Preamp Deal of the Century

It's amazing to see so much discussions on the Supratek preamp. My friend thought I was crazy when he knew I've bought a $5K preamp without hearing it. Frankly, I wouldn't have done it if I haven't come across this thread. Thank you guys for all the information.

I've been using the Cortese for more than one month now and I'm still crazy about it. I'm running out of superlatives to describe the sound of the Cortese. All I can say is that everything is so musical and real. Isn't it wonderful if you can actually feel the emotion of the violin player in a concerto?

I agree with Steve that the stock tubes sound pretty good in the Supratek. The 6N8P is really respectable and you won't feel lacking of anything. However, if you can get hold of some decent NOS 6SN7 at good price then it's worth giving it a try. I'm using Ken Rad VT231 and I'm happy with it. As for the phono stage, get yourself a pair of WE 417a and TFK cca then you can sit back, relax and enjoy the music!

Happy listening to all Supratek owners!

Steven C

How tall are the feet?

I'm getting a Chardonnay ( black with Chrome ) in 6 weeks and I have RixRax stand that has 8.0" between shelves. None of the photos on Supratek website show the feet. Mick has told me he may need to put on shorter feet to meet my 8.0" requirement.

I'm considering asking Mick to replace stock feet with BDR ( 1.0" ) or StillPoints ( 1.125" ) depending on height of stock feet.

- Ken

Rmml sent me Chardonnay dimensions.

thanks

- Ken

Hey there,

Does the Syrah preamp (with remote) ever show up on Audiogon? I'd love to find a used one that someone was willing to part with, as I can't quite afford the nearly $3000 price right now (after shipping, etc.)

Thanks,

Todd

The reason I'm responding is that I am the first poster to reach the 500 post milestone on this site, I think. Seriously Todd, I doubt if you are going to find a used Sarah with remote at much less than 3K but you will probably get a few extras including NOS tubes and forgiveness of Custom duties not to mention the savings of shipping costs from down under to your front door and last but certainly not least, the wait. The reason you might find one is that some deep pocketed audiophile with the resources to own whatever he likes probably bought one and in the interim of the wait found something better. Just an off the wall hypothesis but why else? I doubt there is anything that approaches what this pre does at anything close to its price. It is just a wonderful piece.

I would say if you could find a Sarah with remote for less than or around 3K you probably would have a difficult time doing better and surely could do a lot worse. Save your money but don't expect a find for much less than retail.