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
Hi Tvad,Yes these prices are for real here in North America.I have these mentioned vacuum tubes and I can't get over how much prices have gone through the roof.Forget Flea Bay .Do a search on North American tube sellers,Brent Jesse,Tube World.Tube Depot ect...The seller I deal with mostly is from the Netherlands.He has sold to some of these dealers and is honest as the day is long.Can't say that about the rest I've dealt with on this shore.Anyway regarding...Bob...Just giving him a hard time.
Bob....I have a mismatched pair of Tungsol black glass oval plates 1940s vintage that are alittle noisy and one has aloose base you can have for...."FREE"....The Tungsols are free only with a purchase of a set of select preamp and phono grade vacuum tubes that I have on hand that will plug into your Chenin and many other vacuum tube designs. GZ-34 1956 vintage metal base Philips MiniWatt perfect print on glass.Condition New, looks like it was made yesterday.Price $500.00. One pair of Western Electric 350Bs,one with original box,yellow print on bases matched codes Condition New.Price $1400.00.Or apair of 1957 metal base black innerbases EL-34s Philips MiniWatt.With original boxes.Condition New. Price $1100.00 Phonograde CCA pair Siemens gray plate.Condition New .Price $650.00 the pair or Telefunken CCAs Condition slight use test New $550.00....Bob this is the cream of the crop that will work in your Chenin....Bob think about this .In five years these prices will look like a good deal........Or...... You could have the V-cap upgrade done to your Chenin for thousands less and most likely end up being enthraled with your system more so then any set of select vacuum tubes.....
For those of you have gotten off the tube rolling Merry go round, I am just getting on! I am looking for a pair of used Tung Sol Round plates for my Chenin. Right now it is a lot of fun trying different tubes but it is also expensive! If anyone has an extra pair, let me know! Bob
The Chardonnay will work well with the Pass X250.5 - my Syrah was great with my X 250. It (Syrah)has ample gain for my Audiopax 88s but way too much for my friends Mcintosh monoblocks, very noisy but I think the problem lies with the power amps not the Supratek. My older (7 year old) Supratek has possibly just less than half the gain of the Syrah, the phonostage has sod all gain. It can be something of a lottery with these without a spec sheet to go by. I imagine things will be settling now Mick has a workforce but older ones can be a tad 'unique', leading to hiccups.
Anyone knows the output impedance of the Chardonnay? Will the Chardonnay go well with a SS amp such as Clayton M-100, Pass Labs X250.5 or McCormack 225? Speakers are Hyperion 938 (90 dB; 6 ohms, 3.8 ohms min).
Ethifi-I don't know the impedence,but I've used my Syrah with multible SS amps,ranging from 10k to 50k or so impedence on 4 ohm,90 db speakers. The Syrah worked well with all,only problem is that most amps had relatively high gain as well so I ended up running the Syrah on low gain settings which doesn't really let it show what it can do unless you run high dbs. There's a big difference between the lowest gain setting,and the next ones up if you have some horsepower behind it.
FWIW, in the design of a phono section, that phono section is not 'voiced' although that is a common misconception. If the design is competent, the RIAA curve will be set up to be as close to the theoretical curve as possible, regardless of the actual cartridges.
FWIW "voice out" in this case is not the same as for speakers.
If you go with another cartridge, I would get a ZYX .24mv cartridge. I believe they make .24mv in all of their cartridges. I have the Yatra and it is a beautiful match to the Cortese. I do have the gain controls and I have them set to high gain. On low gain the music loses dynamics. Did I see where you are going to the RMAF? If so, talk to Merhan in the Sorasound room. ZYX makes cartridges in every price range, so I sure you can find one that fits your budget. I used to own a Benz Glider and a Dynavector 20XL. The ZYX Yartra is in a whole other class. Just a thought.
Better yet, ask him what he used to voice out the phono section of the kind of preamp you have.
FWIW, in the design of a phono section, that phono section is not 'voiced' although that is a common misconception. If the design is competent, the RIAA curve will be set up to be as close to the theoretical curve as possible, regardless of the actual cartridges.
Anyone knows the output impedance of the Chardonnay? Will the Chardonnay go well with a SS amp such as Clayton M-100, Pass Labs X250.5 or McCormack 225? Speakers are Hyperion 938 (90 dB; 6 ohms, 3.8 ohms min).
Do you believe it would be worth the investment to buy a Benz Micro Ace Lo (.4 mv)?
It depends on the spec of your Cortese. Maybe it is designed for low output(lower than 0.4 mV)carts. Judging from your descripton of the gain being "too hot", it might well be the case.
Mick should be able to tell you what it is base on the serial number and I am sure he can recommend what cartridge to use for optimum performance. Better yet, ask him what he used to voice out the phono section of the kind of preamp you have.
Sorry to hear that it did not work for you. Does the Cortese have a slider switch to choose load settings? Just in case you miss it, when you load the Benz at 24 ohms using the resistor, is the setting on the main preamp set at 47k ohms?
One last thing, when you are using the Wright, are you using a SUT? If so, what was the loading? I asked this because a 100 ohm loading with the Supratek which use Jfet at the input(like a head amp) is different sounding than a 100 ohm load using an SUT. I believe that a 100 ohms load with SUT corresponds to a 1000 ohms load for a head amp to produce the same amount of current to the phono circuit.
If you already tried 1k up to 2k loading and still does not like the sound then, I rest my case.
Maybe you want to try to load the Benz to 24 ohms(its internal impedance) using RCA tees on the input and see if you like it. When the cart is loaded with its internal impedance, its output will be halve. So you will have 0.4 mV intead of 0.8 mV at the input to the phono preamp.
I use the Benz ACE M,like yours, on my Chenin. I found that the phono gain pot setting on mine at 1/3 max for each with the best results loaded at 1000 ohms and with the preamp gain togggle switch at low setting. I found this setting also as the one that gives me the same volume level as from my CD player source.
The mullards are excellent tubes. I originally had the same condition with the high end being a little"hot" for my taste. I tried different 6922 tubes but when I put a pair of telefunken PC88 tubes in for the 6922s it took that little extra off the highs and sounded great in my system. The thing is, tubes that sound great in my set up may not do the same for you in your system. Good luck, hope you are enjoying your Supratek as much as I am.
Hi Tvad, I'm using a dynavector karat 17d mk2, output .23mv, loading at 100 ohms. Thats on a Chenin Pre. What tubes are you using in the phono section of your preamp?
the original home depot/lenco thread was about 3700 posts, but i was deleted in a hacker attack from what i've heard. there is a new home depot/lenco thread at about 537 posts, so add those up and the supratek thread still has a long ways to go, but technically since the original thread is no more, this supratek thread is likely the longest current thread.
Viclondon...I know on my Chardonnay I always flip the HT bypass switch to the rear, or "on" position before turning off my preamp to avoid any turn off thumps.Mick said its the same as a mute switch...I dont have a mute on it because I had Mick install a tape bypass switch instead. Thats how mine works anyway...since others have had bad experiences with this you might want to double check with Mick first.And Slowhand and Baranyi.hope to catch you at the audiofest and any other "goners attending! Rick
Thanks a lot guys for you input; I have got it all figured out now. All I have to do now is to place the order and wait patiently. I already have a good supply of NOS tubes from a headphone amp I had previously, including the Sylvania "bad boys" and metal base, Ken Rad, Tungsol round plate
Slowhand, The podium speakers look very interesting. I am putting them on the hit list for the audiofest. Anyone else from the thread going also? I use Apogees so finding a more amplifier friendly speaker would be welcome. Bob
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