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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
stevem1960
75 posts
 
Hi People ...haven't posted here for a while. Just reporting that Mick Maloney visited my house a few days ago with Malbecs and Mondeuse monobloc amplifiers in hand, to try out on my Apogee Stage ribbon loudspeakers. Well, the amps sounded wonderful! Full of life and energy and the soundstage jumped right forward into your face compared to the ICE-250A digital amplifiers I was using. Midrange was solid and palpable, treble sweet and bass tight and strong.

The Malbec and Mondeuse amplifiers have lots of adjustability with switching from triode-pentode-ultralinear mode and variable feedback and damping factor to suit any loudspeaker. The Mondeuse seemed unburstable on the difficult to drive Apogees and easily took volume levels to 1.00 o'clock and beyond. Great sounding power amplifiers overall, in the same tradition as Mick's groundbreaking tube preamps.

More comments and pics here: http://cgim.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/vs.pl?vevol&1146370182&viewitem&o49

Regards,

Steve.
slowhand OP
605 posts
 
I received an e-mail from a fellow Supratek owner today. He is going to the RMAF. If any other Supratek owners are going, please let me know. It would be great if we could get together to meet each other in person.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
Cortese owners, what is the purpose of the HI/LO gain switches on either side of the 6SN7 tubes? Is this for cartridge matching?

The manual makes no mention of these switches other than a photo showing their positions.
powers
46 posts
 
Tvad,
Those toggles change the output gain. They are provided, as well as the gain contol dial on the rear to 'work with' the specific input sensitivity of your amplifier.
Try various positions and see which one you like best. My toggle is usually 'foward'.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
Thanks, Powers. I find the switches worke best toward the rear of the preamp, and I also have my selector knob on the lowest gain setting. My amps are VAC Standard 160 monoblocks, and are high gain them selves.

I love this Cortese. Simply amazing! My system completely snapped into place when this preamp was inserted.

I am working out a couple of input/output issues perhaps someone can address. First, how does the HT feature work?

Second, if I have a source connected to the AUX2 inputs, and I have the input selector knob turned all the way to the right, I get no signal except for some bleed-thru from the CD input. Anyone know why?

I have also emailed Mick.
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