Preamp Deal of the Century

I heard the Syrah with the Berning on Acoustat 1+1 electrostats (Discovery sig wire I think, which could have been better...).

Both have similar characters: liquid but very clear and dynamic. Not overly-accurate type of clear, but naturally transparent. My feeling was that the combo would benefit from some NOS tubes (both were stock at the time) and better IC's that would inable translation of greater bloom and depth (not the Discovery's strong suit). Maybe an NBS or Purist between the two might be nice.

If you like the Merlins like Tubegroover, then you will like the Syrah very much. You can then balance the detail by the rolling of the 6SN7's in the pre: Brimars if you like more detail on transient; Ken Rad black glass for more lush presentation. The pre is very nuetral - like the Berning - in this regard, in the best sense of the word.

Tubegroover, quite inetrested in your opinion when you get the Supratek. Let us know please.

What has been folks experience plugging their Supratek into: a conditioner, direct into the wall, an isolation transformer, etc?

I had a friend of mine,that left my house crying,after i blew his SUPRATEK with a the ugly,Musical far Musical CROFT vitale.
The supratek is only beatifull,that is all.
The CROFT COST MORE THAN HALF THE supratek!
High end,does not have to be expensive by spending MONEY in how it looks,the money must be in the CIRCUITRY (SAVE MONEY AND SPEND IT IN THE CIRCUITRY FOLKS! THE CIRCUITRY!!!).

Eminents, I had never heard of the Croft until your post. So I looked up the piece. The Croft may cost about half of the Supratek, but it DOES NOT have a phono stage. The phono stage of the Supratek itself justifies the $2500 price tag. The Supratek may not be the end all line stage (though I think it is pretty darn amazing), but it does have a world class phono stage.

There are a whole lot of preamps that cost much more than the Supratek that are not nearly as versatile or have as high of sound quality as the SUpratek does.

KF

Whether it be line or phono, I've listened to Croft and I'd have to say that Eminents is exaggerating profusely.