Just bought a used Supratek Chardonnay. Wow! I don't have anything super high end to compare it to -- prior preamps include Adcom GFP-750, Schiit Freya+ with some nice NOS 6SN7 tubes -- but am very happy with the purchase. One question for Supratek owners -- can you use the balanced output AND the single-ended outputs at the same time? I'm running balanced right now (with the toggle switch set to XLR) and it's very clean and sounds great. I'd like to use one of the RCA outputs at the same time to a pair of subs but trying that introduced a good bit of hum to the speaker outputs. If I switch toggle to RCA, hum goes away but now nothing is going to XLR. So I'm assuming I can't do it but wanted to check with others. Thanks.
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Hey nymarty I’m pretty sure you can only use one or the other. Why don’t you use your amp outputs to your sub. I think it blends better and you get some of your amps character. Just by some copper speaker wire from Amazon not expensive. That’s how I connect my sub works very well. Just make sure on some amps like Pass labs you have to connect the negative to ground not the negative speaker output. If you don’t know ask your amp manufacturer if that’s ok.
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@nymarty Congrats and welcome to audio Nirvana. Amazing preamp you will not be disappointed. Here’s another thread you should read and follow. Contact @jslateiv he is Supatek’s official repair tech for your questions. He is a wealth of information and very helpful. I use RCA’s and have a sub connected with no noise. The bass was so strong I had to add a volume control between the pre outputs and the sub line inputs. https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/supratek-owners-thread |
Congrats on the purchase @nymarty. That pre will serve you well and last close to forever. Unfortunately only rca or xlr can be used at one time. A second pair of rca’s could be wired in and both sets of rca’s could be used if needed. The toggle arranges the ground for the output in use which is why you cant use both at the same time. |
@snopro Thanks! That’s exactly what I’ll do with the subs. They do have speaker level inputs, so should be fine. @tksteingraber thanks for sharing the tech’s info and the thread. @jslateiv thanks for the explanation on the grounding — makes sense. Nowvthat I know how it’s meant to operate, i can set it up properly. The Freya+ spoiled me with features but the Chardonnay sounds so much better. Thank you all for helping me out! |
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