Preamp Deal of the Century

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.

Interesting comment regarding the microphony of the Cortese. My Cortese was, by far, the most microphonic preamp I have ever owned. I now own an Aesthetix Janus, which is an all around better preamp.

Bwhite,
Nice to talk to you as well. Are you still using a Supratek preamp? I thought that you bought the Aesthetix separates. Hope all is well in your new home (NC?) Bob

Curriemt - Microphonics are relative. If you have microphonic tubes there is no helping the situation other than to replace the tubes. I'd suspect that was the problem with your Cortese. The Cortese is solid.

But...

Because of it's point to point, solid core wiring and relatively thin chassis, I could see how the Cortese might be considered more microphonic because those elements can exacerbate microphonic tubes when compared to something with a PC board like your Janus - or others.

Without getting too in-depth - I might say, the Janus, Rhea and Calypso have their own set of issues to keep owners and dealers quite busy. So much so that my dealer stopped carrying them.