Preamp Deal of the Century

Hi:

I've been using my Malbecs (modified for high sensitivity speakers by Mick himself) without any problems for almost four months now. I have two set of speakers: Lamhorn 1.8/Lowther EX-4 (101 db) and Coincident Total Victory (96 db) and I cannot hear any hum or buzz or anything, only plain, great musicality emanating from them. The Malbecs have replaced my highly modified Golden Tube 300b Mk. I (a la Arthur Salvatore) and the difference was notorious. Pablo.

Kgturner,
same problem on this side of the fance.
I will try some contact cleaner for the sockets and some fine steelwool to clean the pins. If that dosn't help, I am taking amps to the tech.
Cheers

Once your "Sweet Package of Joy" arrives from Oz, are there any surprises with duties or taxes come April 16th. What does the customs brokers @ Fedex do with your Tax ID#?

slowhand:

i tried a million different combinations of grounded, ungrounded, shielded, unshielded, cheater plugs, and nothing could get rid of the buzz. it wasn't a ground loop hum, it was an electric buzz.

Kgturner,

Have you tried putting a "cheater" plug on your Malbec amps to get rid of the hum? I have a friend that has a Grange preamp and he could not get rid of a loud hum it had developed. He was ready to send it to Kevin Kovac, and he just happened to plug a power cord into it that did not have a ground. The hum disappeared! It plays perfect now.

powers:

i opted for the 6SN7-101D configuration.

Kgturner,

Thanks for sharing your experience with your Malbecs. I'm thinking about taking the plunge but I'm a bit hesitant after hearing about your ordeal. Must have been frustrating! Not much chatter on the forum about the amps.

Looking foward to hearing your impressions on your Cab Single. What tube config did you opt for?

clipsal:

mick is building a cab for me as i type and he stated in no uncertain terms that the 6106 should not be used in the cab due to it's voltage drop. he told me that if i really wanted to use the 6106, i would have to send him one so he could adjust the power supply and then i could only use a 6106 thereafter.

Sorry that previous posting should read Mullard GZ34 or the Bendix 6106. I also realise the Bendix is not recommended in the Cabernet Dual, especially by Mick due to voltage differences.

To all those Cabernet especially Cabernet Dual owners. What are you guys using for the Rectifier.... Mullard GZ24 or the Bendix 106. I have both, but am reluctant to try as the power supply gets very hot. I'm kind of afraid it my blow the valve.

I'm also interested in knowing whether anyone is using a different regulator valve such as the Western Electric 350B or the Tung-Sol KT66 as I also have both types of valves sitting in boxes at the moment, but again afraid to try due to the heat generated on the power supply unit.

If anyone is using those above mentioned valves, I'd be very interested in your thoughts about what those valves do above and beyond the standard set that Mick supplies with the unit.

Btw, I had a Sauvignon pre-amp prior to the Dual and the power supply only used to get luke warm. Mick assures me it's perfectly normal for the Cabernet Dual power supply to get very hot.

Thanks.

Thank You for the kind words Kgturner.
The phenomena of the this tread as well as the number of
people participating and being part of "THE SUPRATEK CLUB"
can't be explain until one experience Michael's (Mick) products first hand.

On the matter of tube choices and its effect on the sound, I am also curies. As much as I would like to share my personal experience with the rest of "S" users - I can't because of my very limited time with the unit. As far as the tubes that came with my preamp, all I can say is that I can not find any shortcomings of that combo. Of course, it is too early for any meaningful evaluation or comparison. What I have noticed is that tubes chosen by a privies owner (NOS Tung Sol-round plate) are very sensitive/microphonic and a use of a tube rings is a must.
Other then that, they are wonderful.

I would also like to ask:
about the preferred way to address vibration control, unit placement (and power supply). I know I am going nuts with all this questions.......one more, power cables/ interconnects - make difference with Supratek or no.

welcome to the wonderful world of supratek, mrjstark!

Hi everyone,
I just want to say thanks!!!
Since this thread is probably the reason behind my latest purchase - Chardonnay with a Bendix 6106 Rectifier tube and a matched pair of very rare Tung Sol Round Plate tubes.
All I can say is...........I AM SHOCKED & FLOORED in the same time. $1700 (used) for this preamp is one of my best buys so far. And I am not talking about money.

This thing is everything you guys said it is and more.

