Preamp Deal of the Century

I've read most of this tread in the last three days. So glad I stumbled upon it. Have been thinking of introducing a tube pre into my system to mellow it out (reduce brightness) and generally improve the sound. Was considering Audible Illusions but from what I've read the Syrah must be better. Would a Syrah work well with a Musical Fidelity A3.2cr amp? Speakers since July will need to change soon too (Monitor Audio 9i} but they were a big improvement over what I've been using the last 15 years. So much so that I listen to music just about every day now.

Jeff,I recenlty bit the bullet and joined the many others with the addition of the Cortese to my previously all SS system (Spectral). It is the most rewarding thing I've done is the last 10 years! Not only am I now enjoying music reproduction like never before, but I have rediscovered vinyl which has totally made me rethink how digital will play in my system. How ever long the wait may be for your Syrah, wait. You will not be disappointed.
Now i have question for all the Supratek pre owners participating in this thread. I have Avalon spks (88db), presently drivinng them with Spectral DMA360 mono blocks and am very pleased with their performance (now that that the Cortese is driving them). But since I was so blown away by the improvement that the Cortese made when it was introduced into the system, I am wondering if you have any reccommendations for an amp(s) for my system. Power is a requirement (certainly a minimum of 100w per ch)

Ads, I'm a tube guy, but if you like the Spectral/Supratek combo, I'd be hard pressed to find an alternative; I think that you might miss that iron fist authority of the Spectral's and their vanishingly low "noise floor". On the other hand, if that was the case, then I'd expect that you would have hated the noise of analog too, so somewhat perplexed what to recommend. When bwhite was putting some gear together, I recommended the 100W LAMM 1.1 monos. They're hybrid tube input, SS out and everyone i know has loved them. bwhite hasn't said much about them to me, but you might ask him. Apart from that, you'd be into a ton-o-tubes and I don't think that's the right move for you right away.

What did you have in mind: stay with SS, $ to spend, etc.?

Asa, coming from the pro audio arena where SS rules (except for the mic pre's and compressors where we are looking to tame digital) I've been extremely happy with my ALL Spectral/Avalon system for many years.
Had my friend not pick up on a used Cortese and introduced it to me, I'd still be there. But as yo know for yourself, once you experience what Mick's creation can do for music enjoyment, you're hooked (at least to Mick's gear). I was curious as whether there is an amp out there that would make a similar improvement to my enjoyment. I know Mick is talking about some 100W babies and if they were available now, I'd order them sight unheard. I'm that confident with what he is doing, but they aren't and according to Mick it may be a very very long time before he can resume that project as he is so busy building pre's for all of us. I thank you for you candid comments and most likely will retain the DMA360's. They are incredible amps!

I've been following this thread for a few months and have emailed back and forth with Mick. I'm very tempted to order the Syrah preamp (or conceivably even the Cortese) but a practical issue keeps intruding. The dimensions of the preamp and power supply (hwd) seem to require quite a bit of rack real estate and I'm trying to figure out of there's a trick to getting a normal rack to accomodate these units. I have a fairly typical 20" (or so) wide Salamander rack, which means that the units, which are 13" wide, can't sit side by side. Plus they need eight inches of vertical clearance, so that means two full shelves and the shelves have to be moved up/down to accomodate these things, thereby intruding on the other equipment. Am I missing something? Is there a way to configure the preamp and power supply to fit and leave room for everything else?

Thanks