Preamp Deal of the Century


If anyone is looking for a true "World Class" preamp at a very fair price..heed my advice. I just recieved a Supratek Syrah preamp that was hand built by Mick Maloney in Western Australia, and it is absolutely beautiful! This preamp is the best deal you will ever find. I would put it up against any preamp out there for both looks and sound. Price? $2500 for the Syrah (includes Killer Phono stage). Not into phono? Try the Chardonney line stage for $2100. Don't get me wrong, I am not associated with this company. I am just a very happy owner! This preamp is VERY dynamic, yet liquid. It conveys the sound of music better than any other preamp that I have ever heard! You can check out the Supratek website at www. cantech.net.au
slowhand
Are their any dealers for this preamp in the U.S. I know there was a few reliability issues on the Supratek and I would not be interested unless there was one.
Snook2 - Mick is a one man show. He does not have a US distributor or dealer. He does however have technicians in certain areas of the US who are familiar with the units and can perform repairs when need be. Mick likes to fix the preamps himself when the cost to repair in the US is greater than the cost of shipping round trip to Australia.

A friend of mine sent his preamp back to Mick for an upgrade - It took a total of 10 days for the repair and shipping both ways. That is pretty good service. Not many big name manufacturers with dealers and distributors can match that.

I really have to hand it to Mick for consistently providing the highest level of customer service and support!

Snook - you bring up a good point about the way Mick runs his business - it could be run in a more mainstream, bureaucratic fashon (with dealers/distributors, etc) but if he did, you could quite possibly be looking at a price tag of $5,000 for a Syrah and $10,000 for a Cortese. It costs money to support dealers and consumers pay that cost.

The way I see it, Mick provides fantastic service and has priced his equipment as low as possible - creating a situation where YOU as the consumer can really win big!

i have been reading this thread with interest. i have a custom made pair of speakers made by war audio in perth, western australia. actually i live 20minutes from mick. what you have to consider is that mick custom makes his products and it is always going to take a while to get your products.

my speakers took 4 months to complete, but gee the wait was certainly worth it. check out the war audio website.

i have heard that mick's products are excellent.

regards

rod gittos
There has been a lot of talk about tube rolling in the line stage and power supply, but has anyone done any tube rolling in the phono stage of the Syrah preamp, and if so, what have your results been?
A couple of mods that I did on my Supratek Chardonay, courtesy of Bwhite's idea on how to reduce the vibration on your Supratek pre.

I posted pictures of it here with the Dynamat extreme on the inside of the pre.

The other one is the addition of the BDR cones and BDR "those things" I believe is what it's called. Here's a picture of it.

Here's a picture of my Chardonay after all this.

Thanks to Bwhite, now my unit sounds a lot more quiet and coherent.