Mick advised that my Syrah is ready to ship!!! This was ordered mid - June, so 5 months was the backlog. I am looking forward to the Syrah and will express my impressions here. |
I just recently got an Audio Note M6 with phono and separate step up transformer. It is clearly better than the Cortese that I had. But... it should be for the retail price of $20K. The instruments have more depth and sound more natural and there are no annoying hums or tube rush. Extremely quiet. The least expensive transformer coupled AN pre is the M3. It is important to note that AN makes all the transformers for these transformer coupled pre's and the M6 uses silver wired ones. No one has the knowledge that they have when it comes to high end parts. |
I have only listened to the Ongaku and lesser Audio Note units such as the M1 line preamp. My Audio Note advisor tells me he prefers the Kondo built M7 preamplifier (w/phono onboard) over the UK M3 > M6 preamplifiers. There is, or was, a Kondo M7 phono for sale on audiogon for 7500/offer. They are an excellent used value; still very expensive for the top of the line Kondo stuff. |
Slowhand, let us know what you think of the Hal-O-Tube dampers,I'm thinking about ordering some myself. |
Hi Rmml, the hal-o-tube dampers are well worth the price. They only cost $11.50 each, and have done a very good job of calming the microphonics. All the dynamics and musicality of the tubes are still in tact. The rings are worth their modest cost. |
I have a question for anyone who has one of the newer Syrah preamps with the adjustable gain control. Do you find that using this control affects the sound of the preamp negatively. Mick said that he put the control on the newer preamps because some people could not get enough range on the volume control because of the high gain of the phono stage. Dropping the gain gives more usable range on the volume, but he feels that the sound can suffer. I would like to hear from those who have this control on their preamps. Thanks. |
You all know of the big falling out between Peter and Kondo some years ago. I have heard both sides of the story and cannot decide who is at fault if anyone. I am inclined to believe it is language difficulties. At any rate I find both the Kondo M100 and Audio Note M6 preamps outstanding as you might expect given the parts quality that goes into them. Having had a Syrah, I definitely think it is an excellent buy although the H-Cat at $2995 is clearly better. |
Slowhand,
I have the Syrah with the adjustable gain. I use it at max gain 98% of the time as this is the mode that sounds best to me. I occassionally turn it down a notch or 2 on cd's that are poorly recorded as it seems to reduce hash and glare. I have found that turning down the gain then increasing the volume to compensate does indeed make the sound suffer. |
Thanks for the info Rockhead. I recently had my phono stage reconfigured for low output MC (which is the way Mick normally ships the Syrah). I had him ship mine for high output MC. I am using a Dynavector 20XL MC with .25mv output (which is pretty low), but this phono stage still has tons of gain. I do not want the sound to suffer though as it sounds fantastic as is, so I will not reduce the gain. Thanks again. |
Would this pre-amp be a good investment for someone who only uses a CD player and power amp? I am assuming I would need only the Chardonnay? |
Hi Theresa, I would say it is a worthy investment, point being is you probably will not upgrade your preamp for a long long time, like most of us in this thread. I have the Chardonay myself and if your willing to deal with the waiting and the little quirks here and there you will be rewarded.
Until now my Chardonay somehow never ceases to amaze me everytime I listen to it. |
How are the Cortese linestage tubes wired. Is is one tube per channel or does Mick use one triode section of each tube for the left and right channel? |
Any news on Mick's status - is he still overwhelmed with back orders and still doing all the work alone? I'm considering getting the Syrah, wondering if those of you who already purchased are still so overwhelmingly enthusiatic about Mick's work? (And Thanks, I've appreciated all the info in this thread!)
Also - I posted this question in the topic on ARC preamps but may get a better response here - any opinions on using an ARC LS8MkII with PH3 versus the Syrah? |
Well, I've had mine and still am in love with it. After my speakers, it is my most important piece.
I have not compared it to other pre's in it's price class or higher. I completely believe people who say the Audio Note has even more to offer but it's out of my price range.
Theresa-I only play CD's right now but I got the Syrah so I would have the option to try out vinyl after I restocked the music fund. The extra $400 is less than a good phono stage in the future.
