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Supratek Owners Thread

Greetings All - 
It appears that the 26-million-plus view, multi-decade "Preamp Deal of the Century" Supratek thread has been removed. I'm not sure why, but suppose there must be a reasonable explanation.
In any case, on that thread I recently asked whether there might be interest in a "Supratek owners thread" and received some interest. 
The purpose of this thread is for Supratek owners to share the details of their system, ask questions, share information about any tube-rolling they have done, and so forth.
I'll kick us off here with a few details about my system -
ancient Linn LP12 with Ittok arm, Dynavector 17D3 cartridge into Cortese LCR phono stage
Power amp is a fully serviced Innersound Electrostatic amplifier
Quad ESL63 speakers (not USA monitors) or JBL 4430 studio monitors
Digital sources are immature and evolving - ancient Fostex CR300 cd player/burner
DacMagic 100 DAC
Nordost Blue Heaven 75ohm interconnect
Due to the fairly long lengths of speaker wire required in the new listening room, speaker wire is Belden 12 gauge wire designed for low-voltage outdoor lighting systems. 
Next steps - dedicated circuit, new power cords, new interconnects, new wires.
128x128markusthenaimnut
tksteingraber's avatar
tksteingraber
538 posts
 

Ok after a few days of tweaking and tube rolling with my Cabernet I have discovered fuses and tubes make a significant difference in SQ. I installed a QSA Yellow fuse and wow it made a significant SQ improvement.  Tubes have made a difference and I am now using RCA 6L6GC ‘60 black plate bottom getter, RCA 6Sn7 GTA  black plates and a 5AS4A rectifier.  Wow nice SQ!

 

sim_audio_nerd
46 posts
 

Little update on my Cortese LCR order that I had placed with Mick a while back.

I decided to upgrade my order to the Signature Grange.

Can’t wait to receive it from Mick.

Hope I have done the right thing and hope the 16 tubes won't heat up my room!

LOL.

markusthenaimnut's avatar
markusthenaimnut OP
354 posts
 

Somehow your post about upgrading your order to the Signature Grange... well, it really got me thinking. That might be a really nice next step from my Cortese LCR.

tksteingraber's avatar
tksteingraber
538 posts
 

Supratek chrome model owners: I thought I would share that I came across some nice chrome domed tall guitar volume/balance knobs that look great on the preamps. I didn’t really care for the matte aluminum stock knobs. The only downside ,which is of no concern for me, is they don’t have a level mark on the knob.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CD8V3714?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Picture (if it works) of the knob comparison:

https://i.postimg.cc/TYJT28nJ/IMG-2646.jpg

 

sim_audio_nerd
46 posts
 

Well, I finally received my Signature Grange preamp after about 6 month long wait.

I initially had ordered the Cortese LCR but later upgraded my order to Signature Grange.

Mick has been wonderful to deal with.

Currently the Supratek preamp is mated with Pass Labs XA30.8 and running stock tubes provided by Mick.

The preamp has exceeded my expectations. It is one hell of a preamp. My previous preamp was EAR Yoshino 868PL, which is a great preamp as well.

Comparing both the preamps, the Grange has more body and dynamics, tonally more rich and overall more musical. Bass is more well defined as well.

The Grange looks like a fine instrument. It is the ONLY audio component that my wife complimented on...which says a lot. LOL

Thanks to everyone on this thread for providing feedback on Supratek and Mick.

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