Preamp Deal of the Century

Yes, I got the same response as well and I'm sympathetic. I suggest we all not bug him too much while he resolves his issues with his suppliers - none of this is his fault...

bwhite - you're right of course. I don't have an idea how long it takes Mick to actually make one stock Chenin from start to finish given he has all the parts to hand - I'd imagine not that long after all these years doing it. I expect he has help these days too - would make sense.

btw, I wonder if someone at Audiogon would care to archive the first 1000 posts of this thread? Takes a while to load in my browser each time I read it...

I thought I'd better report in.

My Chenin arrived this morning, safe and sound. It took me about 20 mins to unpack and set up, removing my old preamp from the rack first. Sounds sublime already, really looking forward to a marathon session tonight! But I really should go into work about now...;-)

I ordered my Chenin (no mods) on 06/15/04 and I received it on 10/15/04 - 4 months! Original estimate was 6-8 weeks. It took 5 days to get to me from Mick. I have to tell you I had an "interesting" experience with customs as Mick didn't supply my social security number on the packing slip -- I don't think he ever asked for it. Advice to you all: make sure he gets your SSN (or your country's equivalent) before he ships! If you're already an importer and have an "Importer ID" give him that. I was lucky with only 1 day delay because I called FedEx immediately I saw the "Regulatory agency clearance delay" comment in the tracking record. Your mileage may vary if you get stuck in customs -- I think I got off quite lightly. Just something to be aware of to all you future Supratekkies!

Anyway, I'm happy, it was worth the wait for sure. Now to look for a good turntable...;-)

Happy listening to you all!

Quick question: does anyone know how the tape loop works on the Chenin? There is no tape monitor switch that I can see, so how does one switch it on and off? Thanks.

Amandarae - thanks for your answer. I got an email from Mick yesterday and he said he removed the tape monitor from the Chenin in favour of an HT bypass which he said people preferred. It can be changed with a little soldering!

I did get a manual with my Chenin. On my unit the switch you speak of is marked as "mute" and it does just that. It does not seem to switch in the tape loop even when I put my Merlin battery BAM in there.

Anyone out there with a Chenin and Merlin BAM in the tape loop? I could of course put it in the signal path between Chenin and (wonderful by the way) Granite 861 monos but I prefer the tape loop method.

Thanks, Nick.

Excellent news guys. Looks like Audiogon has made pages available on threads now! Now very long ones like this can actually be read by people on slow connections/machines. And we'll all see a noticeable performance improvement too! Kudos!

Has anyone ordered a DAC from Mick? When's the first shipment due?