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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
gryphongryph
380 posts
 
Ordered my Supratek Cabernet DHT/6SN7 pre earlier this week, hopefully I will get it before Christmas.
My system is Primare Dac 30 dac, Belles SA30 class A power amp and Graham Audio LS 5/9 speakers, having been in correspondence with Mick for some time, he assured me that the SA30 and the Cabernet would be a great combination, so I am really looking forward to getting the pre, I choose the Chrome and Black Wood.
Can I ask how satisfied you all were with the packaging and shipping, am a bit worried that something should break, I live in Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic, so a long way from any repair shop 🤔 did you get updates on the build from Mick or just when it was ready for shipping?
Also when changing tubes, are the tubes sockets sturdy ? Or does one have to be very careful ?

Thanks!



markusthenaimnut's avatar
markusthenaimnut OP
371 posts
 
I was satisfied with the packaging of my Cortese. Mick ships it with the tubes in the sockets and one tube was tilted by the styrofoam packaging insert but the pins straightened right out when I reinserted it. Mick thought it might have been opened by customs and the tipped tube the result of their looking in the box.
The tube sockets are very solid and are somewhat grippy when swapping tubes. However, Mick says in the owners manual that constant tube rolling can gradually cause tube sockets to wear. I use socket savers in my preamp.
gryphongryph
380 posts
 
Thanks, that’s good to hear. 
jackd
1,070 posts
 
Mine was definately opened by customs.
gryphongryph
380 posts
 
I am not worried about custom as I know that the package will nearly 100% be open by the Faroese custom, it is more the padding around the amp and tubes, it worries me to hear that the tubes are not taken off and packed separately in the box !

Will ask Mick when the time comes how best to do it.
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