2. amps-preamps
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Preamp Deal of the Century

If anyone is looking for a true "World Class" preamp at a very fair price..heed my advice. I just recieved a Supratek Syrah preamp that was hand built by Mick Maloney in Western Australia, and it is absolutely beautiful! This preamp is the best deal you will ever find. I would put it up against any preamp out there for both looks and sound. Price? $2500 for the Syrah (includes Killer Phono stage). Not into phono? Try the Chardonney line stage for $2100. Don't get me wrong, I am not associated with this company. I am just a very happy owner! This preamp is VERY dynamic, yet liquid. It conveys the sound of music better than any other preamp that I have ever heard! You can check out the Supratek website at www. cantech.net.au
slowhand
fiddler
581 posts
 
Congrats, Cello. I have been running 350B's in my Supratek for a long time and nothing else has the magic the 350B's do. Sure they are expensive, but as you say, they should outlast everything else by two or three times or more.
bwhite
807 posts
 
Cello - Thanks for the info. I've purchased many tubes from Brendan - including the Bendix I use now. I'll give the Mullard metal base GZ34 another try with the 350B's as soon as I can find one. Unfortunately, last time the metal base GZ34 didn't do it for me. I presume that some of these NOS tubes are actually NOS (believe it or not) and they need break-in just like everything else. The change to the Bendix over break-in was dramatic. Maybe my old GZ34 metal base was still trying to break in when I wrote it off. Hmmm....
ecclectique
509 posts
 
Hi Gang. Yeah, the WE 350b's are certainly "crazy money" for use as regulatory duty... however... nothing else even comes close in my rig. Hey Bryan...glad to hear you gave the bendix the run-in time it requires, it is imperative with most any new tube, and even more so with full wave restifiers. One more extremely important parameter regarding full wave rectifiers... is that each side of rectifier must test indentical to the other side { or no less than 2 or 3% of each other} and at least 95% of a new one. I consider the bendix 6106 as the best of the bunch in both the Syrah and the cortese in my rig with the gz34 coming a close second. Cheers Gang
bwhite
807 posts
 
Ecclectique - to break in the Bendix, I ran my Cortese power supply 24/7 for about a month without turning it off except to re-connect the Preamp for listening sessions.

At first the Bendix seemed almost out of phase and disorienting. I hated that tube. But.... once broken in its pretty amazing. I need to pick up a few more.

The only nit about the Bendix is how long it takes to heat up.
jay461
15 posts
 
I have just ordered the Chardonnay and was wondering if it requires a burn in period or would it be good straight of the bat.

Also in the earlier threads there is a lot of talk about the Ken Rad, Sylvania and Tung Sol VT-231 etc.
The more recent threads talk more of the GE 6SN7GTB

What do you guys recommend now.
Thanks,Jay
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