Alot has been written about the glories of the KenRad black glass tubes in the Supratek. I have a good pair and agree with almost everything that has been said of them. However, in my system they are only second best. For me and my ears, my Pearl Cryoed Brimar CV/1988 are best. More top extension, as good or better lows, set a blacker background, and have crystal-clear detail without losing musicality. I have a NOS pair on the way that are not cyroed. I can't wait to hear if I can tell the difference.
BTW, I saw a very nice pair of the KenRads go for a whopping $260 on ebay the other day. Holy Mackeral. Wish I had put the 401(k) all into KR BG about 3 years ago.
Regards,
Patrick |
Slowhand, thanks again for the tip on the HAL-O tube dampers, my order arrived earlier today and it really works on the 6SN7s. In my opinion it is a "must have" for all Supratek preamps which are proned to tube noise. The improvement is audibly noticeable right away.
It is very reasonably priced also and they ship pretty darn fast, great service overall. |
Now try Herbies Tenderfoot isolation feet. They are just as amazing. I put them under every component and the clarity increased dramatically. |
The Syrah ordered in June has finally arrived! Beautifull construction. Any suggestions on amount of break-in required?? |
Mick advised me it would be at least five months to ship me a Syrah preamplifier. I asked him a couple of days ago. |
Has anyone compared the Suprateks to the CAT SL 1 Ultimate. These two are on my short list.
Thanks |
Hi all. have been away from this forum for awhile. Just received my 2nd Cortese and it is even better than the last.
Mick seems to have settle on only two tubes in the line stage. Not as much gain, but less tube noise thus less messing with fussy tubes.
I don't know if any of you have followed Mick's recommendation and tried any of The Music Cables cabling from Australia. Well I have and they are truly amazing. Very well built, very very quiet (they use a solid copper shield-return), and as nuetral sounding cable as I have had the pleasure to listen through.
An incredible marriage with the Cortese (going in and out).
And they are really affordable. King, the owner/designer was very helpful with his recommendations as to what cable to use where. And he offers a money back guarantee. It took about 7-10 days to arrive from Austalia. Try them, they really are a state of the art product!
www.the-music-cable.com |
SLOWHAND, WHERE CAN I GET THE HAL-O-TUBE DAMPERS
MIKE |
I ordered mine oct. 1 and am still waiting.............. The wait is brutal. ope to hear from Mick soon! |
Alright! Who has this preamp,lives in NYC (preferably Manhattan) and would be interested in conducting a preamp shootout? I have a CAT SL-1 Ultimate and a First Sound Presence Deluxe Mk II 4.0 with dual power supplies. Let me know what the rest of your system is and where you are located. I would also be interested in hearing the Lamm L-2 and the Emotive Audio Sira. Also, bring along your H-CAT P-12. |
Rayhall,
I will love to hear this shootout!! how about the shootout between CAT and presence for the first round?
thanks |
Hey Tim,
I'd prefer a one-round fight with all contenders in the ring slugging it out in the middle of the ring together, or dueling in the same corral, as I am mixing metaphors. Can anyone else supply some of the other preten..., uhhh contenders and the venue? If you want to know how the First Sound sounds vs. the CAT, Tim, I'll email you separately. Don't want to color anyone else's opinion here. |
Based on this thread recommendations I rolled the stock tubes to Tung Sol 6L6WGB ( 5881 ) and Ken Rad Black 6SN7 V231.
This change made a HUGE improvement and brought the performance closer to my expectations of the sound of a high-end pre. Prior to the change the presentation was "thin". This is difficult to describe but I noticed the lack of "depth" immediatly, and actually thought about selling it, but decided to give it a fair trial with improved tubes.
I have compared to the ARC REF 1 , ARC REF2 MkII, Hoveland HP1000, and the new MacIntosh. PRior to the tube rolling, I would not have placed the SYRAH in the same class as these great preamps, however after the tube upgrade the presentation moved into the same league. Each of these preamps has a unique sound and quite a different soundstage presentaton, so difficult to say one is better than another.
