Preamp Deal of the Century

Georgia, Of all the tubes I've tried (all on your list and then some) I find the Ken Rad Black Glass VT-231 to be my favorite. The Ken Rad Black Glass without the VT-231 marking is too dark for my system with Chardonnay and the Navy's were too bright.

The thing I really like about the Ken Rads is the midrange I can feel in/on my chest during vocals, strings, horns etc. Some people may not like that. The Sylvania 6SN7W Metal Base is a great tube - sounds really good but once you hear that tube, it will be difficult to find good things about other Sylvaina 6SN7 tubes because they are so different and the Metal is so good. The Metals have fair midrange texture and weight but tends to sound somewhat in-organic to me.

Yes - the Tung Sol rounds are very nice sounding, very liquid, and a touch of sweetness - However, I found them to sound too shallow compared to the Ken Rads on my Chardonnay. I lost the midrange texture and weight I like.

Hope this was useful.

Smokeyclr, I am sure the Cortese will open up over the next few weeks. I don't know what to expect with it. The Chardonnay seemed to sound great out of the Box and then all the sudden one day, it sounded better. I do not recall a long drawn out break-in process. From the 'tightness' I hear on the Cortese, I think it may be a wilder ride. Its already sounding better than last night but I don't have a my friends Syrah set up today to compare.

Tubegrover - very true. The Syrah is a fine piece of gear and what got me leaning toward a Cortese was my relevation with the Aesthetix IO.

I purchased an Aesthetix IO and compared it to the Syrah phono section and was devistated. The Aesthetix (stock) was significantly better than the Syrah. No doubts. So I purchased a Placette volume control and tried to use the Aesthetix without the Syrah line stage. To my surprise, I found the Placette to be dead, lifeless and quite frankly miserable sounding. Between you and me, I seriously do not understand what the folks who use these think they're doing. I even emailed Placette to find out if it was broken. Horrible! Running the Aesthetix IO into the Syrah line stage was a massive improvement over having the Placette anywhere near my system. This tells me that in the context of Syrah vs. IO, the Syrah's line stage is the strong point.

But... then I connected the Aesthetix IO direct to my amp. At 80db output things were a little too loud but what I heard was absolutely stunning. It made the Syrah sound like garbage (sorry but it did). The clarity, dynamics and everything improved massively. Some people talk about a veil being lifted but this was like I finally sat down in the same room the music was playing in - veil was lifted? No, more like a brick wall was lifted.

I told Mick this and he said, you need a Cortese for phono. He suggested he had new tubes which would put the IO in its grave.

So I purchased a Cortese. We'll see. I haven't made similar comparisons yet but will eventually.

Need some help from the group. I bought a Syrah a few months back and finally getting around to setting it up. The previous owner included a random array of tubes, many NOS but many with labeling that is difficult for me to interpret. I have the 6GK5's and the 5842 pairs identified (WE) for the phono section. Here is what I have left and I think I am missing a voltage regulator:
(2) Sovtek labeled 6N1P (are these 6sn7 equivalents?)
(1)Sylavania 5V4G
(1) RCA 5U4GB
(1) Sylvania 5932

Also don't have a diagram for where they go exactly and Mick's site doesn't give that info (I have a good idea but I want to be sure)
Thanks for the help.

You're right, you're missing (i) regulator tube. The Syrah will play without regulator tubes but I wouldn't play it that way for too long because I don't know what the effects are. I know this because Mick asked me to do a test once and said, "pull out the regulator tubes and tell me what you hear".

The 5932's are supposed to be quite good if they are the dual black plate variety. If its one of those, try to find another. Most folks seem to have good results with Tung Sol 5881's when used in the regulator position... commonly available on Ebay for not too much cash.

The layout should put the regulator tubes nearest the transformer domes and the 6SN7s should go closer to the phono tubes. - but you most likely already figured that out.

Hope this helps.