Supratek Owners Thread

What are the sonic differences between a Chardonnay and Cabernet? Does the copper/chrome have any sonic advantage over the powder coat finish? Still thinking about getting one of these for a birthday present.

Thanks,

aldnorab

Would be interesting if you will hear any improvement with a new umbilical.

The EML 45's are great,  running a pair of the 45 Mesh on my Grange.  Wonderful tube!

It sounds amazing.  I'm ordering a set of EML 45s and a new umbilical.

Yes those little toggle switches!Glad you got it working.Now enjoy the 3D ,dynamics and vibrancy they bring.

🙄

@jtgofish 

I rewired everything and reseated the tubes just to see if there was something I did during setup that could have been incorrect.  It turned out that the switches that select 2.5v vs 5v on the DHT tubes were set incorrectly.  I'm running 300b and once I made the change it started working.  

Good news.  Enjoy!

Firstgrowth,What was the problem?

Success!  I started from scratch and with Johhny's help It's making music.  Thank you everyone for the input.  This has never happened to me before.

Sound is really good right out of the gate.  Piano music in particular has amazing depth.

Have you talked to Mick about this? What does he say?

Ok, swapped out the source and same result.  I may switch back to the Don Sachs preamp and see what happens.

@gryphongryph 

I did.  I'm going to take them all out and re seat them as well just to be sure.

Yes. Trying different sources. CD player. DAC. phono. Cassette. All of them. Get a cassette playing, a CD playing, stream something through your DAC. All at the same time. Keep the volume at 9 o'clock while you switch between the sources. Read the owners manual. Tweak the gain control. Try the switches. I concur it's *probably* something simple. 

Please keep us informed. We're all on your side.

Good luck,   Let us know how you make out.  

Have you checked the tubes ?

There's something going on.  I got it to sound a little better and then it reverted back to a thin/faint sound.  I'm going to try a different source tomorrow and eliminate one possible issue.  It's gotta be something simple and I'm optimistic I'll get this working.  Can't wait to hear it.  

"Sounds like the input switch was in the wrong position of faint sound was coming through."

This is exactly what I was thinking. 

Note: be patient as you test the various input pairs and the selector switch. It can be a little confusing - at least it was for me. For instance, viewed from the front, my LCR phono stage is at the 10 o'clock setting, even though the input is the furthest one to the left (looking from the back). And so on.

Sounds like the input switch was in the wrong position of faint sound was coming through.

How did you make out?

PM sent..

@jslateiv 

Enormously helpful.  I flipped the gain switch the opposite way as well as the mute. There's some sound but I'm not there yet.  At least I know the cabling is correct.  

The sound is faint and thin.  I tried the 45/300b switches and no change.  I don't have my multimeter at this house so I'm flying a little blind.  Is there a chance I installed the output tubes incorrectly?  I can shut it down and reseat them.

Make sure the center/rear toggle in front of the gain knob is positioned towards the front of the pre (or make sure the knob is fully clockwise),..  Other posibility is that the V switch for the DHT is incorrect.   If you are in fact using a 300B (NOT 45),  try the switch in the other position,..  no harm as the 45 only gets 2.5v (not 5v)..    this can also be (very) carefully measured with a dmm by lifting on the DHT out of the socket just enough to probe both of the 'large' pins.  DMM set to DCV.   Should see 5v. make sure the probes DO NOT touch other pins or chassis.    Also make sure your input selector is correct.  if using the first rca /input   selector should be in the 2nd position.

Ok.  Idiot alert.  I received my pre amp yesterday.  It's a spectacular looking piece.  I followed Mick's instructions and I'm getting zero sound.  Has anyone run into an issue and found a solution?  I have the switches set for 300b and SE input.  Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for input, I ordered a pair of Genalex - Gold Lion PX-300B

Looking forward to try them out.

Get a pair of EML 300b’s and be done with it.   Superbly built,  very rugged, sound amazing, have a 5 yr warrenty and are on par with Elrog and WE at a better price.   

TJ Fullmusic 300B/n meshplates are excellent.Beautiful airy treble,lots of image depth and a lovely midrange.Not cheap any more though!

Here's a review of 300b you might find useful.

Hi guys, one of my Electro Harmonix 300B tubes stopped working on my Cabernet 

and I was wondering getting some other brand,

as I was not so impressed with the Electro Harmonix,

they did not have enough detail for me.

What tubes would you guys recommend?

Thanks.

