Preamp Deal of the Century

Asa, after reading your post three times I'm still not sure what your point is.

Grannyring, trust Bwhite and many others who have rolled numerous tubes through the Supratek, the WE 350b's are excellent, along with the Mullard rectifier and the 6SN7's that were previously recommended. That is not to say that some other tubes aren't good, but none are "superior" to any of the "class-A" tubes, IMHO.

Considering your associated gear and experience, I simply don't see any need for you to listen to inferior tubes as has been suggested here just for some ethereal learning excerise.

And concerning the reliability of the Supratek, I can speak from first-hand experience. My Supratek arrived with a problem not directly attributed to Mick. However, he had me send it back to him at his expense, he repaired it in one day and immmediately sent it back to me at no charge. It doesn't get any better than that. And it has been perfect ever since.

I have talked to Mick and the only area of change in the Syrah is the phono section. I only use the linestage and he told me that it has remained pretty much the same. Your right about the unit making noise as I have moved the power supply all around and still get a hum through my speakers. The only way I could stop it is by using cheater plugs on my monoblock amps and the pre!

Nothing else seems to work. I will be trying some NOS tubes and I will see what that does.

Another interesting note on my used Syrah. Mine has what looks to be the same three tube power supply as put on the Cortese. I assume this is an upgrade over the stock one tube power supply? I have not heard of another one like it.

Grannyring

Is there anyone in Chicago with a Supratek preamp or amp? I would love to hear one!

Are the Supratek amps just as good as the preamps?

Stevem1960, I noticed that you have a Cabernet line stage. My questions are: (1) Is this the latest generation Cabernet; I understand there may have been a design change in the Grange/Cabernet since its introduction, (2) did you you have any experience with Supratek prior to acquiring the Grange and, most importantly, (3) can you enlighten us about its comparative performance with respect to any other line stages including Supratek models.