I've been following all the postings on the Mick's gear and haven't wanted to ad anything until now. I am expecting delivery anyday of my Cortese. Tonight I will be praying for delivery tomorrow-weekend coming and you know what I'd rather be doing! My friend has a Cortese and it has so greatly transformed his system into what many feel is a magnificent music producing machine. I just hope that my unit will do half for me what his is doing for him. |
Well, the Cortese arrived and I am speachless! But let me try to share my total and complete joy with any of you who may still be sitting on the fense. GET OFF THE FENSE AND ORDER THIS THING. Never had I heard music reproduction that is so REAL. Everyting I play (intilally-CD and SACD sources) just comes to life. There is more inner detail, dynamics (will scare the you know what out of you when you first experience a "rim shot" through the Cortese), tight and impactful low end, but with a natural bloom that is so often missing in most equipment I've tried, an extended top end that goes out there with such beauty, and the midrange--WHOW.
So Mick tells me that he's been playing with the phono circuitry and related components and that I really needed to get a TT. Well, I thought my vinyl days were done years ago. NOT. I picked up a Music Hall-7 table (didn't want to go to deep - too soon) and DOUBLE WHOW. Can't seem to buy vinyl fast enough. I'm hooked! Does anyone out there have a suggEstion for an upgrade MC cartridge to use in the MH-7 that would have a lower output than the cartridge that came with it (2.5mv)? It is working but Mick suggested that I'm at the upper limits of the imput sensitvity of the phono stage. |
Betcha, I am using my new Cotese with Spectral DMA360 mono blocks and they work GREAT together.
The Supra pre-s have all the necessary gain to drive anything and due to being transformer coupled outputs, there shouldn't be any impedance mismatches. All I can say is that my entire system has literally come to life. |
Where do you get these special tubes you guys are refering to? As I'm writing this, I'm listening to vinyl and it is astonishing! Even though between cuts I can hear these damn tubes crackling away. But when Louis Armstrong blows into that horn, oh my God! |
Jimyork, The more he builds the of us are telling the world what a great pre it is and the more he gets behind in his production, guess the bod has to come with the good. Try the Symposium Roller Block Jrs. they work wonderful under my Cortese. |
Jwu5918, my friend has a Cortese and he is uning PS300 for his digital front end. the Cortese is plugges straight into the wall.
I used to use a PS600 and found that even though it was providing its wom "new" current, that plugging directly into the wall sounded better (more dynamic). |
Schacter, I had the same problem with my Cortese. the solution (and necessary move to eliminate noise) was to place Pwr Supply on the floor next to the rack. You want the Pwr Supply (and for that matter any other strong magnetic-field producing device as far away from the pre amp as possible. I asked Mick to send my Cortese with an extra long embilical cord connecting the two pcs. I ordered a small (size) Stelf Shelf from Symposium to place the Pwr supply on. All really works well. You may have to re-arrange your gear on your rack to find the most noise-free arrangement, but it is worth all the effort. |
Hi all. have been away from this forum for awhile. Just received my 2nd Cortese and it is even better than the last.
Mick seems to have settle on only two tubes in the line stage. Not as much gain, but less tube noise thus less messing with fussy tubes.
I don't know if any of you have followed Mick's recommendation and tried any of The Music Cables cabling from Australia. Well I have and they are truly amazing. Very well built, very very quiet (they use a solid copper shield-return), and as nuetral sounding cable as I have had the pleasure to listen through.
An incredible marriage with the Cortese (going in and out).
And they are really affordable. King, the owner/designer was very helpful with his recommendations as to what cable to use where. And he offers a money back guarantee. It took about 7-10 days to arrive from Austalia. Try them, they really are a state of the art product!
www.the-music-cable.com |
SLOWHAND, WHERE CAN I GET THE HAL-O-TUBE DAMPERS
MIKE |
It's been since last october that I commented on this forum, but I just had to tell all who may read this that Mick's Cortese is a work of art! Nothing I've tried has even approached its ability to convey music in my listen room as though it were REAL, ALIVE, RIGHT THERE BEFORE ME! If you are contemplating buying one, do it now. Don't wait another minute. There is so much enjoyment ahead for you. This preamp (and all the comments from others in the forum) brought me back to vinyl and I couldn't be more please. Vinyl through the Cortese's phono stage is magical. It is music with all the life and dynamics that exist in the real thing.
Now I've ordered Mick's new Burgundy mono block amps. 100w into 8 ohm (more into 4). Each channel consists of two chassis. One is the power supply the other the drive and output section. The size of each is that of the Cortese's chassis. I've got some pictures of the prototypes if anyone is interested (oltzhome@aol.com). Can't wait (you know the story- months after months), but at least I've got my Cortese to keep me company. |
Tonnesen, do not hesitate to try the cables that Mick recommends, The Music Cables (www.the-music-cables.com). I am now using them in my entire system with great pleasure. Very neutral and QUIET! They are relatively inexpensive, as cabling goes these days and you have a money back guaranted. |
Burgundies on the way! Just heard from Mick and my Burgundy amps are in transit. Mick says there extraordinary (he gets to listen to them before me).
I've been waiting about 4+ months for them. He had some delivery problems from transformer amnufacturer (specially designed and built for Mick's application). I just know they are going to be spectacular. Hoping that they will have enough muscle to drive my Avalon's. is there anyone else out there that has used these amps? |
Bwhite, have you ever tried the Micro Omega pwr cords? over my 2 yrs of living with the Cortese I've played around with several cords and have found the MO's to be as "ear openning" as the Cortese is! they aren't cheap, but the combo is quit wonderful. |
For those Supratek fans, Mick's Burgandies have arrived and after some modifications (at his dierctions) they are staggering in their transparency, bandwidth, inner (micro) relosution, and power (in the sense of conveying the "authority" of the music). I'd been waiting for these mono-blocks for more than 4 months (we've all been there with Supratek). They are simply gorgeous! Mick's beautiful wood chasises with matt black finished top plates and transformer housings. I am driving them unbalanced from my latest version of the Cortese. By the way, if you don't have the version with the 12B4A's in the output stage, send your unit back to Mick and have it modified. Incredible improvement in low end performance,in extention, dynamics, and texture, without scarificing any of the other atrtributes we've come to love. I believe he is charging $500 for the upgrade. |
