Supratek in business again....

"in business again ..."!! You people kill me - most two-channel hi-fi "companies" are neither "in" nor "out" of business at any given time in the traditional sense of the term, as probably 90% of them are a guy working out of his basement or garage when he gets home from his day job. Most of the others are two to four-person operations that don't keep what most people consider regular business hours. You can count on two hands (probably one hand these days) the ones that have $1 million in annual sales - there are very few B&W's and McIntosh's. This is not to say that they are fly-by-night or unreliable - most in my experience are responsive to their customer's needs - but "Supratek" is really a just a talented gentleman named Mick Maloney and shouldn't be talked about like it's IBM.

In two-channel audio, the first question is whether the man behind the curtain will honor the warranty that came with whatever he sold you and/or whether he is still alive to perform the work. The next question is whether whatever he sold you can be fixed by somebody else in the event the answer to either of these questions is "No" (if it's tube gear, usually yes). For this reason, it's not a bad idea to only buy gear for which you can get a schematic.

Raquel, Straight forward,to the point and perfectly stated.

Electrocompaniet is back in business now too :-))

Agreed, excellent response by Raquel!

I guess the winery gig died on the vine.

Anyone hear new Cortese or Chenin and compared it to previous version ?

I have Chenin MKII, but didn't have a chance to listen to it yet, I have power amp on order.
I owned Chenin and Cortese before that.

When you have chance, please share your findings. Mick claims that new edition is much better then previous one.

"Mick claims that new edition is much better then previous one.". Don't all designers claim the same thing for their latest product? ;). He makes beautiful gear.

I will report. Actually, my whole system is new, including the room layout, now done by Rives Audio.
I will update pictures when everything is up and running.

Maril555
I have been trying for weeks to order the cortese or grange, but cannot get in touch with Mick via email or phone. How do you go by ordering one. i Know it will probably take months. though i am willing to wait. It seems a bit too hard to order.

Matt

Well,
E-mail works, but not consistently. You have to e-mail 2-3 days in a row. I understand, that Mick is not back into Supratek full-time, so, he's busy doing other things.
Also, my understanding is, that he's not making Cortese and Grange at this point, and only Chenin and Syrah.
My case was something different. Mick and I had some unfinished business since the old days, and to his credit, he did fulfill it faithfully, by making Chenin Mk II for me.
He also indicated, that Mk II Chenin and Cortese are identical schematically, the only difference being balanced outs on Cortese, and more robust PS.
I'm finally using new Chenin in my system, which had been completely redone- I will update pictures later, and now I can make some preliminary comments- it is very dynamic and transparent, I think it alleviated one fault, that was a problem in my system with the first generation of Chenin- some degree of glare on certain recordings.
My speakers now are Avantgarde Duo Omega G2, which are extremely revealing, and I haven't heard any of the glare yet, neither with digital, nor with vinyl, as a source.
Mind you, I'm temporarily using my HT solid state amplifier, Butler 5150, waiting for a delivery of Art Audio PX-25, and so far, I'm really captivated by how the system sounds.
I'm also not using any support system under the Chenin, just stock feet.

Maril555

Thanks for your response. 1 hour after my post i receive an email form Mick. He said he was having trouble with his email. So when i get back from Alanta we will get the ball rolling. I beleive that the supratek will work well with my system. I hope it doesn't take too long.

Thanks again

Matt