Preamp Deal of the Century

You guys need to calm down a bit here, and you may be missing the point about Mick's announcment.

The issue at hand is all about 'controlling potential noise problems/mismatches with amplifiers from other manufacturers' with some further improvement in sound. It's not about current Cortese/Grange owners being somehow stuck with an inferior product, it appears that Mick's new circuit maintains the magical sound of the original circuit but at lower gain therefore better matches amplifiers that have high gain.

If noise is not an issue with your current Cortese/Grange in your system then the upgrade is also not an issue?

You are also jumping off the deep end without consulting the master first! Mick is a very approachable and helpful guy who takes great pride in his work. I am sure any of you who require the upgrade need only ask him and he'll probably do it.

Stevem - even though you are mentioned on the Supratek website (at the bottom of the preamp page) as a helpful and encouraging person, I do not believe you have your facts straight and therefore are not helping any.

*We* should consult the master? Well.. The master hasn't bothered to come back to explain anything and hasn't updated his website. He just waltzed in here and told us that he had bad news.

Mick's "intro" post:

The bad news for present owners is that I've completely redesigned the Cortese/Sauvignon and the Grange/Cabernet preamps.

Thanks for the encouragement Steve but I don't believe that announcing improvements to a design as "bad news" for present owners is very professional -- perhaps that's why *I* jumped off the deep end.

Steve, you confuse me when you say,

If noise is not an issue with your current Cortese/Grange in your system then the upgrade is also not an issue?

If that were the case, they why on Earth would this be BAD NEWS for existing owners?

This is where I think you need to consult the master yourself before trying to smooth things over with silliness like that.

It's pretty clear, Mick's announcement either indicate changes more significant than solving noise issues or a newly crafted line of B.S. that none of us have heard before.

I am waiting for the master.

Excellent post, Stevem.

Stevem11960, Mick writes that his new preamps will have higher gain. What he doesn't say is how much gain the newer preamps will have, but 20db is the theoretical maximum gain a 6SN7GT. Otherwise I certainly agree with the tone of your post.

Hi Everybody- sorry for the delay in getting back to you all-I didn't realize my post had stirred up some comment.
I dont actually get a chance to look at this forum very often ,and I hope that any owners of Supratek products have no hesitation in contacting me personally if they have an issue about anything- I take a great deal of pride in my service and always try to reply to personal emails asap, but cant follow the forums with my limited spare time.
However, should I have used the forum to announce new models? On reflection, maybe not- but I'm selling the new models now and I thought everyone had a right to know what the situation was- rather than hearing misinformation third or fourth hand.
As to possible upgrades-I've already done two and should have said that it was possible- again I presumed that any interested would contact me directly. Obviously I have to fit them in when I can, as I dont make any income on upgrades as they stop me building new preamps, but I will do it as soon as possible and at minimum cost to the owner- I dont think I can reasonably be asked to do more.
I can understand that some would get upset about new models, but it is a part of life that change happens. I only introduce new models when I think it has to be done to improve the sound and features of the preamps-with some reluctance as I can appreciate the feelings of people whose preamp has just been superseded.
But I had no choice- the new Cortese/Sauvignon, Grange/Cabernet are much better sounding and are very versatile- previously there were some power amps that they were simply not a good gain match with- now they will happily work with any power amp and bring the best out of them.
Please note that this issue does not apply to the Syrah and Chardonnay preamps- I'm very happy with them and have no plans to replace them at all. Incidentally, the Syrah and Chardonnay make up about 80% of Supratek production.
Please contact me direct at supra@supratek.biz if you would like any further feedback.
MickM