Preamp Deal of the Century

I use Symposium Rollerblock Jrs underneath my SupraTek also. I picked up my grade 3 tungsten carbide balls from mcmaster carr. I forget the price but it was less that half of what Symposium wanted to charge. One of the benefits I noticed with the rollerblocks was an increase in variation of instrumental tones, the opposite of a coloration which would tend to make music more homogenized.

Well gentlemen I am a proponent of Sistrum technology..It is everywhere in my system. In side components as well as outside. Under my subs under my Dunlavy's, under my Dunlavy external crossovers. I have an Sp6 rack and 2 Sp101's, one under each of my amps that are built around Sistrum technology..The acoustic space ship and screen box combo that I described earlier are mounted to the ceiling with Sistrum technology. I have measured a 2 db increase of efficiency using these products..No down side, all the audiophile adjectives apply. Bwhite I would try a Sistrum Sp1 platform under your preamp with the apcd-2 discs between the downward facing points and the equipment shelf. You may also need the Sistrum Sp001 under the outboard power supply. These devices I feel are a major contributor of resolving power and major factor in the reproduction of the 21 ft soundstage I hear and see on several recordings played back on my system.They ain't no darn reflections neither!.. Tom

Hi all, I hate to de-bunk this tweak fest you are having, but it's my humble opinion that significant equipment changes or even just trying out alternative audio technology yields much greater improvements than poking around in the dark with tweaks!

As a humourous but true example, I once tried Yamamura Millenium 6000 power cable (@ $400USA) on my Bel Canto DAC-1 and convinced myself over an evening of listening that it was the best thing since sliced bread. Only to wake up the next morning and upon trying my standard power cord, finding that the sound had not changed much at all??

You see, my standard cable for the DAC-1 is a thin bit of zip cord with an in-line switch taken from the rear end of a child's Teddy Bear night lamp (the DAC-1 does not have on ON-OFF switch and this cable allows me to switch it off at will). All I can say is that it must have been a magic Teddy because the cable coming out of it's arse/ass did wonders for my system and more than kept up with the fancy Yamamura power cable!

Tom & others, my advice is:

1. Get a Supratek preamp, they are relatively cheap and get you connected to the music better than any tweak you may have tried.

2. Try Electrostatic loudspeakers like the Quad ESL-57/63 or for that matter ribbons like Apogee Stages or the like. Planar/dipole sound can be the most realistic experience.

3. Try Horn loudspeakers, they can be revelatory.

4. If you must have cone speakers, try and get one with the most expensive drivers and most inert box. Drivers such as Raven Ribbon tweeters; Accuton Ceramics; Cabasse honeycomb foam (21NDC); Eton; Beryllium drivers are excellent and more truthful than all others.

5. Everyone should have a S.E.T 300B/2A3 valve experience at least once in their lives!

6. Bel Canto EVO digital amplifiers and 24bit/96/192kHz DACs are wonderful devices - period!

7. Get at least a Koetsu Rosewood cartridge (or better), a good cartridge makes a greater improvement to any turntable than any arm or deck upgrade/tweak you might make.

In my experience, all of the above changes in equipment yield significantly superior results than tweaky things.

For what it's worth ...

Regards,

Steve M.

PS: Before you flame me, I'm not a total heretic and do use Solid Tech supports under my cdp and other 'feel good' products in my system like the rest of you.

Stevem1960? 'feel good'? I'm not going to flame you. But it makes perfect sense for us to try to get the very best out of our investments. I certainly wouldn't go to all this trouble if it didn't make a difference.

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Steve1960
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Thanks for your contributions to this thread. Your comments have been appreciated.

I think it is wise to try to define what type of sound pleases one most and then work hard to find the best synergistic component combination that works towards that end within the context that your budget (and then some) will allow.

We have all been fortunate to have the Audiogon Thread forum to learn from the experience of others. I have a Cortese (and are thrilled with it) only because of the honest, intelligent and sharing people who were willing to pass along their collective experience from their trials and tribulations. Sam Levinson, an oft quoted American journalist, once said “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can not possibly have the time to make them all yourself”.

I have learned over time that many tweaks do not yield just small increments or fictitious improvements, but rather some pretty dramatic gains. Assuming one has gotten as far as one can with the major components, missing out on taking your system forward with the benefits of the so called “tweaks” would leave one far short of what you might other wise enjoy.

I assume that you just have not had the positive experience of changing out a power cord or adding some sort of mechanical ground that yields a jaw dropping improvement to the sound coming out of your system.

To be sure, some lesser quality component pieces that have large short comings can have their liabilities masked or compensated for by the help of a power cord or interconnect. But, I have yet to find a major component piece that was not objectively improved with the addition of a well matched power cord or mechanical grounding device or system.

I would not favor dropping a tweak in my system in lieu of adding a superior pre-amp, amp, speakers or front end piece that I could afford, but I also would not want to miss out in getting the most of what components I have by over looking a good Tweak. Why argue for a limitation against an improvement

Steve,
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I would suggest that you try a set of Symposium Roller blocks (that do make a difference) under your pre-amp or front end piece or try Tom’s suggestion of using the Sistrum system (although I am not familiar with it). Bwhite might be able to share what his best power cord has been for a Supratek pre. Do make the time and effort to search out some good tweaks and you will certainly be pleasantly surprised and rewarded for your efforts.

I continue to be flabbergasted by the sonic improvements as I have worked my way through tons of tweaks and have uncovered some real gems. Several of the tweaks I have tried could be considered to have benefited my system as much or more than some of the good component upgrades I have done.
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