubes, but it may be that Mick has voiced the pre so well to the stock tubes that NOS is a waste. |
Hello Clipsal,
I agree with you completely! I recieved my Cortese at the end of October of 2005. I owned a Syrah before that. Upon receiving the Cortese, I could not believe how fantastic it sounded. Since then it has gone from fantastic to absolute KILLER! I finally put in some NOS tubes, and I found the same thing as you did. The Cortese sounds better with the stock tubes! Mick has done a wonderful job of tuning the preamp to the stock tubes. I now spend my time enjoying music and not worrying about obtaining the latest and greatest tubes. All these guys selling NOS tubes for ridiculous prices can keep them. What more could you possibly ask for. A world class preamp that does not even need NOS tubes to sound world class. I also agree with your comments about your experience with NOS tubes sounding "different" but not better. My advice for anyone contemplating getting a Supratek is DO IT! .Don't worry about buying a bunch of overpriced tubes. |
I just put a review of my Supratek Cortese on the Audiogon review section. |
Hi Allanblissett,
That is great. Mick must really be improving the time that people have to wait. You are going to love your pre. A word of advice. Let the stock tubes burn in good before tube rolling. In my opinion, tube rolling is not even necessary. Mick is tuning these preamps to the stock tubes. I don't think you will get better sound and you will shrink your wallet on NOS tubes. |
You should have in in about a week or maybe less. As long as it does not get stuck in customs that is. Did you give Mick your SS#. I am told customs is requiring this now. If you did not give it to him, you will probably get a call from Fed Ex or DHL telling you it is waiting in customs.
As for break in time. At least 100 hours, and truly more like 200 hours. Don't worry though, the pre will be a pure delight straight out of the box. As it breaks in it just keeps getting better. Don't even think about tube rolling during break in. Let those stock tubes sow what they can do. |
Yes, he sent me a tracking number. If it gets delayed in customs, the shipping company will contact you. |
hello Allanblissett,
Glad to hear that you love the Chardonney. Mick's preamps truly are a work of art! The best part is they sound even better than they look.
Enjoy! |
Hello Stevem1960,
Any idea how Mick is coming on the KT-88 amps? There have been no updates on his website. I was just wondering if they are close to production yet. Have you heard a pair of them? |
Hi Gang,
Just received an e-mail from Mick and he says the KT-88 amps are almost ready. He is very happy with the sound. They will be 60 wpc. He had to give up a little power to get the sweetness he wanted. Still, 60 watts of tube power should be enough for most applications. I am sure that these amps will be a perfect match to Mick's preamps and will probably take care of microphonic problems that other amps cause. |
Mrmb and Docsavage,
Glad to hear Thom Mackris is great to deal with. I am considering buying his new Serac turntable when it is ready for production. I would like to mate it with a Schroeder model 2 arm and use my ZYX Yatra cartridge. |
Just received an e-mail from Mick. He says the name of the new KT-88 amp is Malbec. The amps will have a gain control which will help it match to any system and it will have a feedback control to help it match to various speakers. My Berning amp has this also. This is a nice feature as it helps control the woofer for tighter bass. |
Hello Simon74,
I have the ZYX Yatra cartridge with .24mv in my system with my Supratek Cortese. I have more than enough gain with no noise problems. Granted the phono stage is not as quiet as some ss phono preamps, but it is much more musical than most. Pretty much the same way LP's may not be as quiet as cd's, but I find them to be much more musical. |
Hi Pablovila,
Mick names all his amps and preamps after types of wines. I am no wine expert, so I have never heard of Malbec, but it is a type of wine. Just type it into google and read all about it. |
Hi Dilly,
I have found that I really like the Michael Wolff Carbon Ribbon Gain power cord with my Cortese. |
Hello Indigorose,
Congratulations, and welcome to the club! You are going to LOVE the Grange. I have a friend that has one. It is a true work of art and sounds fantastic! Please be sure to let us know your impressions. It should sound wonderful right out of the box, but keep in mind that there is a break in period of a couple hundred hours. Just enjoy this time and let the Grange work it's magic. It will only get better.
