Preamp Deal of the Century

Kgturner, have you tried with the KT88s? Do you get the buzzing with KT88 also?

yes, the KT88 tubes buzzed as well. i don't think it's my cheap interconnects as the tweeter continues to buzz even when the cables are unplugged.

I finaly took a look under the hood of my Chardonnay.I decided to change the feet for some Bright Star Isonodes, so first I open up the power supply, did some damping and Deoxit spray the power switch, made it feel much better, not as dry and cheap.
Then on to the preamp, as I opened it I was pleased to see two huge Auricaps looking at me. Everything looks nicely soldered with silver solder.
I bypassed the HT switch, which I don't plan on ever using. I did make it easily reversable incase the next owner needs it however.
Everything looks good, all quality parts, nicely laid out.
However there was one surprise that I am not sure how I feel about, those big silver domes were empty.
Now I do not remember reading anywhere that said they had something inside, but I figured they were transformer housing of some sort. So I was really surprised to see that they are just two empty cans, I guess for cosmetics.

Thats the only conclusion I could come to, or maybe they are tuned to some special frequency, as they do ring when you tap them.
Are the ones on the higher models empty too?
Just curious.

Hello Kgturner,

Thanks very much for the first impressions of the Malbecs. Man I wish I lived closer to you and I would bring the Berning down for a head to head comparison. Many of the improvements that you pointed out are the same as I heard from the use of the Silent Running Audio iso base when it is under the Berning or when it is under the Cortese. I heard more impact to the music, more space between instruments, small things that were previously hidden now clearly in their own space. This is very interesting. I have ordered the iso bases for the Cortese and it's power supply. I will post my findings when I get them.

Please keep us posted on your progress.

Does the buzzing come from both speakers?

slowhand:

yes the buzzing comes from both speakers. it may possible be i'm hearing the noise floor of the amp, but i'm not really sure. i've been emailing kevin covi back and forth as he and i are at a loss for the reason for the buzz. like i said, it might just be due to the 99 dB efficiency of my speakers.