Preamp Deal of the Century

For those of you experiencing noisey tubes, you might want to try Hal-O tube dampers. I read about them in the Tube Asylum and ordered them for all of my Chardonnay tubes (they are cheap), as well as my DAC tubes.

They made a tremendous difference. The clarity took a big leap forward, the weight of the music increased (the strings especially have more body), imaging is more specific (massed strings) and the background is much, much blacker.

The best money I have spent in a long time. This is a very audible tweak. It seems that my system lost a little air, but after listening, things sound more real with much more detail. I much prefer this sound by far. I think the air was simply high-freq hash disquised as air.

Not affiliated in anyway with these Hal-O things, just a "shocked" and very happy owner.

twl, you have me drooling too!! Yea, the Berning is a keeper. A custom Supratek in front of it makes my knees go weak. Not much experience here with the 45 tube; so scarce and expensive try to keep myself from going places where my wallet might begin to scream these days. I'm with the WE300B and like it, but the choked amp, custom tweeked has me berry, berry envious!!

Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm.

I really like this thread, because everyone here seems to be really enjoying themselves, and their systems. I would love to see more of this on other threads around the forum. You guys are doing what it is all about, and I feel alot more comfortable over here than on the other pages. Hope you don't mind me sharing a little of the joy that you all are experiencing. I'd really love to hear one of these Syrah preamps, but listening to you owners is the next best thing. Maybe it will be for me, in 2003.

Hey Twl, If you're ever in the Asheville, NC, area, you're more than welcome to come over to my house and listen. Heck, if you're willing, I'll even let you do some tweaks to my turntable :-).

You're right. On top of landing an unbelievable pre, I've really enjoyed the good will and helpfulness on display in this thread. Great stuff.

Thanks for the tip on the dampers, Fiddler.

Walter, thank you. I don't live too far from the Asheville NC area, so that may be a possibility. I would enjoy that. I doubt your turntable needs any tweaking, but I am flattered that you would consider me for that task. I really would like to hear that Syrah with your analog front end. Perhaps one day soon, when my car is out of the repair shop, I could contact you.