I didn't have any "upgrades" done to my Cabernet but I did have a few mods. I have two balanced sets of outputs. The bigger one is that I can run either 6sn7 or 12sn7 in my amp. That cost me $500 but considering what the better 6sn7 tubes cost and how much less the identical 12sn7 I think I made the right decision. 

Others have decided to use a pair of 6j5 per side instead of 6sn7. That would also be an effective way of getting great tubes at a much lower cost. I prefer getting the 6sn7 sockets though. I can use a 6sn7 to 2x6j5 adapter if I wanted to. 

Skypop 

Thanks, we appreciate your thoughts and well wishes. 

@Chuckie Ive seen on the news the storms that you guys suffer through, they look crazy on Athene's I can't imagine how bad it must be in real life. Hope you get it back together soon and have a mellow storm season this year.

Thanks guys!

Wig👍

Skypop

Yes, south Louisiana we have been directly affected many times in the last few years. Seems like the Hurricanes are beginning to be more severe and destructive each year. We normally pack up and leave so we don't lose our vehicles. I have been flooded 3 times but this was the worst of all. 

@wig 

No I didn't consider a change in capacitors at the time when ordering. I did not want to delay the process . Mick mentioned supply chain delays getting certain parts so I did not inquire.

Only possible upgrade for my Cortese was weather I wanted to go the LCR version or not. I didn't,though about half way through I asked him to go ahead and do the LCR version but he said if I want to do that there's a loooong wait because the trannies are on backorder and it could be August before I see. My Preamp. I told him forget it and the delivery was just a few days ago.

Wig,

I spoke with Mick before ordering mine and asked what upgrades I needed to consider.  He said the only decision was whether or not I wanted chrome.  I was a little surprised but that's the story.  I'm 2 months in.

Jeff

Guys,

Did any of you opt to upgrade your capacitors in your Supratek?

Thanks,

Wig

Do you have a lot of storms where you live? Hopefully you'll be back and running very soon. It's definitely worth the wait!😎

Skypop 

Glad to hear your getting some hours on your Cortese. I am sure it's beautifully designed and hope it exceeds your expectations. Thanks, for your sentiments and we are still hopeful that our storm season isn't as devastating as the past few years.

@chuckie  congrats and hope you get to set it up soon. I can tell by the difference between when I first turned it on till now that it needs some play time before it is judged. It just seems to really convey real instruments and singers better than any Preamp I've had which includes Marantz 7,Hovland HP100,Audible Illusions,and Conrad Johnson.

Skypop

It's also official for me too. I received my Chardonnay 3 a couple hours ago. My Chardonnay 3 is also the dark wood but the top plate is black. Magnificently built with tremendous craftsmanship  a beauty to behold. My system is still in flux so I can't even set it up yet due to my home being rebuilt from Hurricane Ida last August. Congratulations and enjoy I am sure you will have a great evening.

Chuckie 

It's official, my Cortese arrived this morning! So far its definitely sounding great! Only a few hours on it but from when I first put it into the system to now I can hear that it has opened up more, at first it sounded a little stuffy but not now lol. Mine is the dark wood base with chrome plate tops. The rest of my system consists of Magnepan 1.7i,and 3.6r's that I switch between sometimes,2 sunfire subs in use when the 1.7i's are playing,PS Audio M1200 amps, chord cutest dac,meridian cd transport and a meridian 518 processor, and my trusty Technics ML-1000 Mk2 Table with a Ortofon TA210 arm which I use different carts with. Everything sounds more lifelike and life-size. My other preamp is no slouch by any means-Marantz7 Preamp,technology moves on but I would still never sell my Marantz. 

When I talked with him over the weekend he was going to have minor surgery on Monday so out of pocket for a few days.

supra@supratek.com.au

Anyone know how to get in touch with Mick? The email on his website seems to be invalid. Thanks.

@skypop No clue.  I just tried to post one off of Instagram and it came up blank.  Maybe someone can give us a tutorial.

@firstgrowth yes I will post some early opinions. How do you post pictures on here? Any idea.

skypop, 

Congrats!  Please post impressions once you get it.

Good news,my Cortese shipped a few days ago and is already in the states! I ordered it the first week of March,Mick included a few different sets of tubes that he said make a difference depending on which ones you use,so hopefully by this weekend,feel like I've been waiting forever lol.

@isaacc7  Glad you were able to eliminate the noise. I recently used a Dremel, with soft buffing wheel, to clean all the tube pins for my Don Sachs linestage and VTL ST150 amp. A huge improvement with the old stock tubes in the linestage. Much sweeter and purer high frequencies. The VTL tubes are only ~5 years old, and there wasn't as much improvement. 

Thanks,

aldnorab