Preamp Deal of the Century

Stiltskin,
How much of a difference is there between your Gold pin EH and the Tungsol round plates. What other 6sn7 would be close in sound to the Tungsol? I keep reading about the Sylvania Bad boys. Are they as good? I understand that much of this has to do with personal preferences. I would love to try premier tubes without it breaking the bank! Bob

Bob,You can have the V-cap upgrade done for the price of a preamp grade pair of 6SN7s....No Tungsol round plates,Western Electric 350Bs used as regulators,Philips metal base gz-34s in your power supply or any other vacuum tube plugged into your Chenin will ever start to come close to the sonic benifits of a acouple of V-caps installed in your Chenin.Micks design simply does not respond enough like many other brands of vacuum tube equiptment do when using select vintage tubes.....You want a significant sonic upgrade to your system for the price of afew vintage vacuum tubes? If you spin vinyl ,have your tonearm wire replaced with Nordost Valhalla or the Nordost Tyr, carry on with it to your phonostage.Once properly burnt in....You won't know what hit you!....Two V-caps and the Nordost wire in your system for abit more then the price of a matched pair of n.o.s. Tungsols and one n.o.s Philips MiniWatt metal base GZ-34.Don't waste your money on rolling tubes,save it for the wire upgrade and V-caps.....

Stiltskin, you have given me much to think about in your last post! Thank you so much for your thoughts. I have heard that Mick will be have the V caps as a new option on his preamps. Bob

Congratulations!!!!!!!

Sixmoons has proclaimed that Cabernet Dual is the more advanced compared to Modwright LS 36.5 as follows:

"Comparing American and Australian machines on equal 6H30 footing, it's a very close call except for that raw gain (the Supratek also uses 6SN7s in the circuit) which adds body and density for the Cabernet's ledger. Move the 101Ds into the picture and the Dual pulls its 'unfair' advantage to become truly unique in this category."

I only wonder if Carbernet Single can hold against Modwright
LS 36.5

the cab single uses the 101D so i would presume it would better the modwright in srajan's option since he claims the 101D is where the cab "pulls it's unfair advantage". of course, it really comes down to a matter of taste for the end user. just because srajan likes it, doesn't mean somebody else will.

I do have to agree with Srajan, the 101D is something very special. I have the Cab Dual and the 6H30 is great on the bass, but the 101D is truely magical in the mids/highs, so much air and detail, it's intoxicating. It's light years ahead of the Sauvignon, which I owned before for around 3 year.

Btw, any good vibration/damping advice, as the 101D are very susceptable to slight taps on the glass. You don't really hear it in the music, but I'm sure every little bit counts.

Hi clipsal - I just added a full suite of herbies tube dampers to all tubes on the cortese and it made quite a difference. Bummer to hear the Cab is that far ahead though. Would you say the bass with 101D is still superior to suavignon/cortese ( with tung sol, v-cap etc.) BTW I am in Brisbane

I think the bass is pretty good, detail is there but could be a little tighter. In that case you would just use the 6H30 part of the pre-amp circuit for the ultimate response.

Clipsal, I own the Sauv. and it is very quiet how is the Cab compared? Mick mentioned the Cab was noisy compared to the Sauv. so it made me reluctant in getting one. Are you bi-amping with the pre? What does the rest of your system consist of.

Pjwd, information I received from Mick was that the bass of the 101D does not compare to the Cortese (Sauv. line stage that I have)the later being better. Also to get the best out of the Cab is to use it via bi-amping and that the 110D part of the pre should be used for the mid and highs and is superior to what the Cortese offers. You should use the 6H30 part of the pre as Clipsal has mentioned for the bass. Mick mentioned that this is equal to the Cortese bass. My concern was that Mick said the Cab is noisy compared to the Cortese (Sauv. line stage)

Any one have the Single not Dual Cab and compared to the Cortese? (Sauv. line)

Pjwd what improvement did you notice by using the tube dampers? What does your system consist of?

Just tried a pair of Winged C Svetlana 6L6Gc's in place of my usual (long in the tooth)Sylvania 6L6GA's (Syrah).
These test fine(should be since they are new) and I broke them in using my other Supratek.
These are without doubt the most horrible tubes I've ever heard/owned. They might sound ok in an overdriven guitar amp but these destroyed the sound of my system.
Teeth on edge from a Syrah and Audiopax 88s is a new one on me. Avoid like the plague (ime /imo of course).