Where do you live? |
Thanks Kg,
Mick told me a good while back that he thought it would be $2500 to $3500. Hope he keeps it in that ballpark. Please do keep us informed. I have a Berning ZH270 which I love! I may have to try the Melbacs though. Sounds irresistible. |
Ethifi,
Have you contacted Mick yet? |
Sorlowski,
The low gain position should be when the toggle switches are in the back position. High gain should be in the forward facing position. |
Sorlowski,
I have found on my Cortese that the preamp has very little dynamics in the low gain position. The high gain position is much better for me. I also keep the gain knob on the back set to one step below full gain. |
Just received an e-mail from Mick on the Malbec amps. It seems there are going to be two versions of the amp. One is a low power 30wpc version that Mick says will have a sweet sound to it. He says this amp will work fine for most people. This amp will be capable of using various output tubes. The other version is a more high power 100wpc amp. This version will only take KT-88 tubes. Interesting! |
Maril555,
Mick told me that he is working on the first 2 Melbac amps, so nobody has one yet. |
Mick's website is www.supratek.biz |
WOW guys, looks like I need to get on the stick and order a pair of Melbacs. My problem is I don't know if I could part with my Berning ZH270. I really love that amp.
PS: Glad I ordered my Cortese in the black top, save me $1000 when ordering the amps!
Ray, congrats on ordering your Melbacs! |
I wish I did have the money for a Grange. You guys must have read my post wrong. I have the Cortese with sheoak and black top. I am hoping it won't take near as long for you guys to get your amps with Mick's new partnership. I have heard that some people have received their preamps in about 2 months instead of 10 or 11 months. The only thing that may hold things up is that Mick may not be ready to produce the 50 Melbac yet. Last time I spoke with him, he told me the 100 watter was ready, but still more to do on the 50 watter. Oh well, we know by now that the wait is well worth it. |
Ait,
How long did it take to get your Chenin from the time you ordered it?
Ray,
I am sure the 50 watter will work well for you. On Mick's website, he says that he drove very difficult speakers with the Melbac using EL34 tubes (which probably reduces the power to about 20wpc). I can't wait for someone to get these amps, so they can share their thoughts with the rest of us. |
That is a great turnabound time! Mine did not have a power cord either. |
sorry, fat fingered a key. I meant to say great turnaround time |
Hi Maril555,
Thanks for the info on the tubes. When I talked with Mick several months ago, he said the EL34's would only put out 20wpc as opposed to the KT88 50 wpc. I guess that has changed. This is good news. Mick told me the EL34's have a sweeter sound than the KT88's. I think I will go with the EL34's when I order. Don't know what brand of power tubes Mick is using. They are probably readily available an inexpensive, as Mick seems to shy away from expensive tubes in his designs (good for him!). |
Is anyone close to getting their Malbec amps yet? I can't wait to hear about them. |
Hey Guys,
Mick says 4 Malbecs will be finished in the next week or so!!! |
Question for all the guys who have a set of Malbecs on order. What amp is the Malbecs replacing? |
Hello Mark,
Good to hear from you. Have not heard from BWhite in a long time. Some of us have decided that Mick was right about the fact that tube swapping is not really necessary for great sound. When I replaced my Syrah with the Cortese, I found that it sounded best to my ears with the stock tubes. These are the tubes the preamp was tuned to and Mick has a great ear for sound. The talk now is about the Malbec amps that Mick has started building. Amps that are a perfect match the the wonderful Supratek preamps are what we have waited for. And they are affordable to boot. I am getting ready to order a pair, but I must say that they will need to be extremely good to best my Berning ZH270 amp. I love this amp and can't see ever getting rid of it, but I would love to directly compare it to the Malbecs. Mick has taken on a couple of partners, and it seems that orders are not taking near as long as the 11 months I waited for my Cortese (worth every minute)
Sorry, that was more than 10 words. |
Hello Ray,
Hopefully your wait without an amp will be short. |
No Malbecs out there yet. Man, I am getting frustrated and I am not even waiting for one yet. |
Hello Asa,
Good to hear from you. Yes, there is a lot of new blood on the Supratek thread these days. I am glad that new people keep discovering how good the Supratek products are. I have been waiting to hear from somone about the sound of the new Malbec amps. If I did not own a Berning ZH270 (which I feel is one of the best amps in the world), I would have already ordered a pair of Malbecs. I will probably still order a pair to try and compare to the Berning. |
Hi Ray,
I would love to hear your Malbecs also! I forgot where you live, is it Florida? I hope you get them soon. I can't wait to hear your impressions of them. |
Maril555,
I have my Cortese setting on a rack that is similar to the Mapleshade racks (Rock Maple shelves). The preamp is supported by Mapleshade brass cones. I think the best isolation would be Silent Running Audio isolation bases. These are custom made to the exact size of your equipment and they take into account the weight and weight distribution of the piece of equipment they are supporting. |
