Preamp Deal of the Century

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.

Bryan, the Aesthetix IO is possibly the best phono stage ever made. It will be pretty hard for anything to compare favorably with that unit. And when you get to the dual power supply IO Signature model, and equip it with all NOS tubes, then it is simply unbelieveable.

BTW, the IO is available with built-in volume controls(and a remote), at a fairly large price increase, but you could run it that way, straight into your amp. However, Albert Porter has already tried that, and found that by having his Aesthetix Callisto Signature linestage in the mix, that combination sounded better than the IO straight thru. Albert also found that having Purist power cords on the IO made a nice improvement too.

All this talk about killer phono stages is making me drool. I need to upgrade my phono stage, but lack the funds right now. But soon, I'll be in a position to do something about it.

Regarding the Placette, it is very likely that there were impedance mismatch problems. This is common with resistive passive volume controls. The 41K ohm input impedance of the Lamms didn't like the high output impedance of the Placette. When this happens, everything chokes out and sounds dead.

Tom, you are correct. The IO is a great phono. But running it direct to the amps was mind blowing. The only thing about that which bothered me (except for the inability to control the volume) was that my drivers were moving & pulsing like crazy. Almost the same behavior as when I experienced the low frequency feedback from the Linn - before I got a wall shelf. With the Aesthetix running direct, there wasn't any feedback - the movement/pulsing of the drivers didn't get progressively stronger it just stayed at a constant level.

I've thought about setting the Aesthetix at 60 or 70db and using it direct ALL THE TIME and at one volume. And depending upon how the Cortese breaks-in, I might do that.

I've been worried about the volume controls for the Aesthetix because I suspect they will do a lot of what the Placette did. I know that most folks like the active stage with the IO except I doubt many have heard the IO direct to the amp. It takes balls of steel to hook a high gain phono pre direct to a pair of amps. :) Man was it worth it!

FYI - The remote is not exactly available for the IO. When they upgrade standard or MkII units to Sig status they receive a new chasis which accomodates the "upcoming" remote volume control mechanisim - which may not be coming according the Michelle and Jim.

Mick seems to think the Cortese is at par with the IO - time will tell and I'll let you know.