Cheers

I use a Mullard 5AR4. It is much better in my system then the Sovtek. They are not cheap - usually around $100 - $150 dollars, but well worth the upgrade IME. I found it too be smoother and cleaner sounding overall presentation. Other then that I too have found that Mick's choice for the other tubes is excellent and playing around with NOS and other funky tubes does not necessarily provide any better sound. Often just a bit different. Often for the worse.

cheers and good listening.

Thanks Tvad, Kgturner and Powers for your kind replies. I just bought the Bendix from Kgturner on ebay. I would not have traded on ebay if I didn't know who the seller was.

My Chardonnay is two years old and it is completely broken in, obviously. I am perfectly happy with the stock tubes, but I want to have some tubes as spares. I am not into the expensive NOS stuff anyway, although it would be fun to try 350b as regulator. I have ordered two Sovtek KT66 and two Electro-Harmonix 6SN7EH. These are cheap and fun to try to see what this tube rolling is all about. I believe Mick is suppling these tubes with new Suprateks nowadays.

The stock tubes are Sovtek 5AR4, Electro-Harmonix 6L6EH and 6N8P of some unknown origin (probably Chinese).

Ivamorten,

What I'll say has been writen before in this thread but I'll recapitulate and provide some personal spin.
I have found that Chardonnay takes some time to break-in. Let it break-in for a few months with the stock tubes. This will stabilize the sound and acclimate you to the tubes that Mick voiced the preamp with. If you still want to roll, now you have a baseline.....
I've rolled many of the tubes mentioned on this thread. I highly recommend that you find a reputable tube dealer that will provide good tubes. The Chardonnay is very transparent and 'deserves' the best! I've wasted too much money on 'fleabay'. Caveat emptor!

Tube rolling is system dependent and I like to think of it as the bass/treble controls or system equalization. A given set of tubes will provide a very different response in your system. For example, a bendix 6106 rectifier will sound different with the Kt66 vs a bendix with a set of Tung-sol 6L6s.

For my particular set up I like the 6106 over the metal base Gz34. I like the 6F6GT in the regulator over the Kt66 with the 6106. However, the combo I've settled on is the 6106, 350b in the regulator and the Tung-sol 6sn7gt.

Enjoy the magic of Mick's preamp and save some money for your music!

Ivarmorten:

i used a 6106 and sovtek KT66 in my chardonnay without issue. mick is building a cabernet for me which is about done. he told me that the 6106 wouldn't gel in the cab's circuit.

Hi. Just wanted to know if a Bendix 6106 would work with a Sovtek KT66 in a Chardonnay?

Kgturner and V21, thanks so much for the info. Good to hear that the combo works great.

Correction.

I said in my post that it was the GE 6SN7GTA that blew everything away. What I meant to say it was the RCA 6SN7GTA small bottle, side getter tube.

Outlier,

I have the Chardonnay driving a pair of monoblocks and a sub-woofer right at this moment and can confirm that it does it beautifully. So tell your friend not to hesitate as it will be the best audio move he could make.

Hope this helps

outlier:

from what i recall of my chard, it does have 2 preamp outputs, so there should be no issue connecting 2 monoblocks and 2 subs.

I have what may be a silly question. I've been enjoying my Syrah, and I've a friend who is poised to purchase a Chardonnay. Question is, he want's to connect it to a pair of monoblocks and a subwoofer. I know these pres have two sets of outputs, so I assume the subwoofer can comfortably use the second set of outputs, but I just wanted to confirm. Also, if my friend were to upgrade later to say two JL Audio Fathom 113s, is the connection one single RCA per sub, so that the Chardonnay could accomodate the pair of monoblocks and both subs?

thanks in advance!

in my Cabernet , mick put a pair of OIL VCAP very warm and fast sound,
but the better upgrade i have made is to buy a cheap pair of EHgold pin Cryo 6SN7 , the best 6SN7 you could grab for peanuts...

Slowhand,

No, I would not say the V-Caps changed the tonality of the Supratek in my experience.

Yes, I would say the V-Caps are considerably more detailed. That does not mean analytical and cold, but rather much more invisible. It seems to me that whatever the signal is in front of the V-Caps, it comes through much more pure. If you have warmth in the signal path prior to the V-Caps, you will get a cleaner, less congested warmth and I am sure if your system is cooler or more analytical, you will get a purer sense of that, as well.

I think "invisible" more accurately describes the V-Cap.

Fiddler,

Would you say that the Mundorf's have a warmer sound and the V-Caps have a more detailed sound?

As an aside, Audience is now making a Teflon cap that they advertise here on the 'Gon as the "fastest cap ever made".

