Preamp Deal of the Century

While we're on the subject of wine, just in case everyone doesn't know already, Mick's top end preamp, the Grange is named after what is generally considered Australia's finest bottle of wine - The Penfolds Grange. I think the preamp is well named, because the Grange wine is unique, mysterious, lasts for decades and cannot easily be compared to another wine. It basically sets the standard, as I'm sure does the preamp. I have the Syrah right now, but in a year or two I'd consider taking the plunge and getting the Grange. If I do, I think I might treat myself to a bottle of Grange at the same time. I think they'd go well together :-) (Incidentally, if you do buy a bottle of Grange, get the 1998 vintage. It's rated 99 points by both Wine Specator and Wine Advocate - almost perfect - you'll have to dish out over $220 for a bottle though, if you can find it :-) Cheers,
Outlier.
(Life's too short to drink cheap wine!)

Tubegroover: phoenetics were never my strong suit: actually, Sear-ah would be better, with something done to the "ah" when pronounced that I don't know how to denote; not nesessarily accented on "ah", but open mouthed...oh well.

Outlier, I does know what'cha mean...although at $220 I'd rather opt for a Bordeaux. But 99 scored, if you trust Parker on the Aussies, ain't bad at $220, although sounds a bit young right now...Slurp, slurp.

Yes, I know, just one more outlandish, decadent hobby...

So it's about wines, I see and now I have a completely different perspective of where Mick might be coming from. Mick, could you or any other of the down under blotes (Steve?) chime in and clue us on what is a Syrah?

North of the equator we call it Shiraz.... speaking of THE Syrah, I listened to mine for two days - as others noted it sounded awesome straight out of the box. Better base and highs and generally more musical than the ARC LS8II which it replaced. Set up was very easy, I plugged the rectifier tube into the power supply, connected the power line from the power supply to the preamp and was ready to go.

Unfortunately, we are getting a heat wave here in the southwest...so I'm hesitant to run my tubes amps and preamp in this heat (no AC). Guess I'll have to enjoy its good looks until the hot spell ends.

Tubegroover, shiraz/syrah are the two names for the same grape. Thought to be of Persian origin, it is the most common grape in wines from the Rhone (both generic Cotes du Rhone and Northern Rhone wines such as Hermitage, St. Joseph, etc). It is also used blended with grenache in Chateauneuf-du-Pape. It is probably the most common grape grown for red wine in Australia. It is also grown in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

From what I know, "shiraz" is the name SOUTH of the equator and 'syrah' is the name used in the U.S. and France - pronounced as Asa suggests.

I have been curious - and Mick, if you're still keeping track of this post, perhaps you'd like to chime in? :^) - as to why Mick chose the non-Aussie version of the name. And is there a tube DAC called the 'Mataro' somewhere on the horizon?

Outlier, I think the original store price in Australia was around A$350-400/btl (which came to about US$220+/btl) but in the 2-3mos since release, it has risen to A$500-600/btl from what I can tell. If you can still find it at $220, now's the time. It probably won't get cheaper. FWIW, the 1996 is also a great wine [I dipped into my stash too early :-(] and is probably 40% cheaper. The relatively little-known Penfolds wine called RWT (similar red-on-gray label to Grange) is a similar wine, is probably half the price (and maybe 1/3 in a year like 1998) and in terms of bang-fer-yer--buck category, I'd expect it does really well for 1998.

All of which brings me to agree with Asa's point - 'another outlandish decadent hobby'!