Preamp Deal of the Century

Hi there

A month ago, I ordered a Chardonnay for myself. I've found lots of problems to transfer the money to Mick's account in Australia. In short, I've lost about US$150. I told Mick about it. His answer:

"$150!!!!!!!!! You are getting ripped off - I would demand an investigation. If you dont get it back I will go half and deduct $75 from price."

Nice. Once again, Mick proved to be truly unique within this audio business. Thanks for that.

Lisbon, use paypal if you can.

Has any one listened to the Supratek Burgundy amps. I know this is a preamp thread but seemed the best place to post. The amps look stunning and use the same driver tube as the Lamm ML1.1's. There are alot of reviews and feedback on Supratek preamps but not much on their amps. Any experience with these amps would be appreciated.

I never heard the Burgundy amps but I am pretty familiar with the Merlots 18 watts and the Converts 45/2A3 monos ( not on Supratek website anymore) .The Merlots use the 6C33C-B russian tube (Lamm ,Tenor , Bat).Excellent amps with great bass , extension on top and liquid midrange .I sold them and got the Converts with the 45 tube .Less power and headroom but still ok with my 104 db speakers .Far more realism , cleaner and the magic of the 45 tube .I used a first generation Syrah preamp for a few days, didn't sound right in my system .
Speaking of russian tube , I just got back my Kora Eclipse with heavy mod (new diodes in PSU , Jupiter caps / Audiocap Theta / resistors/ silver wire ) and the 6h30 replaced the 6922.This tube is on steroids ! So dynamic and transparent . No need for those NOS 6922s and 6SN7s anymore ...

My Cortese finally arrived this weekend. I have only had a few hours with it but I am feeling a little let down by this preamp - of course I had big expectations. It is twice the price of the Syrah and on first impression, sounds almost identical. I'd say that out of the box, its slightly more refined and controled sounding, it has a wee-bit wider soundstage, and is less extended in the highs. Bass is definately better though....

Overall, right now it feels "tight" as if it still needs some time to break in, relax and open up.

The Electro Harmonix EL34 regulator tubes he sends are garbage to my ears and the first significant improvement I made was to re-box them, throw them under the sofa, and install my TS-5881's. Upon doing that, the Cortese sounded even more like the familiar Syrah. Is that a good thing? I don't know yet. You'd think not... since the Cortese IS twice the price of a Syrah.

So far, I've played with KenRad Black Glass, RCA 5692's, Sylvania Metal Base, and Tung-Sol Rounds. I still like the Ken Rads but I have a feeling that as the Cortese breaks in, the Ken Rads may not be the tube of choice... I'll need to find a new brand. :(

Mick has improved his packaging by leaps and bounds since I received my last preamps - outstanding improvement! Also the overall quality of the product seems to be much better than I experienced previously which tells me they are handling these much more carefully at the factory - during production. Solder joints are all well done and the tube sockets are FANTASTIC! Mick's using new (to me) black tube sockets which are securely fastened to the chasis & really hold the tubes securely. Tougher to tube roll though.

The Remote works flawlessly. Nice two function - slow up/down and fast up/down.

Also, Mick did a new Home Theater By-Pass circuit for me which we developed together. I haven't fully tested it yet but from what I can tell so far its an awesome improvement on the previous implementation of that feature.

Well that's it for now. I'll keep this thread going as I hear the Cortese break in.