Preamp Deal of the Century

I had a Cortese that I purchased used. One of the inputs was wired incorrectly. Mick claimed he had not done it, and the seller claimed he had never had it modified. So, who was responsible was never clear.

Mick was not forthcoming with the name of the USA repair technician. When he finally gave me Kevin's name, I contacted Kevin several times. I never received a reply.

Eventually, I took photos of the innards and emailed them to Mick. He explained what was wrong, and I re-soldered the input wire according to his instructions.

I was not thrilled with the Supratek service, considering I serviced the unit myself with the emailed assistance of Mick.

The preamp sounded very good in many regards, but I never felt it matched ideally with my amplifiers.

So, now, here we are a bit later, and some folks (at least one, maybe more) are stating that Mick is gone, and they are owed money.
Isn't this the nature of the questions I asked along the way...."If it takes a year to get one, what about service?" I was villified by some people here, with some saying that I had an 'agenda'. Frankly I did...my agenda was to question Mick's business practice of keeping deposits for a year before delivering, and now, of course, maybe just keeping them period.

Why wait for a year for something that is readily available? The question is as valid now, as when I asked it years ago...the only difference is, some people have lost their money.

During one exchange, in simply asking what to me was the obvious, I received a private email from Mick, and he berated me, and was verbally abusive...maybe under pressure, who knows, telling me to 'mind my own business'.

What is it about audio that elevates some products, seemingly those which are hardest to get, to mystical status, creating a group of people willing to wait for a year?

Personally, I hope Mick is happy and healthy, and that he can return the deposits which some are asking for--for his sake as well as the customers.

My Supratek also had some issues (response of the phono was messed up), and while I would agree that Mick should not have been in charge of service (denying the problem, rude emails, etc), I would like to say that Kevin Covi, the US repair tech for Supratek, is awesome. He fixed me up, politely, professionally and promptly.

So, without questioning the integrity of others, aside from technical/service issues, the Supratek Syrah is still an excellent sounding $2,500 preamp. Best in the world? Probably not... but I would not hesitate to A/B it to any $5,000 preamp

interesting experiences some have had. some people love their suprateks and apparently some people got screwed out of money. very interesting to say the least. i guess i was one of the lucky ones.

Sorry to hear that people lost money and have unresolved problems. I hope you get your due.
I quess I am fortunate to have no problems. I had a channel imbalance after a few months of ownership and it was taken care of quickly. Kevin did the service and I was very satified.
Thank God, been 2 yrs. with no issues. I still enjoy the sound.

Can anybody tell me if I could use a 5u4g in the rectifer postion, emailed Mick haven't gotten a reply yet.

Want to try the EML 5U4G mesh plate, looks like a very nice new production tube. Anybody try them?