Preamp Deal of the Century

Zachzib: That was quite a reply you gave ! Let me deal with your points, one by one. First, in general, from the overall tone of your response, I may have hit a sensitive chord with you about your own equipment. To get to specifics, no, I do not consider those owners who have spoken on this thread to be a bunch of "mid fi hacks". These are your words, not mine. In fact, I very much respect most of these Audiogoners' opinions. The only ones I do not respect are the wise crackers with nothing constructive to say. My "conscious/unconscious" reference is sincerely not designed to stoke the fire of contemptibility---another facsimile word of yours. At one time or another, all of us have not been fully conscious of certain goings on in our eveyday experiences. That's not necessarily a sin. I've been with people who have made me aware of things I hadn't noticed before, and so have you....As to the matter of glare, have you ever heard a sound that causes you to wince, and on repeated hearing may cause you to anticipate it with tenseness ? Though somewhat different and more painful, it's like having the dentist hit a nerve while drilling your teeth. Some components produce sounds that "hit the nerve", and with the kind of frequency that makes the listening experience more of a nervous than enjoyable one....The problem I hear is pretty much in the upper midrange. It's as if somewhat of a hump or overemphasis resides there. It's not a totally overbearing one, but a significant one nonetheless. I hear it on various record labels, and especially with horns and high strings in unison. With my previous preamp, this was not a factor, nor was the upper midrange deadened.....You asked if I have tried other equipment. Yes, and I intend to try more. I certainly have not thrown in the towel. As I said several times before, I consider the Cortese to be a superb sounding unit, the present issue notwithstanding......It seems to me that it is with the Divas that I hit the most sensitive nerve. You as much admit to this in your response. Zachzd, They were, and,I believe, still are, the finest speakers I have ever had the pleasure of owning, and I've owned quite a few (Kefs, Acoustats, Nestorovics, Martin Logans, to name some). My jaw remained dropped on the floor for so long that it became sore. Like you, I tried everything with them in an effort to deal with that upper midrange bump. Alas, I was unable to. But, I'm curious as to how they now sound to you. If you've got the sound to where you enjoy it, and I hope you do, I greatly envy you. Oh brother ! That sense of huge stage, the power, the marvelous low level underpinning---absolutely stupendous !.....As to my having "a sense of pride in finding flaws where no one else has before" (again, your words), that is not my intent, and could not be further from the truth. Man to man, imagine the kind of frustration you already alluded to with your Apogees. How do you think I feel with my situation ? Any different from you ? Yet, you seem to find my feelings in my situation to be unacceptable. Haven't you and I been experiencing essentially the same kind of frustration ?.....With regard to your next point, I never intended to imply that my homemade absorbtion panels were on the same level as those produced by professionals. They just work fine for me. And the assertion that I think I have "golden ears while everyone else has lead ears" is yours, not mine.....As to tube isolation---yes, you have a good point. I will try Herbie's......And, when you say that neither Maril555 nor I will "fix" our problems by throwing one set of tubes after another, you are probably right; but, at least, I have to learn that on my own.....Other comments from you: 'be sure to blame the preamp" and "You picks your poison." I won't respond to those bitter, misplaced statements. Rather, my wish is for you to return to your Apogee sound system in the honest hope that you thoroughly enjoy it. If you have something positive to tell me about those Apogees, I'd love to hear it. Take care for now, and I wish you the best of luck.

Hi, Brad here of Revelation Audio Labs, Inc. I want to express my most sincere and heart felt appologies to everyone who has ordered the Supratek umbilical cable and has endured a long wait. I am pleased to inform you of the good news that your wait is now very soon over. We were awaiting a back ordered component, which we have now received. Previously this component has always been readily available from our supplier, so the initial shipment commitments to our umbilical customers were based on expectation of past delivery performance by our supplier. The subsequent updated shipment commitments we made were always based on the best and latest shipment information updates from our supplier. Apparently their manufacturer was short a component for the part, so it was challenging even for them to provide an acurate projection.

Anyone who is considering ordering the umbilical for their Supratek may proceed with confidence, knowing this unforeseen delay has been overcome. Thank you very much for your understanding and patience.

Zachzdb,
I don't even want to make it a personal issue with you and your unbalanced post, I don't really care.
But I really think this discussion is helpful to all of us Supratek owners.
I think I could have not responded better, than Opus88 did.
The listening experience he's describing, reflects mine exactly- it made me first choose albums I wanted to listen to very carefully, and I found myself avoiding certain ones- as an example: Norah Johnes (the second one), Jethro Tull "Christhmas Album", many Beatles albums, all Rolling Stones SACDs, etc.
As Opus88 said, the problem is in slight elevation in the upper midrange (I think 1500-2000 Hz), it sounds almost like a resonant frequency of sort.
Am I imagining it?- hell no. It did make me wince, and turn the music off.
I'm sure room acoustics, vibration control and system synergy do play a role.
But here is my problem- I have no doubt, that Supratek emphasized all these potential problems, lying somewhere else in the system dormant, until it's introduction.
That pretty much reflects Opus88 experience as well- HE DID NOT HAVE GLARE IN HIS SYSTEM UNTIL HE BROUGHT SUPRATEK IN !!! I think that much is clear from his initial post.
Is that a Supratek "fault", I don't know, is this a culprit- most likely, which brings me back to a point I'm trying to make.
If one of the system components requires changing the whole system, cabling, supporting components, room acoustics and one's listening habits- You guessed it, something is inherently wrong.
Do I think all Supratek owners know nothing about organic sound?- NO, I DON'T.
At the same time I'm sure not going to discard my own listening experience as invalid- it is my experience, whether someone likes it or not.
My system at the time:
Modwright Signature Platinum Denon 3910- tube output stage
Supratek Chenin
BAT-75 SE
VonSchweikert VR-4JR.
As you can see not a single SS component.
I did use Herbie's on tubes and Herbie's tenderfeet under Supratek.
DIY 2" thick Maple shelves and brass rods rack, sitting on
Audiopoints.
DIY room treatments.
One comment about NuForce pre- it was introduced after I redesigned my listening room, and yes, there is no glare.
I did try Chenin with EAR-power amp (EL-34)
Butler (Hybrid design).
The glare problem was most pronounced with BAT (it does have higher resolution, than the above two amps).
For all happy Supratek owners- do not let that spoil your enjoyment, Supratek is highly musical, dynamic and exciting component.
One more comment- if you want to hear about somebody elses opinion on Supratek, please see A-gon section "Members systems", called "Almost live" in "All out assault" subsection. I think David can qualify as "non-mid-fi-hack"

Brad-
Thanks for posting here and giving everyone an update on the situation.

Maril555-
Well said! No one should discount another's impressions of what they are hearing in their systems. If you are hearing the glare - at the end of the day all that matters is that you hear it and it is not pleasing to you. That said, I must say that I have not heard glare in my system. I for one think that the Supratek preamps are very revealing of even the slightest issues in source components or system synergy, and will send downstream everything it hears. For example: my turntable and cartridge combination allow for and reveal minute changes in VTA with respect to the presentation of the music. Even the most tiny adjustments are passed by the Supratek to the amps and speakers and are very easy to hear.

Each of us should learn from the others's experiences, rather than find fault with them. Just because your experience with a product does not match mine does not make it any less valid...

Thank you Joe,
A voice of wisdom at last.