The Syrah's dynamics are outstanding, clarity is excellent, but the soudstage is much further back than one might expect from typiucal tube preamps. The phono is especially nice.
I have Air Tight ATM3 mono amps and Genesis speakers. These amps do reflect each component upstream, and I was surprised and how different each of the preamps sound, especially in soundstage presentation. So for the price, the Syrah is an outstanding value. The weakness on mine is specific to the selector control being very difficult to rotate. Anyone have a suggestion on how to improve the selector movement?? |
Rayhall,
Yes, please e mail me. I have used presence audio 2.0 MKII for a while with my Symphonic Line, but I always wonder how Cat compare with it?
The Syrah remain a mystery for me? I have no way of hearing it!!
thanks |
A side note to Rayhall/Timchens exchanges: I have heard the CAT/Symphonic Line combo & it's nothing short of outstanding. Judging by the consensus on how the Syrah sounds in different systems, it could be similar in many ways to a CAT (but that's just deductive logic on my part...) |
Noble, on the volume knob being tight: mine too at first. I think its the change in humidity from AUST to here and the wood expanding. Its loosened up over time. I also treat the wood weekly with a quality furniture cream (not oil).
Noble, I also have a AirTight amp with Syrah, and the Syrah shows that the AirTight is not as complex in harmonics as it should be (and outfitted with NOS Mullards and WE300B's it should be very complex). This is a house sound I believe with AirTight and many other Japanese tube amp makers; the Jap tube market, drawn also to the dynamics of horns, IMHO tends also to give a little up in core harmonics to get that dynamic projection quality (AudioNote Kondo IC's/Spkr wire have same dynamic/harminic balance/signature).
Aside from changing amps, I have worked on the Syrah tube complement. I ended with Tungsol round plates for the 6SN7, but could easily live with the Black Kens. Also, the rectifier effects sound appreciably; I have an RCA-marked Coke bottle Mullard in there now and find it far superior to the 6 or so others I tried. The past Supratek distributor sent me this one, so if you want to know about it he's probably the best place to start (I'll send you his e-mail if you contact me). On isolation, bwhite I'm sure is correct, but I have mine on a Rix Rax stand I designed and it doesn't seem to matter after that. However, airborne-sourced tube microphonics have been significantly effected by tube dampers. I tried several and in all locations and the Shun Mook small valve resonators on the rectifier and on each 6SN7 did the trick for me, and especially versus others on the harmonic/naturalness issue. I just got a matched pair of Tungsol JAN 5881's and have been running them for about two weeks. My impression is very sweet, has led to slight melodic integration (better playing together, so to speak, again one of the AirTight's small weaknesses) between players, and even between hands on the piano, but dynamics compressed and voice has lost some presense, in sense that projection qualities of voice are diminished. Image size slao diminished, and too much. Hard call, but even with my marked toleration for lushness, I do not like compression. We'll see, but I think the image issue will break their back eventually.
I owned a CAT MkII for a year, so can't comment on the Ultra differences with Supra, but I always found the CAT resistant to changes/mods/rolling etc. That's good for most people, but I like to have some latitude to go farther. As I said, for many guys out there, and considering the phono that might get them into that, its a no-brainer, in that context. And thats what excited me.
Still would like to hear from you guys on PC's if you worked that at all.
Good luck. |
I have a question for users of the Syrah and Cortese.
How long do these units take from being turned on at the power outlet to reaching their optimal listening conditions? |
I have read these threads and I must say that the excitement all you Supratek owners have is a little infectious. I have been an avid music lover but have always listened to SS. Lately, however, I have become very curious about tube components. I would love to just buy the Syrah right now just from everyone's glowing reviews here. If I did, I don't think I could go wrong. What's stopping me is the feeling that I should get to know more about tube systems and I really don't know where to start. Could some of you tell me where I should begin to find out more about this subject. Where did you guys start and where would I find good info on the subject. (if there is any) |
my syrah pre is scheduled for delivery on 03-03-03. i think i already got $2500 worth the fun reading these posts! the only problem is iv'e blown about $400.00 on nos tubes just to have something to get me thru the agony of the 6 month wait.i was wondering how long the phono section takes to break in,i don't know if my aged koetsu & i can take it! |
Rayhall,
thank you for your decent review and shed the light on this issue. I do concurent with your opinion on presence audio preamp. |
Hi5Harry... when did you order your syrah? |
i think i sent a deposit off around the beginning of september |
Hpdhondo, forget about the reading and get on with the listening. If you really want to know how to start with tubes it is only through the "experience". It's like a virgin reading or viewing pornography to experience a love relationship. There is no substitute for touchy feely contact.
