Preamp Deal of the Century

After watching this thread closely for a long time, it's time for me jump in. I have been proud owner of a newer model Cortese for about 3 months. The Cortese replaced a SF Line 3SE without blinking an eye. My unit has the latest phono stage Mick introduced in 9/04. I listened to the stock tubes for about 200 hours before I started rolling some NOS tubes. I replaced the power supply tubes with a Mullard 5ar4 & Tungsol 5881's. The Line stage received a pair of black bottom RCA 6sn7's, the phone stage a pair of Tele CCa's. I didn't replace the Phillips E180f's or the Sylvania 12b4a's that are stock with the unit. When I replaced the tubes, there was an imediate improvement as I suspected there would be. These tubes were extremely transparent, very detailed, nice spacing between the instruments which made a more defined soundstage, but after about 300 hours of listening I felt the bass was too thin for me to be extremely happy with the tubes. I decided to play around with some other 6sn7's. I replaced the RCA's with a pair of Sylvania 6sn7's and these had most of the characteristics of the RCA's, bass slam was better detailed, but the music felt too forward in it's presentation. The next pair I tried was Tungsol's 6sn7's & bingo! The Tungsol's are open, detailed, natural, and the bass is strong, punchy, and tight.

Thanks to everyone on the thread for helping out so much.

My concern about Supratek...

After having red all this thread, I am convinced that the Supratek preamps (I'm interested in the Cabernet) 1) look great 2) sound great. My concern in the following : I have a $$$ directly coupled SS amp and $$$ speakers. I don't want to damage them in any way ! Usually, tube preamps are not good with amps without caps because they can have a continuous component that would destroy the speakers. As I understand, Supratek preamps have output transformers and, therefore, are 100% safe from the point of view of a DC component. But what about a tube failure or any other problem ? I like the tube sound but I'm a bit scared... Any input on this ? Do you think it is as safe and as reliable a good SS preamp ?

Thanks and best regards.

Thanks Joe and Wc65mustang,
Yeah it's probably time for me to start emailing Mick, but the constant glowing reports about the phono stage keep me wondering if I can still use my MMF 7 with it. The turntable comes mounted with a high-output MC Golding Eroica that is picked to match the Music Hall. My return to vinyl has been within the last year, and it's been wonderful. I can't upgrade my turntable/cartridge and get a Supratek. Does anybody have an idea if my turntable with be a decent match with the Chenin or Cortese?

On another note Joe, have you heard Zingali speakers? My local dealer is a major AN supporter. Peter has visited several times and usually stays at his house when he does. Nice guy Peter. My dealer has the Quest Silver Sigs and is currently getting upgrades from Peter at the CES. He's sold a lot of AN stuff, especially amps and DACs, but he carries the entire AN line. He has several pairs of AN speakers, and I've heard them. But I can't remember which models. The Zingali speakers, however, are the star attraction and hooked up to Quest Silvers. If you want to talk about beautiful, the Zingalis are absolutely gorgeous. And the AN-Zingali match is truly magical. The Zingali website is Zingali.it, I think. If not, I'll check and let you know. The importer is Fanfare.com.

Now about your Syrtese?

Thanks again, and let me know what you think about the Zingali's. Are you at all close to the Sacto area Joe?

Bill

Bill, Don't take this the wrong way and there is no malevolence intended here but the MMF-7 and Eroica are hardly worth all of the effort you are expending here vis a vis the preamp project. This is a very average tonearm with a very average cartridge. You will never realize the full sonic benefits of a good phonostage/linestage or a good preamplifer (with phonostage)with them. Now if you intend to upgrade to a better turntable/tonearm/cartridge in the near future, then I would say go ahead with your Supratek quest. Again, this is my take on the issue. I owned an MMF-7 a few years back and for the money it's tough to beat but in the context of the other equipment you're considering, it's out of place.
I hope there are no hard feelings.

Aurel: FWIW, the Cabernet that I have appears to be capacitor coupled on the output stage instead of transformer coupled like the cortese/chenin. There are at least 2 large capacitors in it. Have to be careful when turning it off because of the caps discharge. Turn off the power amp first, but this is recommended for all high-end gear anyway. No one that I am aware of has had their gear damaged by their supratek preamps. My Cabernet has been powered on continuosly (24/7)for 6 weeks with nothing more that an occaisonal (couple times a day) low-level tic or pop from a tube, which is normal in tube gear. I doubt a Supratek preamp would pose a threat to your existing equipment...but you do seem rather risk averse. Might want to email Mick about your concerns.