Hello Kevin. Yes, Arc equipment is extremely well built and the product support is top notch, I repair or update all of my own equipment and have consulted with Leonard,the chief service manager at ARC on more than one occassion. He is a true gentleman and always very helpful and accomodating with respect to recommendations or technical advice. I am certain Mick at supratek would be as well. I have both the syrah and the cortese preamps and have never experienced a problem with mine.The build quality is top shelf. I acquired the cortese from a guy who was a 2nd owner. There were a few issues with the cortese as someone had retubed it with a bunch of tired old nos tubes. It was just dreadful sounding when it arrived and I am certain the poor guy surely must of wondered what all the fuss was about after listening to it as it wasn't remotely close to sounding like music! The mullard gz37 rectifier was pretty much toast and tested a little over 80% on one half of the wave and 90% on the other. The 6j5's [single triode]line gain tubes were so far from matched and barely made it past acceptable level on my tube tester as both tested under 80% emmision. The supratek or any other high resolution preamp with high gain is going to be very sensitive to tubes and I just don't understand why anyone would experiment with tired tubes. The suprateks can be voiced in different flavours depending on the gain stage tube of choice. For a well balanced warmer tone, one could choose the kenrad or perhaps the rca grey glass 6sn7.The tungsol round is a little more neutral, still warm and liquid sounding with a tighter bass reponse. The better nos sylvania's are somewhat more transparent with a leaner bass range than most of the other nos tubes. What I am fumbling around trying to say here is: The suprateks are very versatile regarding voicing and synergy with other components. And much like a fine musical instrument... they need to be fine tuned to your room, your ear and your associate gear. I still admire the phono section of my Sp-10 mk 2... the supratek is in a whole higher league. Furethermore... the supratek has the higher resale value ratio at this particular juncture.I can fully understand and appreciate if ones decision is to stay with the older and established firms in the industry because of reliabilty or service concerns. I have no such concerns with supratek as it is hand built to the highest standards,a simple straight forward topology with point to point wiring,top shelf passive parts and an architecture that is a work of art. PS: Regarding the old established firms? I much preferr the sound of the conrad johnson ART over the ARC reference. My 2 cents worth.
