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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
markusthenaimnut's avatar
markusthenaimnut OP
375 posts
 
@highstream @hicham 
Here's what I think Joseph means regarding the "handpicked tubes" - the Supratek sounds incredible with the stock tubes. And Mick has carefully auditioned all the usual suspects to identify high-value, solid-performing, reliable tubes that he can purchase in quantity. That's the way I've felt about my Cortese, though I have done some tube rolling.

I was very intrigued to read the comments on tube-rolling earlier in this thread and, based on that input I'll probably track down some Melz 1578s and a pair of the Shuguang WE6SN7 plus tubes, just for fun. At present I'm listening to a gorgeous pair of CBS 5962s. They sound wonderful.

All the best,
Markus
highstream
207 posts
 
Markus -- Thanks. Never heard of the CBS 5962. At least at Upscale Audio they don’t come cheap, but I just noticed what look like a good matched pair on eBay for a reasonable price. I've been using the Shuguang replica and it's a nice tube. There are some other possibly good choices at Grant Fidelity.
jackd
1,074 posts
 
The CBS/Hytron 5692 is a pretty good reasonably neutral tube. I roll a pair through the Chardonnay periodically.
highstream
207 posts
 
A 6SN7 search today turned up a few resources I had forgotten or hadn't come across before (links can't be posted on Agon). Some good info.

- head-fi: " The Reference 6SN7 Thread"
- What's Best Forum: " Shootout of Nos 6sn7 tubes"
- jacmusic.com: 6SN7 page (under NOS > 6SN7)

What these lists don't include are the more recent Chinese tubes.
rh67
307 posts
 
As i posted earlier i ordered a Chardonnay. I have been listening to my music lately and thinking how good it presently sounds and i`m starting to question ordering the Chardonnay. I do not want to waste my time and money making a side ways move or even worse a step backwards.

Has anyone had experience with both the LTA pre and the Chardonnay? I do not want to lose the magic that my system presently has.
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