Where did I start? When I first heard a high end tube system that touched my emotions, this after a long haitus from tubes. I haven't looked back since. |
Hpdhondo, I would not worry about getting into tubes because, in my opinion, it's not that big a deal. I have been using tube preamps for twenty years and have never had any problems with them. You may need to replace the tubes occasionally. I have used tube amps for 15 years and have had a tube blow or become noisy a few times and replacing the tube solved the problem. Tube amps require more fiddeling if you have to reset the bias periodically, but tube preamps only require fresh tubes occasionally. I know very little about their innerworkings, I just like the way they play music.
I have a Syrah also; it's a very nice preamp. If you can, go for it. |
Thanks for the responses. I hated to put it in here, but like I said I got caught up in this thread. I have never had the oportunity to listen to a tube system but can almost hear the great music just from the reviews. If I can't find a system to hear, I may just take the leap anyway. It sounds like, if I bought the syrah, I would have plenty of time to save the money anyway : ) |
bwhite, what going on with your system!!? |
Hi Asa, Well... for the past several months I've been all over the map with audio. The introduction of a turntable has been very, very interesting... In fact, after owning many of the top digital players, I no longer have a CD player at all and I am totally 100% okay with it. I was fooling myself with digital, throwing as much money at it as possible with cords, interconnects, etc. With the turntable, it took 3 seconds to realize how wasteful the pursuit of digital perfection truly was.
That said, I still have my Chardonnay and using a simple Black Cube phono stage into the Chardonnay with a Linn LP12 & Shelter 901 - it beats ANY CD player I have ever listened to by an enormous margin.
I am ordering a Cortese from Mick in the next few days and building a custom Teres. |
WOW, all the way to analog! Very excited for you, bwhite. Let us know how the Supra phono sounds in comparison, and then again when the Teres is introduced. BTW, that friend of yours who bought the CJ amps (and I think the Oracle later too) but wanted to jimmy the Syrah up with HT extras, how is his system going, if you know (sorry, I forgot his name. You get a guy to buy $10K of gear and then can't remember his name! whatta jerk I am, please apaologize for me...) |
Well guys, I ordered my syrah last october 1, and am still waiting. If anyone is considering one, put your deposit in early. It's a long wait.
To all you guys with analog, do you mostly listen to old stuff? Or do you buy current releases? I am thinking of getting an analog rig, but wonder if there is enough music that i would like available. |
Asa, He went all analog too! :) We both have 100% separate home theater systems and in cases where we need to play a CD, we just pop it into the DVD player.
Analog has been such a revelation for me that I hardly have time to post to Audiogon anymore! Go figure. |
OK, Bwhite you are making me jealous. So, I think it is necessary fir ne to stick up for digital, heh heh...
I think most of the problems that many digital components have is with AC cords. They are so AC sensitive and most people do not see the value in putting some serious $$$ into a great AC cord. I know I did not up until a few months ago. I have heard a Dodson 217mk2 DAC with numerous AC cords, and I really did not like it one bit until I mated it with a Kimber Palladium PK10 AC cord and a ML transport with an Elrod 3 Sig. This combo was STELLAR. I thought I was listening to totally different digital. All I can say is if you have a nice CDP or Transport, try out an Elrod 3 Signature on it. Unless you are using an amazing AC cord to begin with, you will be AMAZED at how good the Elrod will make your digital sound. OK... it still does not hold up that much to analogue... But it still can come very close. VERY CLOSE. I recently heard a reference system with MBL's top of the line Transport and DAC, and the sound was INSANELY good. It sounded like fine vinyl. I was in total awe. Of corse that front end is $37k or so retail and the rest of the system was about $130k or so... But this digital sound could rival much of the best analogue I have ever heard.