I use Herbies dampers more as a belt and braces and I love it when people touch the Shun Mooks(?) and pearl coolers on the Pax. What are those "Oh ya bastard that's hot!"
Inquisitive, tactile (and some times not to bright:-) )
race, us Scots

Also tried a nice pair of Sylvania GTA's in place of my usual Sylvania GTB's. Can't burn these in as my other soopy doesnt use 6SN7's. Is it usual for these to be a tad bright till they burn in?

I'm only fooling so I can get a nice a sound when the current tubes go but some of these changes are frightening - almost as frightening as going from the supplied EH to a nos set of GEC KT 88s in the Pax :-)

Footnote - none of these changes were as soul destroying as removing FIM & Aurios ( to lend a mate) and replacing with cones/zindak footers. If this is close coupling, please give me bearing isolation every time.
(and just in case , I made all these changes seperately and with a good listening session of a few days in between changes).

Happy listening and start saving for Micks pet monster amps with the transmission valves - free sunglasses supplied with every pair. Shame he went totally banzai as 'wee' 211s are only £18 each here.

Dev, the backgrounds became blacker and the instruments more clearly articulated - A similar effect that you seem to get with any vibration isolation or damping tweak.
I should have tried them one by one but whacked them all on at once - I suspect improvment is incremental for each stage and it all cost less than NOS tubes anyway - all the gear sits on ball bearing type footers ( spikes do not work as well) and lead shot filled hardwood plinths so there is already a decent amount of damping
Gear is:
CDP CEC TL0X
DAC CEC DX51
Pre Cortese
Amp Halcro Dm38
Spkr DIY WMTMW transmission line
Cheers

Cab owners:

What are the setting of the Bass circuit output impedance toggles? How do you use these controls?

Hi everyone

I received by Malbec amps back from Kevin Covi after he added the V-Caps to them. At first the changes were not that great. However, after only several hours of breaking in, the result is just shocking. I was playing the Malbec at high volume on my Edgarhorn Vintage Titan. It feels very close to being at a live concert. The music sounded lod and clear and non-fatiguing. I could listen for hours at high volume if it was not for my wife. I am really glad that I took the chance in adding the V-Caps. It cost more to add the V-caps to the Malbec since they require 2 V-Caps for each mono block. Kevin Covi was really helpful throgh out the modification process. Anyhow, I hope to get some of you excited.

Enjoy the music.
Tim

Thanks for the news Tim. I guess I am going to have to put the V-Caps in my Cortese. I am not big on modifications, but everyone seems to love these V-Caps.

Hi Slowhand

I am listening to my Malbec and being shocked again with the level of new sound that have not heard before from my old CDs. The V-cap keep getting better as I logged more burn in time.

BTW, thanks for introducing us to Supratek.

Tim

You are more than welcome Tim I am glad so many people have discovered and enjoyed the Supratek products. I spoke to a friend that is willing to put the V-Caps in my Cortese (he builds tube equipment). He seems to think that most Teflon caps have a tizzy sound to them, but I told him that everyone that has tried them on this thread seem to love them.

By the way, do any of you Supratek owners plan on attending the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest? I plan on going and I would love to meet some of the fellow Supratek owners. If anyone is attending, maybe we could meet somewhere.

Hi People ...haven't posted here for a while. Just reporting that Mick Maloney visited my house a few days ago with Malbecs and Mondeuse monobloc amplifiers in hand, to try out on my Apogee Stage ribbon loudspeakers. Well, the amps sounded wonderful! Full of life and energy and the soundstage jumped right forward into your face compared to the ICE-250A digital amplifiers I was using. Midrange was solid and palpable, treble sweet and bass tight and strong.

The Malbec and Mondeuse amplifiers have lots of adjustability with switching from triode-pentode-ultralinear mode and variable feedback and damping factor to suit any loudspeaker. The Mondeuse seemed unburstable on the difficult to drive Apogees and easily took volume levels to 1.00 o'clock and beyond. Great sounding power amplifiers overall, in the same tradition as Mick's groundbreaking tube preamps.

More comments and pics here: http://cgim.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/vs.pl?vevol&1146370182&viewitem&o49

Regards,

Steve.

I received an e-mail from a fellow Supratek owner today. He is going to the RMAF. If any other Supratek owners are going, please let me know. It would be great if we could get together to meet each other in person.

