Preamp Deal of the Century

BE VERY CAREFUL WITH NON-STOCK umbilicals for Supratek preamps! One wrong connection by the cable maunfacturer and POOF!! its the end of your preamp. There are specific voltages being fed from each pin the power supply to the preamp section - get it wrong and you risk damage. At the very least you should send the stock umbilical to the cable guy so that he can circuit-test and make the cable exactly to the original.

Mick uses silver coated copper wire in the umbilicals, the same as found inside the preamps. I would have thought this would have been a good synergistic match, so why interfere? Just my 2 cents worth...

Regards,

Steve.

I agree Stevem1960,

I think messing with the umbilical cord is just asking for trouble. If these preamps are as good as we all think they are, why do we feel we have to find ways to improve them.

Actually - having gone down that road, only to have the RAL umbilical NOT work, I think you are both right. I don't roll the tubes in my Supratek - trusting Mick's choices as the right ones. I should have done the same with the umbilical.

That said - I have found improvement by removing the little hard rubber feet from both the PS and head unit, and replacing them with Walker Audio Valid Points and Discs...

I have the RAL umbilical chord. I was curious if it would make my Supratek sound better. I inquired on this thread before I bought it as there were a couple favorable comments. I figured for $250 its not a big deal, but in the end I preferred Micks umbilical.

Not to say the RAL was all bad. In my second system (Bryston ) which is hyper detailed and tends on the bright side the RAL actually tamed things and made it sound more natural. However in my main system where I have a very natural and airy sound already, Mick’s was more in line with the sonics and only enhanced the experience/quality. But I suppose it could have gone either way. I’m sure the auxilleries you have will play a vital role as to whether anyone will enjoy this chord better then Mick’s. That said I agree with the cautionary note. I would think a DIY project would not be in order. The RAL stuff is pretty decent build and I now have no doubt it works, but the customer service leaves something to be desired.

In a email with Mick he made it clear to me that he prefers folks use his umbilical chord as it is an integral part of the design, Certainly not just an after thought. So in the end I would recommend folks not mess around with this unless it comes as an upgrade from Mick or you are just incredibly curious (like I was), (even then be careful)

On the note of power chords I have tried about a dozen now on my Supratek while in a search for the best chord for my power amp and I have come to the conclusion, more then ever, that Mick’s preamp design is hard core solid and these after market chords make very little difference. I have tried chords costing more then the Supratek itself with very little decernable difference (ie cost of chord to improvement gained). One chord that I felt gave it a bit more air and naturalness is the Gutwire G and C clef Squared. The G-clef squared in around $300 bucks new, but its very decent and someone experimenting with chords might want to audition this chord in their quest. It IMO is a real improvement over the Stock that comes with the unit. Nice to see that you don't need high priced chords to make stuff sound good.

Like always YMMV.

Cheers and good listening

Arkio: That's a good account of things, IMO I think Mick's sound is very sorted out and his circuits so well evolved that these 'add-ons' make little difference. Other than a need to control microphonics sometimes, which IME is usually tube related anyway, there's not much need to fiddle with Supratek products.

That said, I use Solid Tech 'Feet of Silence' ($399) under my Grange, turntable and cdp, and have Yamamura 6000 power cords ($800) on the preamp and Bel Canto DAC-2. My whole system is powered with the Eichmann Power Cable Pod and Power Strip ($570). I'm not sure these tweaky things do much really, but I got them for peanuts and have them in place for peace-of-mind ??

Regards,

Steve.