Preamp Deal of the Century

Harness, go here: www.supratek.biz

I would also be interested in hearing a Supratek pre-amp if anyone in the Philadelphia area has one. I have a Joule Electra LA-150 pre-amp I would be willing to bring for comparison.

Mike - yes. I have tried the Omega Mikro. The cord I have been speaking of is made by Moray James Cables. The new version is still breaking in on my system and so far, I like the old version better. The Omega Mikro (believe it or not) seemed a bit rolled off and "duller" than the Moray James. In other applicatons, the Omega Mikro is an awesome cord.

Swampwalker - I've never tried the CBS-Hytron 6L6GC but I have tried MANY 6L6 variants. There are some real winners out there which bring out a special quality when used in the Supratek. I have some pretty rare tubes which I use including the 350b, KT77, KT66, and EL37. While they all have their own magic, I find the KT66's easier to listen to because they are the most liquid of the bunch. Of course they introduces other problems including a slight loss of detail and natural sonics in favor of more midrange richness. But... like I said, they are the extremely involving in this application. If you listen to this tube - notice the super-silky smoothness of vocals. The KT66's seem to gel the best with Mulard GZ rectifier tubes.

The 350B's are most likely the BEST tube overall in terms of power & realisim. But I find them less involving than the KT66. With the 350B's I like the Bendix 6106 rectifier as well as the MO-Valve U54 -- I cannot decide which I prefer.

Your choice in regulator/rectifier depends upon whether or not you wish to be "sucked in" or "blown away". In my system, the KT66's suck you in and the 350B's blow you away.
Two totally different states of mind as far as listening goes and which is truly better depends on you.

Harness - The Supratek preamps can be wired with balanced outputs. But the preamp is a SET and it is not possible to have it balanced from input to output. The only balanced (input to output) tube preamp I know of is BAT. Fully balanced requires a push-pull configuration which requires closely matched tubes.