Tvad,
Those toggles change the output gain. They are provided, as well as the gain contol dial on the rear to 'work with' the specific input sensitivity of your amplifier.
Try various positions and see which one you like best. My toggle is usually 'foward'.

I am working out a couple of input/output issues perhaps someone can address. First, how does the HT feature work?

from what i recall, the ht bypass is set on input 4. you connect input 4 to your pre-pros front channel preouts. there should be a toggle switch between the two towers on the cortese. referral to your manual as to which way is on and which way is off.

when you want to watch a movies, just turn the cortese on, flip the switch, and you'll be good to go. all this info is based on my recollection of how my chardonnay (which i sold months ago) worked. the input number may be slightly different from your cortese, but the basic premise remains.

Correction:
Cortese doesn't need to be on. HT bypass is completely
passive. Just flip the switch towards the back.

thanks for the heads up, maril. i wasn't sure and it's been a long time since i had even used that feature on my chardonnay.

Tvad,
The bleed thru is because of the unshielded point to point Silver wire used. I believe a little bleed thru is normal and the price for the transparency. Forgive obvious questions,as I know you're rather knowledgeable,but I believe there's a tape monitor switch of some kind located on the top,in the front on the right hand side. I have a Syrah so it's different,but I think the Cortese has it as well. If it's turned the wrong way,it'll act as a mute. As a rule,don't fool with any of the top switches while the pre's on unless you like to test your speaker's max excursion(HT bypass excepted). ;^)
Also,if I read your question correctly,wouldn't Aux 2 input correspond to selector position 2 or 3,not #4? Given #1 is phono,I would think you'd get sound at #2 or #3. I'm not at home so I could be remembering incorrectly.
Good luck

Tvad,
Yes, HT is one of the inputs (I don't remember wich one)- connect R and L front channels outs of your pre to this input on Cortese, that's it.

I have read part of this thread and am interested in the Chardonnay, but I am trying to understand how the HT bypass work and have a couple of other questions to see if it suits my needs:
- I understand that the HT bypass involves a switch to be manually positioned and it works with the Chardonnay switched off. So if I connect the HT pre/pro to the input with bypass and I switch off the Chardonnay I can then use the pre/pro through the main speakers without the Chardonnay interfering in the sound. Is this correct? Please explain me how this works with very simple words, as I am having troubles understanding this HT by-pass thing
- Does the remot control only operates on the volume control, or does it also switch the unit on and off, or does it also allow to switch from an input to another?
- Do you have a rough idea of how long it takes at the moment between ordering and receiving the unit?

I don't know if any of you have heard of Podium Speakers, but Mick seems to think they may be the perfect speaker for the Supratek amps and preamps. He has a pair on their way to him now. he told me he would send me his impressions of them. If you want to check them out the website is www.podiumsound.co.uk

Sorry Viclondon,can't help out.Hi Slowhand I have seen them advertised in Hi-Fi +,interesting....

For what it's worth,6 Moons has them on their upcoming reviews list,to be reviewed by the Crystal Cable couple,with an intro.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/podium/1.html

Viclondon,
Let me try this:
Just imagine your processor connected to your power amp, and now imagine Supratek being inserted in the ICs connecting the two. Again, it's completely passive, meaning it's not in the signal path (to a certain extent), and the whole system in HT mode is controlled by your processor. Supratek is functioning exactly what the name (HT bypass) implies, passing the signal through, without
any interference (almost).
I hope I'm making it clear, just had a couple of glasses of Montecillo, so you'd have to excuse me, if I'm not

For anyone interested,6 moons did a reveiw of the Podiumsound speaker including a biography of the inventor builder Shelly Katz.Check it out....

Thanks a lot Maril, I think I have got it right this time.
The only thing I still don't get is if the by-pass is allowed both when the Chardonnay is on and when it is off. Enjoy your Montecillo!

Can anyone comment about the remote of the Chardonnay: does it only works for volume control or does it also shitch on/off the unit and/or allows to cycle through different inputs?

Vic:

the remote is volume only.

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

Ouch, Grant! Did any of the speaker drivers get damaged?

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

You were fortunate Grant. That volume surge you experienced is the equivalent of having your volume knob turned all the way up.

Hi Baranyi,

I hope to catch you at the show.

Tom

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

Kevin Covi in Glenford,NY Contact at kcovi@attglobal.net

The Coda for sale now