Preamp Deal of the Century

Rmml - that's great! How does it sound??

I like the effects of the Dynamat and BDR stuff on my preamp however - I have noticed that too much BDR can be too much. The MkIV cones are certainly better for the Supratek than the MkIII. However, I am currently trying variations i.e. Two MkIV and a single MkIII on the preamp.

I find that too much MkIII can bbbbllluuuurrr things a bit in the mids.

Also in my system, adding Dynamat to the power supply is not an improvement. Neither are the BDR's of any type. The power supply sounds the best with the rubber/plastic feet removed, and resting on nothing but three tiny felt pads stuck to the underside of the frame (the wood part).

Also, I've found nothing better as a platform for the power supply than MDF (particle board). Sitting the power supply on carpet or even a super hard surface like granite made things mushy. For me, the MDF is the best.

I do have two Bybee filters in my power supply which may be removed soon. I recently tried power supply without the Bybees against mine and preferred the one without as it was more lively and extended.

I tripple bagged some "special" sand as I mentioned before and put it inside the "domes" on top of the Supratek. The SPECIAL-ness of the sand basically is nothing too special except I spent the good part of an hour combing out all iron from the sand with a magnet. The Iron has a ferroresonant effect on electronics and compresses the sound a bit. The sand (without the iron) adds mass to the Supratek and I believe it further enhances the sonics.

A quick note on the Bybee filters in the power supply.
This evening I auditioned my Supratek power supply against a friends side by side, on his Syrah. We both found mine to be compressed sounding and rather lifeless.

This is most likely a result of the two Bybee filters I have in the power supply. So.. since my friend is handy with a soldering iron, we removed to Bybee devices and discovered that my power supply sounded better than his! Ha! :)

His is new so its most likely still breaking in.

If any of you are considering the Bybee's - you might want to pass on the idea. From my findings, they certainly do not enhance Mick's design.

Hi Rmml - ya I used 3 zip lock freezer bags sealed with electrical tape and separated from the preamp by a gasket inside of each dome to contain the sand... I might re-think that tweak too.

Since I've had the sand filled domes for a while, I plan to remove them soon (maybe today) and test without the sand to see if it really makes as much of a difference as I originally thought. I'll let you know.

Bwhite
Did anyone ever suggest to you that you might be taking this thing a little too far? Ziplock bags as a tweak? My God man have some respect!