Preamp Deal of the Century

thanks, wc. i had emailed mick a while back and asked about the burgundy amps. he informed me that he had discontinued them and was working on a 100 watt kt88 amp. i'm pretty sure the current kt88 on his site isn't capable of 100 watts from just two kt88 though. i will definitely be intrested in the developments of this new amp as i'd love to have a 100+ watt supratek amp to mate with my chardonnay.

From the pics it looks like two KT-88s per channel, for a total of four. I own a Music Reference RM-200, which generates 100+ Watts also using two KT-88's per channel.

This thread appears to be dying out. Well, I will add my 2 cents to keep it going. Received my new Cortese about 2 months ago and it really is what most posts on this thread say. The phono stage is amazing. I have not started tube rolling yet but look forward to trying some NOS tubes.
Any agreement by Supratek owners as to tube changes that seem to provide even better sound? Just too many threads to do a search.
Thanks in advance.

The biggest bangs for the buck regarding tube rolling, IMO, are the rectifier and phono tubes. I substituted a 1957 Philips Mini Watt metal base GZ34 for the factory 5AR4 and a pair of Siemens Cca for the factory 6922 in my Grange. This was a huge upgrade even though Mick is very careful in selecting the tubes he supplies.
If you really want to get adventurous, upgrade the coupling capacitors. This substantially increases dynamics and allows the preamp to dig deeper into your source material.

Docsavage,

Glad to hear you love the new Cortese. Mick sent me an e-mail telling me that mine is almost done. I can't wait to get it. To be honest, I don't see how it can sound better than my Syrah! Man, do I love that preamp. The sound I am getting from my system right now is just amazing. I know the Cortese will be even better. Ever since I got my new ZYX Yatra cartridge (thanks Lugnut), I have barely turned on my Sony SCD-1. Mick really does magic with his phono stages. Docsavage, do you find the phono stage to be quiet? Because Micks preamps are such high gain, noise in the phono stage has been a problem for some people (I am not one of them). Mick told me that the newest Cortese is much quieter in the phono stage. Just wondered what your thoughts are. I am using the Electro Harmonix 6sn7's that Mick likes so well in my Syrah. A guy sold me a pair for $10 and I think they sound fantastic. Tung Sol rounds are better, but when you take into account the price difference, I'll take the EH6sn7's.