Supratek Owners Thread


Greetings All - 
It appears that the 26-million-plus view, multi-decade "Preamp Deal of the Century" Supratek thread has been removed. I'm not sure why, but suppose there must be a reasonable explanation.
In any case, on that thread I recently asked whether there might be interest in a "Supratek owners thread" and received some interest. 
The purpose of this thread is for Supratek owners to share the details of their system, ask questions, share information about any tube-rolling they have done, and so forth.
I'll kick us off here with a few details about my system -
ancient Linn LP12 with Ittok arm, Dynavector 17D3 cartridge into Cortese LCR phono stage
Power amp is a fully serviced Innersound Electrostatic amplifier
Quad ESL63 speakers (not USA monitors) or JBL 4430 studio monitors
Digital sources are immature and evolving - ancient Fostex CR300 cd player/burner
DacMagic 100 DAC
Nordost Blue Heaven 75ohm interconnect
Due to the fairly long lengths of speaker wire required in the new listening room, speaker wire is Belden 12 gauge wire designed for low-voltage outdoor lighting systems. 
Next steps - dedicated circuit, new power cords, new interconnects, new wires.
128x128markusthenaimnut
The Chardonnay is as advertised. Very nice warm clear sound with stock tubes. And maintained that and more with the Shuguang WE6SN7 and adding an aftermarket fuse. Easily an improvement over the very good PrimaLuna Dialogue preamp with the best tubes that I used while waiting. For $2250 shipped, an excellent deal.
What fuse did you choose? And how did it impact the sound?

Frankly,  I have trouble imagining that a change in a fuse will improve the sound,  but there are many posts on this site in which it is so.  I am not trying to be argumentative, just trying wrap my head around it.  Nice to see another Supratek owner say that they've tried it,  hence my question...
Synergistic Research Orange (but with the caveat to go up at least 25% from spec). Audio Magic Ultimate Beeswax second (spec ok; don’t know about the Ultimate Premium because the one I had broke while trying to pull it to change its direction, and so won’t be dealing with them again). Not all aftermarket fuses are created equal, anymore than our ears or pocketbooks are (which affects the what people say they like and recommend). I’ve tried several brands/models, but not all. 

Think of the power fuse as an extension of the power cord, the last step on the way to the most important part of any electronics, the power supply. Thus, fuses can potentially do sonically much of what power cords do. Here we spend all sorts of money and time fine choosing power cords, but then leave that least link as a mass produced cheap OEM design. So things tend to gravitate toward the least common denominator (not all the power cord’s effects are lost). 
Just ordered a Chardonnay a couple of days ago will be using a Pass XA25 amp. Was told it will take 3-4 months, if they are as good from what i have read it will be worth it.
@rh67 looking forward to your impressions of the XA25 with the Chardonnay preamp! Please keep us posted.

What preamp are you using now?