Also for all you folks you have the Supratek Syrah preamp... One of my friends just got one, and I will tell you AC cords can make a serious difference with piece. I have not tried an Elrod with it, but we did try a Kimber Palladium PK10, and this combination was very very good. I love the Kimber Palladium cords, they are about as neutral of an AC cord I have tried across the entire frequency band.
My theory with digital is that I have an Ayre CDP with an Elrod 3 sig AC cord plugged into a PS audio P300 plugged into the wall with a Kimber Palladium cord. This combo is about as much money as I will sink into digital, and I got every piece at very good prices. And truthfully, I am just way too lazy to switch 100% vinyl, heh heh.
KF |
How long does it take to clear customs? Mick shipped my cortese on 2/24 and it has been in Memphis for 2 weeks waiting to clear customs. |
Tok20000 - you and I have talked about this so YOU know I am still on that analog high baby!! However I presume that eventually I will come down and get back into digital - in one way or another. I remember having a lot of fun with digital - messing with several interconnects and PC combos. Truth is without all the remote features of a CD player, its a tedious process to audition analog setups - and not much fun from a "shape your sound" stand point.
My big gripe with digital right now is that there is just so much missing on a CD. Yes... there are great recordings and Yes.. there are fantastic players but... The CD itself is the problem. I find that no powercord can replace the atmosphere lost in a recording when it is compressed to fit a CD.
As you go up the chain of great CD players, you'll find that each is much the same as a digital effects processor and as a result has its own sonic signature. Tounge in cheek, I guess it wont be long before Sony has a button that switches their gear between the "Levinson effect", "Krell effect", "Conrad Johnson effect" or Audio Note effect.... or even 37,000 MBL Effects. :)
Digital is an illusion. |
Jazzdude, it should only take a day or two to clear customs. In my experience FedEx occasionally requires a few forms to be filled out for international delivery. Perhaps you should contact FedEx and see what's going on.
Also - they have been known to refund shipping costs AND waive the duties when this type of error occurs. |
Streetdaddy... Check out www.acousticsounds.com and you'll find some great "new" and re-release LPs.
What type of music do you like? |
Jazzdude, I also had to complete a form received from Fed Exp. to get it released from customs. So contact them if you have not received a release form. |
TOK, you're right, juice makes all the difference with Digital. Its just tough to tell someone who wants a bit better CD player that he should also load mucho bucks into a power cord. I remember when I wrote this review in TAS on the ESP cord (ten years ago - damn it, I'm soooo old!!). Not much was out yet - the Positive Feedback crowd was just onto PC's - and people were still slinging arrows over IC's. I got a ton-o-grief off that piece from people who just didn't think wire was "technology" or was a "component" (which is what I said then), so I know its very tough to get people to go there, even now. Frankly, in the beginning it was tough to get me to go there! A year later, however, there I was with a PS Audio Lambda II transport, power filtering devices, dedicated lines, ground post, the Timber DAC getting all kinds of treatment, going through a year long digital cable shootout that nearly drove me crazy, and an audit and tactic digital "interface" stuck between the transport and DAC - four PC's in all just for the CD "player"!!
Like analog, digital takes work, even when convenience is one of your motives (its one of mine!)and I'm sure the Burmester is very fine (I haven't hear it, but I'd be taken by surprise if those factors above were ameliorated to a sufficient degree - but I'm always willing to see!), but for the bucks vs. performance vs. involvement, its hard to slight what we have in analog now.
And that's where the Syrah comes in: you get a verey, very good line stage but with a great phono stage for a pittance, and overall, a great product that many people would never touch because its not in the mags, and performance that they might have never touched if they had been forced to pony up big bucks for a mag-touted pre.
I'm sorry its taking so long to get units; its very frustrating. I warned Mick about this, but also respected his position that he wanted to make them himself at a pace that would ensure each one was what he expetcted it to be. I guess its the difference between manufacturer and craftsman, but I do understand the frustration... |
