Preamp Deal of the Century

Theaudiotweak - That's unfortunate, I'd love for you to have a Supratek. Perhaps you would be able to figure out the best way to set up the mechanical grounding for these.
Unfortunately I don't live anywhere near Indiana or I'd bring mine to you.

Inside a Supratek, the internal components are bolted to the top of the somewhat thin metal (copper) chassis. The wooden side panels are screwed to the chassis. The bottom plate is secured to the chassis with four screws.

When attempting to mechanically ground the Supratek via the bottom plate, I find it a little "top heavy" because the center of gravity seems to be 5 inches above the bottom plate. This seems to magnify vibrations.

Removing any feet and resting the wooden side panels on a surface sounds better but the impedance mismatch between the metal chassis and the wood side panels means that the energy is not drained as efficiently as it could be.
The trouble with this is that the bottom of a Suprateks' wooden side panels is NOT FLAT - so the unit will not be securely coupled to a surface.

Thoughts?

Bwhite,

I have had great success with Symposium Roller Blocks (w/Grade 3 Tungsten Carbide Balls)under both pieces of my Cortese.

Do you have any experience with Roller Blocks ? If not, you might want to give them a try. The have been amazing under my Electrocompaniet EMC-1UP as well. The best by far of everything else I have tried.

Actually I live in Louisville Kentucky..I know most of the audio crowd in this state..So I was just reaching out...I may have questions concerning the structure of the chassis ..Thanks for the invites..Tom

Cello. While I do not use any of the symposium products,I second your recommendation on their effectiveness.They are terrific with tubed based gear. I have heard the effect first hand in a friends room isolating his magnificent sounding Klimo tube preamp and companion Kent mono amps. Their effect is his rig was not subtle. We have both been promoting the resonance control theory with tubed based equipment for many years. He has spent as much or more on his room than his equipment[read very expensive]and his rig is one of the finest if not "the" finest I have ever heard.The system is vinyl based only and his table is set up out of the room.Every piece of electronics is isolated with symposium pruducts.The noise floor is almost non existant.Music in his room is always magnificent experience.I am still dying to hear my Syrah in his system for comparison.

Eccletique,

I had great success with the Symposium Rollerblocks but not with their Stands (tried the Ultra Symposium and Svelte) under any of my equipment. My best results came from Silent Running Audio custom made stands followed by Zoethecus Z-Slabs used in combination with the Stands.

A good friend also had excellent results by placing Roller Blocks under his TT (Linn) after hearing what they did in my system.

If any of you decide to experiment with the Symposium Roller blocks, make sure you get your hands on some grade 3 Tungsten Carbide Balls. They are a huge improvement over the old stock chromium or the grade 25 Tungsten Carbide Balls. "Double Stacking" works even better.
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