Either Audience realized that the V-Caps are far superior to their own Auricaps and they were getting killed in the marketplace or they just wanted to make more money on a new Teflon cap from knuckleheads like me who think they can here a big difference in the Teflon V-Cap :)

As much as I respect Mick's work, my ears strongly disagree with him on the V-Cap upgrade. The difference was immediately apparent the instant I fired my Chardonnay back up. And I don't mean by a small margin. I think there are others here who installed the V-Caps after I posted my results and I think they had the same impression I did. I went from the Auricap to Mundorfs which was a nice improvement, but the improvement from the Mundorf to the V-Cap was substantial. There is no doubt in my mind that the leap from the Auricap to the V-Cap would be huge, unless the Auricaps have been changed since I used them. V-Caps are now used in many of the highest-end crossovers, amps, preamps, etc. and the reports from listeners and manufacturers alike are all the same. The V-Caps are stunningly better.

To be honest, I think Mick simply tries to discourage owners from modding his preamps because I am sure they can be easily screwed up. I have read anecdotal reports of modded Suprateks for sale that apparently sounded like crap. Ultimately, the blame falls on the Supratek name and not on the person or modder who screwed things up. So if I were Mick I would also recommend leaving the preamp in it's stock form.

As far as which caps and what values to change, the coupling caps are the ones to change. Sorry I can't give you the values in your particular preamp because Mick may have changed the values in the Chardonnay since I purchased mine several years ago. It should be easy enough to look on the Auricaps and discern the values.

I have been trying a few different 6SN7's in my Chardonnay and contacted Mick on his recommendations and he replied saying that he has tried many NOS 6SN7 types and would suggest that I should stick with the supplied tube the Electro Harmonix as this is better than most NOS.
I tried Ken Rad VT231 (smoked glass); Sylvania GTB chrome domes and Brimar military CV1988 and I have to agree with Mick as only the Brimars matched the EH. I had one other type to try and they were GE 6SN7GTA, short bottle, side getter and they just blew everything else away. Nobody appears to have mention these.
Can anyone give me info on the capacitor upgrade. What caps have you replaced and what values would I need for the Chardonnay. I also asked Mick about this and he said that he also did the V-Cap upgrade and waited months for something to happen........"nothing" so he would not recommend them over the Auricap and neither would Srajan of 6moos, apparently.

That's a valid point but if this piece is as good as everyone says, I am a buy and hold kind of guy and it will probably be in my system for so long it won't be worth anything when it is time to sell.

So back to the original question, any idea about how much circuitry is actually in the case?

I suppose another option is to approach Mick about buying an additional power supply or just the guts of it sans case and fancy chrome plate.

My alternatives are the one case solutions from Cary (SLP 03) and Bat (vk-31se)

TWC

twclark:

i would suggest you just order an extra long umbilical cord and move it out of the way where you have room. once you go modifying the chenin's power supply to fit into a small case, you've basically thrown it's resale value out of the window.

I am very interested in the Chenin. I have some issues with cabinet space and components and was wondering if it would be possible to downsize the power supply. I know Mick doesn't do that type of thing but figured I might be able to get someone local to help out.

Does anyone know if the circuitry in the power supply fills most of the enclosure. I would definitely not want to mess with the wiring itself. If I could get it down to 8 to 9 inches wide, I would be home free. Thanks for any constructive comments. TWC

I used a Bendix 6106 quite a bit in two Cabernets and now use two of them in my full 6SN7 Grange with great results and no issues. Could someone enlighten us as to the differences between the Bendix 6106 and the regular GZ34/5AR4 rectifier? Is there a "danger"or can it be more a issue of preference as to it's performance?

V21:

i sent you an email.

Kgturner are your 6106's on ebay now? If not how much are you looking for one? I have a Mullard GZ33 on the way to replace the Sovtek 5AR4. You can mail me on jaydeecee@tiscali.co.uk
Thanks

V21:

you might want to consider a bendix 6106 rectifier in the chardonnay. that's what i used when i owned a chardonnay and i thought it was much better than the sovtek 5AR4 mick provides. alas, i'm having to sell all mine on eBay as mick stated that the cabernet cannot use a 6106. c'est la vie.

