Preamp Deal of the Century

Hi Guys,

Just to change tack on the tube rolling subject which is discussed ad-infinitum on this forum, I'm curious to know what speakers you guys use with your Supratek preamps and amps??

You may recall that I live in Western Australia and have known Mick Maloney of Supratek, since its inception some ten years ago. And, I have heard or owned all the Supratek models from Syrah-to-Cortese-to-Cabernet-to-the Merlot monobloc amps.

You don't know how good Mick's preamps and amps are until you put them through their paces on some hi-rez speakers! I'm talking about things like Quad Electrostatics; Martin Logan's; Proacs; Yamaha NS1000's (with the highly detailed beryllium drivers); the ER Audio ESL-3 (superfast 3.4 micron thin-filmed electrostats see: www.eraudio.com.au ); Jamo Concert 8's with Seas Excel magnesium drivers and silver voice coils; various Accuton ceramic/Raven ribbon speaker arrays; Apogee ribbons and also the Edgar Horns. All of which - I have owned and tried at some stage in my audio quest, with the Supratek products.

When you get speakers of the type mentioned above, you realize how good the Supratek products really are! The fine detail and nuance; inflection and expression of music presented by Mick's creations don't really show through until you get a really GOOD SPEAKER. So my tip to you guys is stop mucking around with tube rolling, be assured you have one of the best preamps on the planet with Supratek - and look to improve other parts of your system (speakers being the most critical component and a good start).

All in my humble opinion of course...

Regards,

Steve M.

Stevem1960,
I remember having in the past small ProAc speaker and remember having incredibly alive sound. What ProAc speaker did you have and what power amp was used ?
I have Chenin+Clayton M100.

I am wondering how much better the preamps get when moving up the Supratek line. I have enjoyed the Chenin for almost a year (with Apogee Scintillas Steven1960) but I wonder how much better the higher priced versions are in performance. The Chenin is the best preamp that I have ever owned and works great with the H2O digital amps that I use. I read a while ago that Bwhite didn't think the Cortese was that much of a difference from his Syrah. How about jumping to the Cabernet line stage? I would like to hear the reaction of those who have climbed the Supratek ladder.

Stevem1960 - while I appreciate your comments about the importance of speakers, I must comment that most people on this site (& Supratek owners in general) already have great speakers and are sophisticated enough to understand their importance.

While there is some merit to your suggestion, please note that simply dropping in a new (Stevem1960 approved) pair of speakers will not "solve" anything. In MY humble opinion, adding new speakers (or any new/different component for that matter) to a system will only reinforce the need for additional tuning.

There are many factors which come into play when building a system. Trying to create a synergy between components, cables, speakers, room and living situation (limited space-too much space, etc.) can be difficult.

This is why tube rolling is a very effective means of obtaining a more desirable sonic signature. It is much easier to buy & audition various tubes than it is to do the same with speakers.

Of course, cables make a significant change too... but even the most rare & expensive tubes are bargain priced compared to some of the cable offerings.

Baranyi - nice to hear from you. I hope all is well. In my opinion, there IS an improvement when going up the Supratek line however it is not as significant as I had expected. The Supratek products I've used tend to have a very similar family sound and therefore the gains are mostly in refinement.

In my experience, the Cortese (for example) is ABSOLUTELY NOT microphonic, has a lower noise floor and a certain precision which the Syrah lacked. I think the bass was slightly better and the phono somewhat quieter.