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

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.

Very nice to hear another  happy Supratek owner.  Its the best stereo system decision I have made.  I am blown away how good my speakers sound.  I had no idea they had it in them.  🤣 My wife walked by my chrome Cabernet and said “That is a really beautiful component”. First and only complement I have heard from her in regards to my stereo systems. 👍

For my Cab the tubes and fuse make a huge difference.  Especially the rectifier and 6SN7’s. Output tubes not so much.  Enjoy the music!

@tksteingraber, took delivery of Cabernet mid Nov 2023.

The tubes that are fitted:

6SN7-SE (2)

6N3C (0384) (2)  the 'N" looks like a russian n

GZ345 Rectifier (1)

The sound is a bit rough out of the box, letting it burn in from today for a week, see how that works out. By then, that should be 250 hours, is that enough?

 

They do take a little time to settle in when new.   You'll notice a nice difference within a couple days (20-30hrs),.  Those Output transformers need a little juice running through them to open up.. The supra's also like to be at stable operating temp to sound their best too (~45 min. on)..  A little congested before that point.   The 6n3c is the Russian eq. of a 6L6..  I personally like the 5ar4 (gz34) and 5u4gb rectifiers but you'll find a big difference of opinion on what people like.  If yours cab is a 6sn7 standard (ie, no DHT),  then your rectifier choices are pretty wide open..  just stick with the typical 5volt heater variety,.

@jslateiv question for you on my 6 month old Cab volume control.  Whenever I use the remote volume up or down I get a crackling  sound. If I turn the volume knob up and down a few times it goes away but returns next time it’s turned on.  Should this be of concern?  Thanks for your expertise.