Preamp Deal of the Century

Aloha,

I've become very interested in the Supratek preamps and have read through the entire thread. But the music I listen to seems to lie outside the box for the majority of Supratek owners. I listen mainly to classical music--Renaissance choral, Romantic Italian opera, and symphonic orchestral music. Can anyone comment on the Supratek, say the Chardonnay linestage, and its rendering of this kind of music? Lots of massed trebles and dynamic peaks, complex orchestral crescendoes, dynamic operatic solo voices. I'm thinking of a Chardonnay to match with an Air Tight ATM-2 KT-88 power amp and, possibly later, an Art Audio PX-25 SET amp. And I want to thank you all for your enthusiastic and pertinent discussions of so many interesting and involving things having to do with the Supratek preamps.

Mahalo,

Just finished an extended listening session with the Chenin, and I'm very impressed, although I've only listened to the linestage so far. Very tight bass, lush mids, and extended highs. I wasn't expecting better bass from a tube preamp, but I certainly did get it! I'm hearing things I haven't heard before in recordings, such as musicians breathing! All this using a computer power cord attached to a zip cord extension while I wait for the Belden cable and Wattgate ends to arrive from Parts Express. Should only get better!
I'm running modified Flying Mole class D monoblocks, a Sony CD player, and Zu Druid speakers.

Ait,

Yes, for some reason, the Supratek sounds good with a PWM amp! I have the ICE H2O before and my Chenin drives it pretty good.

Congratulations, but a warning. If you are planning to roll tubes, read the tubes tread very carefully. Better yet, contact owners Stiltskin, Slipknot1, and Fiddler. Ask them about their experiences with NOS 6SN7 tubes because that pair of tubes will break your bank before you can say WTF!

Mahalo: The Supratek preamps sound beautiful with Classical music. Being a tube pre, the harmonic structure and emotion of soaring violins; the drama of orchestral crescendos and the sense of the Hall or venue is portrayed with real depth and dimension. IME, tubes do this much better than solid state, which sound flatter and less 3-dimensional.

Regards,

Steve.

Stevem1960,

Can I ask you to apply your critical observations to the Suprateks compared to other tube preamps? Your comparison is of the Suprateks to SS pres, but how do the Supratek compare to other tube amps on classical music? Pres like the Herron, Joule, Thor, Modwright, etc? How are the Suprateks for transparency and handling complex layers and scale of orchestral music, massed trebles at dynamic peaks, powerful operatic tenors?

Mahalo/thank you.

Hi gang,

I perused this lengthy thread for quite a while before deciding on the Supratek Chardonnay. It arrived yesterday, just one month after placing the order. I am quite pleased with not having to wait longer :-)

I got the black/Sheoak finish with gold knobs, home theatre bypass, remote and balanced output. It looks absolutely fantastic!

Unfortunately Mick forgot to include the user manual in the box. Can any Chardonnay owners please enlighten me on the inputs/outputs at the back? Is there a specific CD input, and which is the HT bypass input, for instance?

Thanks in advance for your help.