Preamp Deal of the Century

Question for Syrah/Chenin owners.

How long does it take for your preamp whe you consider it "warmed up" already? Mine is about 20 minutes. Just wondering because it seems that in my system when this warm up time is reach, the layers of the sound becomes richer compared to an already superb presentation at the initial turn on.

My amps (SS) are on 24/7. Could be the tubes at the preamp right?

Just want to get some feedback.

BTW, for the small room that I have (12'x14'x8') my experienced is that the Kenrad VT-231 produces bass that over power/loads the room so much. I thought I have several subwoofers on. Very nice sound but bass is too much IMHO. So far I am satisfied with the RCA 5692 Red Base and the RCA 6L6G tubes. Great combination and I highly "recommend" the pairing. Another one is the Tungsol 5881 and Tungsol 6SN7 Brown base. Very good for acoustic music in my system. As for phono, TungSol 6c4 and Mullard 6DJ8 does the trick for me. I tried Telefunken 6DJ8 but it sounds thin in my set up.

cheers

Amandarae - The 6V6 can be used as the regulator in the supratek preamps. I've never done it myself, but I'm told they don't sound good. Let us know what you think if you should try it.

Hello Amandarae. Yes the 6v6 works very well as a regulator in the supratek. Regarding warm up:each and all quality [tubed] preamp stages will take a minimum of 20 minutes of warm up time to come into there own and should be optimum about twice that amount of time. I can see you have figured it out that there is not much point in turning off your SS amp. Regarding the bass balance with the Kenrad black: What speaker are you using? Your phono stage configuration is different then mine however I am really somewhat suprised at your analysis of the red based 5692. Personally... It would be my last pick of nos 6sn7's for the line gain duty in my Syrah.... Funny thing is: it is far and away the choice of tube in my MFA luminescence.Than again, the lumi is somewhat darker sounding the my Syrah. Perhaps this observation is in direct contrast to the Kenrad... because of the bloomy base you are experiencing with the Kenrad. As our own Jazzdude has recommended [more than once I might add]... you mighy want to try a pair of RCA grey glass 6sn7gt's. They are a lot better balanced [tone wise] than the RCA 5692 in the syrah and possess a lot of that organic midband of the Kenrad. Further more, they are a hell of a lot cheaper to boot. In my rig, the 5692 sounds a lot closer to the voice of the sylvania 6sn7gt. Nothing is absolute regarding the voice of this particular octal tube and they certainly all have their own flavor.Do try the RCA grey glass though as they really are sweet and relaxing. Cheers and best of luck.

Jazzdude and Ecclectique,
Much thanks for the info and suggestions!

Ecclectique,

Yes, I think you are right! The 5692 red base is not as good as the Kenrad in the Supratek but in my system it is alright and does not have that "bass bloom" as I am experiencing with the Kenrads. Mind you, my system(click on system on my thread) is probably not as good as what most guys here have. So please take that as a caution.

Having said that, I think it is time for me to panic!

The Chenin seems to sound somewhat odd to me lately. I know it's only been almost two weeks since I got it but let me express my concerns and maybe I can get some understanding on why my unit sounds odd. Here you go,

For linestage and phono, it seems that my preamp produces a very prominent bass and somewhat recess mids (especially vocals). It sounds like the mids is one notch lower of the entire presentation as oppose to the lows and highs! Highs are good though. I wonder if there is something wrong with my unit or not. I tried various 6sn7's, regulators and tubes in the phono stage to no avail. The only thing I have not replaced is the rectifier. It is still the stock version.

Out of the box, the unit sounds great I thought. But now, even if I am still in the "getting to know you" stage, it seems that I am not getting what most folks talk about how liquid this system is. I have no hum issues. The tubes lights fine. The gain toggle switch at the top of the preamp are(two) set to low and tape monitor to off. So what can it be? Also, I noticed that the unit powered up is a little bit hot to the touch even the volume control.

I need help! Any suggestions will be highly appreciated.

Thanks.

Amandarae. Wow, You have a lot of very fine equipment in your arsenal. A couple of questions. What speakers are you currently using to voice the supratek???... the logans or the paradigm's. How large is your room and your speakers location in the room. No need for panick sir. Like most new vacuum tubed equipment.....you will need some run in time with the supratek as the transformer,wires and tubes will start to settle in and find its voice after about 100 hours or so. Rolling tubes at this juncture will only confuse the issue further. When I first received mine, I too, felt the same kind of anxiety as it sounded somewhat unbalanced and out of sorts tonally.I was thinking too myself that perhaps I made a big mistake,I was rather disappointed to say the least. So much so, that I put the stock tubes back in the preamp,turned the cd player on repeat and let it play for almost a week before I even went back into the room. The change in tonal balance after 30 or more hours was not suttle to say the least. Not only was it more coherent tonally,but what became immediately apparent was it's superior focus. I don't know the stock 6sn7's that came with your preamp,mine were of chineese origin and are really quite good tonally. A few suggestions to help you get a handle on the voice of the supratek: Tube rolling? Leave the stock tubes in it and roll out the supplied rectifier "ONLY" and replace with a nos equivalent[preferably a mullard]You will probably notice the change immediately however, listen to it for at least 100 hours before changing out the 6sn7's. The 6sn7 will have the largest influence on the tonal balance,more so then any other tube. You will find out that the preamp will improve dramatically after the 100 hour mark and continue to improve even further until 300 hours or more. Once it finds its focus... the tonal balance tweeks and tube rolling flavours suddenly become so much easier to voice in your room.Please, trust me on this, be patient and you will be rewarded. Best of luck.