Preamp Deal of the Century

I ordered mine towards the end of March, but I cancelled my supposedly remote control option which I think made a difference.
I am actually in Seattle, WA but if I am in the Washington DC area your welcome to come by. Hang in there, it's really what Bhite and others say it is, simply stunning in everyway.

Mmmmmm.....I ordered mine 3/26 (Syrah)with the only change being 1 set of xlr outs (even though it's not balanced) Maybe that means I am getting close. I haven't emailed Mick since 6/3. Course, Seattle is closer to AUS than DC is so mines probably in the mail. Well, at least it gives me time to break in my new Mephisto so I'm not breaking in 2 components at the same time. I'll probably have a trace of regret when I finally get it because I'm going to miss looking forward to getting it. If that makes any sense.

Aloha All,

Mick sent me an email last week saying my Chardonnay was completed and running in, but he was waiting on the chrome cans from the platers. He said it would only take five minutes to fit them when they come in.

I am a little peeved that Rmml received his unit before me when I ordered mine well over a month earlier. Life's a beach.

I will post an update when I have one.

Aloha,

Warren

Hey! I've been on vacation from audio for a while since I am in the process of losing my job. I've been focusing on finding another job instead of spending time here - sorry.

Its fantastic to return to the boards and learn that many of you will be receiving your preamps soon! I certainly hope you love 'em!

Asa - Mine is still sounding great however its a pain in the butt to find good NOS tubes. The KenRad Black Glass VT-231's are great and so are the similar (but NOT the same sounding) Black Glass 6SN7GT's. Unfortunately they tend to be noisy - and the Supratek is very sensitive to bad tubes.

Also - the power supply is quite sensitive to where it is placed. There is an audible difference between placing the power supply on various surfaces. I get the best sound from mine with all the feet removed and placing the unit on a MDF shelf. Too hard of a surface doesn't seem to sound too good and too soft is lousy! Black Diamond #3 cones are too soft for the power supply but work well on the preamp itself. I was hoping to get #4 cones to test out but... my company took a nose dive.

Additional improvements came from adding dampening material (Dynamat) inside the preamp on the chassis and on the inside of the bottom plate. This helps reduce microphonics and vibrations in the preamp.

Also a little mass increased the performance of my preamp. I filled double plastic bags with some "special" sand and placed them inside the two domes in the back. These domes used to contain transformers but now only contain AIR... They are only for looks. The sand actually decreased the vibration sensitivity even further and made the preamp sound a bit better.

Gentlemen, I can give you some information on what you may expect if you ever have to send your Supratek preamp back to Mick for repair. (See Ozzy's post of 7-10-02). I recently purchased a used Syrah that produced a hum in my system. I corresponded with Mick. After discussion he offered to update the preamp (which was an old model) to current specs for only the cost of shipping!! We ended up adding a few more things to it (jacks, impedance selector) for a very modest cost. It also came back all polished up. And (I hate to tell you this) he bumped me up to the front of the line since I needed service. The bottom line is Mick believes it is very important to give first class service after the sale. Service to current customers gets priority over new orders.
BTW, after only a brief listening so far, this thing might actually be as good as the hype!