Preamp Deal of the Century

Hi John. Firstly, congrats on your new addition: amazing eh. Amandarae...a very good description regarding the duty of the rectifier and regulation. John, are you experiencing this image wander artifact with the phono stage only.... or is it noticeable with cd playback as well? The supratek preamps exhibit the most focused and stable imaging out there, and to this day the best yours truly has ever heard in that regard. I would hazard to guess this image wandering to be a tube related issue as opposed to speaker placement. The rectifier being the usual suspect here and the common denominator. It would be a good idea to test your rectifier,making sure it test's strong and matched on both sides.... a weak or an unbalanced rectifier will surely exhibit some image shift or wander. For example: the sovtek 5ar4's are notorius for image shift and wander in many high rez tube circuits. I wasn't aware that Mick is now supplying nos Mullard rectifiers as a stock tube with his preamps, kudos to Mick. The nos Mullard 5ar4/gz34 will traditionally last for many many years however, being that they are a full wave rectifier... I have seen more than a few with unbalanced halves. Further more: mismatched regultors can also exhibit this artifact.

Thanks for the suggestion on the Sovtek KT66. This being my first tube preamp, I swore I wasn't going to get entangled in Tube rolling.
I've had the Chenin for a week and I just ordered a pair of the Sovteks. This preamp is making me unreasonable, it sounds magnificant, yet I want MORE!

Ecclectique, thanks for your VERY helpful analysis.

And for the helpful vocabulary: "image wandering"...that's exactly what it is! The pianist strikes the note and you hear it left center, but then it spreads out, sometimes to the left and right, sometimes just to the right. Similarly with sax or coronet. When this happens with most of the instruments in the music, the soundstage is reverberating within itself. (There does seem to be more focus with high impact, high frequency sounds like snare drum and high hat.)

Not surprisingly, this quality is less a negative with orchestral work...probably because it simulates some of the reverberation in a concert hall. But for jazz it is crazy-making.

My rectifier (stock) is Sovtek 5AR4. It says "Made in Russia" and "04 04" on it, the latter being the production date I suppose. Looks like it's "Bye bye Sovtek!"

So I've read your glowing endorsement for the Philips Miniwatt GZ34, Made in Holland, 1957 as the best. At $350 it should be. Does one really need to spend that kind of $$ to make the Chenin sing? Are any of the $100 NOS up to the task? Where would you say the point of diminishing returns is?

I'm ready to take the next step.

Thx, John

PS - Oh, in answer to your question. The image wandering is for both CD and phono, but it is more pronounced with phono (maybe cause the sound is going though more tubes?).

i'm using a bendix 6106 in the rectifier position and have never noticed any type of image shift in my chardonnay. i also use eh 6SN7 and sovtek KT66 tubes. i think there are still several bendix 6106 at tubedepot.com for $30 per tube. it's definitely worth a try in my opinion.

I was wondering if I could hear from people who have replaced a TVC linestage with a Supratek and experienced a large increase in dynamics and any other positive effects?

I've been very happy with my TVC but have noted that my system does lack SOTA dynamics. Just not quite there. So, I am looking into active linestages once again and the Supratek gear is high on my list.

Thanks!