Preamp Deal of the Century

Hi Simon,

I have reading this thread and learning from it for quite sometime. I have my Chardonnay about 1 year ago, purchased from Mick. After a year of listening and tube rolling, I think I can give a bit of my humble opinion for those interested. Firstly, I think Chardonnay is not the last word of resolution (who need that?) but a very enjoyable preamp. Secondly, I think it does not have a sound of its own, but it is a playground of tube rolling (my previous preamp was Nagra PLP, which I have tried tube rolling only a couple of times). You hear the sound of different tubes, not the sound of the preamp itself. I am using a Emmlabs/ DAC6e front end, a 300B SET mono amp and Kharma 1.1 at the moment. My speakers were Watt/puppy 6 two months ago but Kharma is a notch better in terms of mid/ high resolution so that I am hearing more difference in tubes now. I have tried certain 6SN7 including Slyvania, tungsol, RCA red base 5692, CBS hydron 5692 etc but I am now using the stocked EH 6SN7. For this position, I think the EH does a very fine job in providing a well balanced sound with reasonable refinement. It has better bass than most tubes I have tried. Some may have a more refined high but none have a more balanced sound except the GE side-getter which I think is the best buy NOS. If you use EH 6SN7 with the stocked Sovtek 5881 (in my Chardonnay), you will get enlarged focus, coarse sound with diminished air. It will be fun to fiddle with the regulators then. I have tried differnt brand of 6F6G recommended in this thread and they are fine in this position. I personally prefer Visseaux to Sylvania for better high frequency performance but I am sure if your can find one. I have tried Miniwatt 6F6G but they are inferior to Sylvania. For the moment, I am using Sylvania 5881 for this position for a more solid bass performance and more realistic texture (especially piano), sacrifying a little air comparing with Visseaux 6F6G. I have also tried some KT66 in this position but they sounded superficial (brilliant but without a solid ground). Forget to mention, I am using a Fulmusic mesh plate 274B in place of rectifier. It improves the resolution of the preamp a lot (don't use the gray plate Fulmusic 274B, the resolution is much inferior). But I have to admit that I have not tried WE 274B or Philips metal base 5AR4. I have tried Mullard 5AR4 which seems to have a floppy bass and too syrupy for my liking.

Lastly I must say sound is very much system dependent and personal taste is very personal. You can only try it in your system to see whether it suits you or not.

YWLee

Hi Simon,

Just want to share my experience of power cord as well. Power cords make a big difference in sound, that's certain, and I had been through that game before. I must say I had spent more than a little fortune in experimenting with power cords and interconnects. I had been a Shunyta fan for sometime and I still own a original Hydra which is corian made and gorgeous looking. I had used two king cobra 2, 2 vipers, and 1 taipan at one time. Finally, at least in my system, I found them excellent in most aspects especially ambience and high frequency performance. It is as silky as you can imagine. But there is a severe drawback with them in my system, that is sound without a backbone. They softens the transient and attack such that a piano never sound right. I had tried PS audio, various NBS (including monitor 0), siltech, VDH, Taralabs, MIT and some others. Finally, I found that I likely most the raw sound with big gauge solid core copper power cord which preserves the transient and harmonics with the least addition or subtraction effect. I am using some cheap Acrotec 4050 (50amp) power cords through out my system, taking from a set of Exactpower EP15A + SP15A balance transformer system. I had use the Harmonix studio master also, long before the Supratek time. My humble impression is that it has an elegant sound, plus a golden colour on top. Its bottom is very clean and tight, its high beautiful but inadequately extended. It is not as transparent as I prefer (personal taste again, and system dependent, of course).

Lee

Hi Georgemg,

I have been using a Supratek Chardonnay for two years. It is a very versatile preamp in a sense that you can tailor its sound to suit your taste, by tube rolling. It never failed to amaze me what it is capable of in regard of sound reproduction. The baseline is : it is very musical but not without the details that loved by audiophiles. All dependent on your other equipment and the tubes you used. I have a brief audition of the Melody 1688II in the Hong Kong showroom. It was partnered with Zu droid speakers and a tube power amp (I forgot the brand and model). It was too mellow for my taste in that setting. The piano was bloated with lost of attack. Voices were sweet but big.

I have no experience with the Wytech, perhaps someone else can help.

Preamps that I owned previously : ARC SP9, LS1, LS2, CAT signiture, Matisse reference, Marantz 7 (remake) and Nagra PLP (which I am still owning), but I enjoy the Supratek most.

Hope that is helpful

Regards,
ywLee

Dear Slowhand,

Thank you for starting this thread. I decided to order a Chardonnay preamp in June 2004 after reading the review in 6moons.com and the enormous information in this thread. I received my unit in September and has been listening to it for over 2 months. I think it is time for me to join in the discussion and assure those who is still hesitating. I am using a system that is quite high end : Watt/ puppy6 + Emmlabs mod Philips SACD 1000/ DAC6 combo, Melody 2A3 Push-pull monoblocks. Preamp I had owned previously included ARC SP9, Convergent SL1 signature, Matisse reference, Marantz7 (remake) and lastly Nagra PLP. I have been using Nagra for a few years and it is an excellent Pre. It is expansive too, over 3 times that of Chardonnay. I cannot say Chardonnay is a better preamp than Nagra, but I can say I am not missing Nagra in my system (the Nagra is still in hand) and have no temptation to re-connect it since the arrival of Chardonnay. It is enough at the moment. I will write about my experience with Chardonnay when there is time.

YW