Preamp Deal of the Century


If anyone is looking for a true "World Class" preamp at a very fair price..heed my advice. I just recieved a Supratek Syrah preamp that was hand built by Mick Maloney in Western Australia, and it is absolutely beautiful! This preamp is the best deal you will ever find. I would put it up against any preamp out there for both looks and sound. Price? $2500 for the Syrah (includes Killer Phono stage). Not into phono? Try the Chardonney line stage for $2100. Don't get me wrong, I am not associated with this company. I am just a very happy owner! This preamp is VERY dynamic, yet liquid. It conveys the sound of music better than any other preamp that I have ever heard! You can check out the Supratek website at www. cantech.net.au
slowhand
Yes, Bryan, Albert runs Soundlabs, so the "woofers" weren't pumping, but he had a feedback like sound coming out. It was frustrating, but he eventually found that there was something causing the IO to vibrate and cause this problem. In his case it wasn't subsonic, and maybe the excitation in your case is at a different frequency, but it might be solved in a similar way. With the amount of gain at micro signal levels in that IO, it doesn't take much to make something happen.

As far as your woofer pumping goes, it must be a signal or resonance of some kind. I'm sure the IO must have a relatively low output impedance of around 1k Ohm or maybe less. That should be just fine with the Lamms. Did you try running it with the tonearm leads unplugged? That would isolate the problem to either the IO or the turntable. I just have this gut feeling that it's not an impedance thing when going direct from the IO.

Glad I'm not butting in. :^)
Hello Petland. Regarding the RCA 5u4gb rectifier suppled. It will work- however it is a "directly heated" full wave rectifier and not recommended.I would consult Mick with regards to using it, Indirecty heated rectifiers[recommended] will prevent cathode stripping of the other tubes in the line.The sylvania 5v4g that you mentioned is a good rectifier especially when used in conjunction with the early gt versions of the sylvania 6sn7's. I don't know why the guy would send you a 5u4g.Perhaps that was in error for the other 5932. Enjoy. Cheers David.
Has anyone replaced the umbilical cord ?

Curious is anyone has tried this. And what if any audible changes you heard. Also was it worth the $'s invested?

I'm getting my Chardonnay end of August. I use TG Audio SLVR and 688 power cords. And they made a significant improvment to my XA777es and Berning ZH-270.

- Ken
Ken, I have questioned the same thing.

I have wondered myself if the umbilical cord could be limiting the Supratek at all. After hearing what power cords and great IC's can do, I am very curious about what gains a replacement for the stock umbilical cord would produce.
Fiddler, the same thing you said about the H-Cat was said when I got one of the first Syrahs and raved about it.