Preamp Deal of the Century

North of the equator we call it Shiraz.... speaking of THE Syrah, I listened to mine for two days - as others noted it sounded awesome straight out of the box. Better base and highs and generally more musical than the ARC LS8II which it replaced. Set up was very easy, I plugged the rectifier tube into the power supply, connected the power line from the power supply to the preamp and was ready to go.

Unfortunately, we are getting a heat wave here in the southwest...so I'm hesitant to run my tubes amps and preamp in this heat (no AC). Guess I'll have to enjoy its good looks until the hot spell ends.

Tubegroover, shiraz/syrah are the two names for the same grape. Thought to be of Persian origin, it is the most common grape in wines from the Rhone (both generic Cotes du Rhone and Northern Rhone wines such as Hermitage, St. Joseph, etc). It is also used blended with grenache in Chateauneuf-du-Pape. It is probably the most common grape grown for red wine in Australia. It is also grown in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

From what I know, "shiraz" is the name SOUTH of the equator and 'syrah' is the name used in the U.S. and France - pronounced as Asa suggests.

I have been curious - and Mick, if you're still keeping track of this post, perhaps you'd like to chime in? :^) - as to why Mick chose the non-Aussie version of the name. And is there a tube DAC called the 'Mataro' somewhere on the horizon?

Outlier, I think the original store price in Australia was around A$350-400/btl (which came to about US$220+/btl) but in the 2-3mos since release, it has risen to A$500-600/btl from what I can tell. If you can still find it at $220, now's the time. It probably won't get cheaper. FWIW, the 1996 is also a great wine [I dipped into my stash too early :-(] and is probably 40% cheaper. The relatively little-known Penfolds wine called RWT (similar red-on-gray label to Grange) is a similar wine, is probably half the price (and maybe 1/3 in a year like 1998) and in terms of bang-fer-yer--buck category, I'd expect it does really well for 1998.

All of which brings me to agree with Asa's point - 'another outlandish decadent hobby'!

Hi T_bone - In terms of buying The Grange, I recommend checking out winecommune.com. It's essentially the Audiogon of wine. Pretty amazing site - you can buy just about anything. Prices can be pretty good as well. The '98 Grange can still be had for about $220 on the site. Also, if you can find it, Costco has had it for $159. If you're shopping for other Aussie wine, I recommend checking out Clarendon Hills (their '01 Astralis is 100 points by Parker, and the lower end siblings are stunning for the price - each and every one of them - the best Aussie wines I've had). Cheers, and happy listening!

Hi Outlier, I completely agree on the Clarendon Hills wines. I cannot recommend them highly enough (if you like grenache). I tried and liked them enough to buy a case+ each of the '01 Clarendon Hills Kangarilla, Clarendon, and Blewitt Springs single vineyard grenaches and cellar them. I also like the Liandra shiraz and can find it from time to time here in Tokyo. I have not had a chance yet to drink either the Piggot Range or the Astralis but I hope to.

Thanks for the reminder about winecommune.com. I live in Tokyo so shipping would be a problem but it IS a useful resource. I also like WineBid (something I think I learned about from fellow Agoner Twl in another thread) and Wine-Searcher.

Friday night and I'm about to open a bottle of '99 Torbreck Steading. Yum! Clink! :^)

Thanks alot guys, you've just provided me with a few more venues to vent my Epicurean nueroses, which, of course, makes you both enablers!! :0)

I'm lost in the '00 Bordeauxs right now, like a needle skipping in a groove (Help!). The Gruaud Larose is very fine...

Oh BTW Outlier, at $159 I'm speed dialing Costco's at lunch...So, much for that new amp, wire....