Hi Supratekers,

I have just received my Chardonnay,taking the plunge after reading the posts here and the reviews on 6moons and can say that it's the best "blind" buy that I have ever made.
As I am in the UK I think we Supratek owners are bit thin on the ground here but it's really great to read about your experiences with these fantastic products.
Mick supplied my Chardonnay with Sovtek KT66 regulators and EH 6SN7's and the lowly Sovtek 5AR4 rectifier.I have barely got my Chardonnay warmed up let alone burned-in but as I had some 6L6 types and a bunch of 6SN7's I thought that I would try a valve (tube) change as I thought that it sounded a tad bright. So in went a set of Brimar 6L6G...... dull and lifeless........Sylvania 6L6GA.......a bit better so the KT66's are back in at the moment. I have a couple of New Tung-sol 6L6G replicas on the way so I will see if they can match the Sovtek KT66. I have also replaced the EH 6SN7's with Sylvania GTA chrome domes and these are a big improvement. I think I will leave things as they stand until I get some more hours on this unit but I am also waiting delivery of a Mullard GZ33 for the power supply.
I am really interested in the mods that you guys have done such as the attenuator and changing some of the caps. As I am new here I would like to ask if someone would tell me what caps to change in the Chardonnay and what the uF values are and voltage. I realize that this has probably been posted somewhere but it would make it so much easier if you could post it in a response.

goatwuss:

i can't honestly answer that. contact mick and see what he thinks. if you live in the USA, you could ship it to kevin covi in NY if it's doable.

Kgturner - Thanks for the reply. Would it be an easy modification to change the tape loop into an HT bypass?

goatwuss:

i think the best you can do is plug your ht processor into an unused input on the syrah. when you want to use your ht, switch the syrah to the input your processor is on and turn the volume on the syrah up to 12 o'clock. this way you can use your ht processor's volume control, but mostly you'll be using it to attenuate the volume of the signal. i can't think of any way you can do without the syrah's volume control being in the signal path.

Hello,

I am trying to integrate an HT processor with my Supratek Syrah. I would like to control the HT volume through the processor, so that the Syrah's volume control doesn't affect the HT. In other words, a "HT Bypass" type functinoality.

My Syrah only has a tape loop. "Tape Rec" and "Tape Play". I have tried running the HT Proc. L/R pre-outs into both of these (and I toggled the tape-loop switch on the Syrah), but the Syrah volume control always seems to be in effect.

Is there any way to set this up to do what I'm looking for?

my malbecs are sitting in the closet, boxed up, and waiting to be returned as a trade towards a cabernet. they've been sitting there for close to 10 months at this point. they had a horrible buzz which emanated from my tweeters that i could never get rid of. not some quiet buzz, but a buzz that could be heard at my listening position almost 11 feet away. no other amp i have used since then has ematated the same buzz so i can only believe it is a problem with my pair of malbecs. i can only hope other malbec owners had better luck than i did.

Are the Malbec owners happy? Are you using EL34? KT88?

Sure,
I bought Nick Doshi ALAAP preamp, which sells for $10000.
(Mk. II is $12000)
So it makes it twice as expensive, than Cortese, but it's defenitely not twice as good. In essense, it just serves music in a different way, and it is strictly a matter of personal preference.
There are aspects of Supratek performance, that are better, than Doshi ( I think it is somewhat more dynamic), but like everything in audio, every advantage has a flip side.
I was waiting for it (Doshi) to show up for sale for quite a while, and it happened almost at the same time, as I took delivery of Cortese, so I decided to try something different.
So again, I cannot say conclusively which one is the better preamp, I think Doshi serves my current system and my current taste better, than Supratek.

Maril555
Noticed you have your Cortese up for sale here. You mention in your add you bought another preamp, can you share what you found better then the Supratek ? Just curious as I am in an upgrade mode too...but I am thinking of going up the Supratek chain.
Good listening.

I think one of the Supratek owners, posting in this thread, purchased Dodd to compare it with Supratek, and Dodd was up for sale in about a week.
Whoever you are- REVEAL YOURSELF NOW!!!

Hello Slowhand the Dodd is a linestage only ,and
because it is pure Dc coupled the Dynamics too are outstanding Hifidelityaudiogave me a money back guarantee
if I was not happy after 45 days which was plenty of time to run it in .I was serious when I said nothing in the $7k range or under topped it for overall naturalmness and musicality.
My freinds big Cary was over $8kand is no where near as clear.

Audiophile 1958,

Is the Dodd preamp a linestage only pre?

Audiophile 1958,
Did you have a chance to make a direct comparison against Supratek? How does Dodd compare in the area of dynamics, one of the Supratek's strong suites?