Preamp Deal of the Century

Bwhite, I'm sure the Cortese won't let you down. It will get much better as it breaks in but it will take hours to warm up. When it is fully broken in it sounds so relax and liquid. I couldn't be happier with my Cortese. It is so musical that I can listen for the whole day without any fatique. I'm using the Ken Rad VT231 and I like it better than the Tung Sol 6SN7. The bass of the Ken Rad sounds fuller and with better slam. The Tung Sol round plate sounds clearer in the high but the bass is a bit lean.

Give the Cortese some time to break it and it will give a big smile on your face!

Steven

Hi Bwhite

I read your post and my first reaction was a smile which is to say, I suspected as much. My guess is that the Syrah is such a complete product that anything bettering it would be to matters of degree, nothing that would overwhelm its performance. While I haven’t heard everything out there, you sure can hear when a product has the fundamental rightness of this design, kudos to Mick and his most astute hearing acuity and design capabilities.

You may have set yourself up in expecting that at twice the cost there should be a proportional improvement correlating to the difference? Of course the laws of diminishing returns rears its head and tells us that while there are always improvements that can be made to any design, the cost of doing so is proportionately higher than the improvement realized. My guess is that the Cortese is a big enough improvement for Mick to justify spending the time and charging the difference to justify its cost and reason to exist with the Syrah but at the same time the Syrah is so fundamentally right that maybe we would expect it to be superceded to a higher degree than is possible looking at the 2X difference in price?

I think over time you will come to realize the differences between the 2 pieces but the question is, will you be able to justify the price difference to others that will look to your opinion in whether it is worth it or not? Just my two cents that I’m adding because of my previous experiences in your letdown. Just give it time, you may arrive at a different conclusion as you live with the Cortese and come to recognize something subtle that it does that escapes the Syrah but which you come to realize is worth the price of admission. I for one am waiting for this to develop as you have been a most articulate and compelling spokesman for Supratek products.

Georgia, Of all the tubes I've tried (all on your list and then some) I find the Ken Rad Black Glass VT-231 to be my favorite. The Ken Rad Black Glass without the VT-231 marking is too dark for my system with Chardonnay and the Navy's were too bright.

The thing I really like about the Ken Rads is the midrange I can feel in/on my chest during vocals, strings, horns etc. Some people may not like that. The Sylvania 6SN7W Metal Base is a great tube - sounds really good but once you hear that tube, it will be difficult to find good things about other Sylvaina 6SN7 tubes because they are so different and the Metal is so good. The Metals have fair midrange texture and weight but tends to sound somewhat in-organic to me.

Yes - the Tung Sol rounds are very nice sounding, very liquid, and a touch of sweetness - However, I found them to sound too shallow compared to the Ken Rads on my Chardonnay. I lost the midrange texture and weight I like.

Hope this was useful.

Smokeyclr, I am sure the Cortese will open up over the next few weeks. I don't know what to expect with it. The Chardonnay seemed to sound great out of the Box and then all the sudden one day, it sounded better. I do not recall a long drawn out break-in process. From the 'tightness' I hear on the Cortese, I think it may be a wilder ride. Its already sounding better than last night but I don't have a my friends Syrah set up today to compare.

Tubegrover - very true. The Syrah is a fine piece of gear and what got me leaning toward a Cortese was my relevation with the Aesthetix IO.

I purchased an Aesthetix IO and compared it to the Syrah phono section and was devistated. The Aesthetix (stock) was significantly better than the Syrah. No doubts. So I purchased a Placette volume control and tried to use the Aesthetix without the Syrah line stage. To my surprise, I found the Placette to be dead, lifeless and quite frankly miserable sounding. Between you and me, I seriously do not understand what the folks who use these think they're doing. I even emailed Placette to find out if it was broken. Horrible! Running the Aesthetix IO into the Syrah line stage was a massive improvement over having the Placette anywhere near my system. This tells me that in the context of Syrah vs. IO, the Syrah's line stage is the strong point.

But... then I connected the Aesthetix IO direct to my amp. At 80db output things were a little too loud but what I heard was absolutely stunning. It made the Syrah sound like garbage (sorry but it did). The clarity, dynamics and everything improved massively. Some people talk about a veil being lifted but this was like I finally sat down in the same room the music was playing in - veil was lifted? No, more like a brick wall was lifted.

I told Mick this and he said, you need a Cortese for phono. He suggested he had new tubes which would put the IO in its grave.

So I purchased a Cortese. We'll see. I haven't made similar comparisons yet but will eventually.