Preamp Deal of the Century


If anyone is looking for a true "World Class" preamp at a very fair price..heed my advice. I just recieved a Supratek Syrah preamp that was hand built by Mick Maloney in Western Australia, and it is absolutely beautiful! This preamp is the best deal you will ever find. I would put it up against any preamp out there for both looks and sound. Price? $2500 for the Syrah (includes Killer Phono stage). Not into phono? Try the Chardonney line stage for $2100. Don't get me wrong, I am not associated with this company. I am just a very happy owner! This preamp is VERY dynamic, yet liquid. It conveys the sound of music better than any other preamp that I have ever heard! You can check out the Supratek website at www. cantech.net.au
slowhand
Rmml, Hopefully by then, I will have had the new remote control installed in my Supratek. Like I said the source of the PC board is a company in Italy - it appears to be the best board available. Once we install and test Mick will find out (since he's paying). I'm sure he will implement the best solution.

If you really want to integrate the Supratek with your home theater, it works well to just run the processor outputs to a set of the Supratek inputs. This is what I have been doing and it works fine. Initially I thought it would be inconvenient but it really doesn't matter since in this configuration the processor is what adjusts the gain - not the Supratek.
BWhite is right, it is best to order the Supratek stock. Mick is a purist and as such he believes that the more "options" the more the possiblity of degrading the sound. I did not get a remote control on mine, but I did get the XLR's and they work fine. I also got 1 pr. of single ended outputs. Mick said that he had put on the wrong XLR's on a previous preamp, but he assured me that this problem had been corrected. Mine are the correct ones and they work great. Mick was putting a high/low gain switch on the preamp for the line stage because it has a lot of gain (possibly too much for some amps), but he is no longer doing this as the new parafeed design which he started producing with my unit does not need it. It is obvious to me that Mick is always working to improve the sound of the preamp. Mine was supposed to take 3 weeks to finish, but ended up taking close to 12 weeks, because he was working on a new design for the phono stage. The wait may be frustrating, but you will be rewarded with a work of art that is both beautiful to look at and to listen to.
I just got reply from Mick and he will not be adding the pass thru on mine. He also said the job sheet has been done-dropped on my unit so now all I need to do is patiently wait.Bwhite and Slowhand, I just wanted to thank you guys for all the info they are very much appreciated.
Thanks to all for introducing this preamp. There are already comments on tubes, how about hook up suggestions like isolation devices, IC and power cords. Again thanks for the advice.