Preamp Deal of the Century

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Steve1960
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Thanks for your contributions to this thread. Your comments have been appreciated.

I think it is wise to try to define what type of sound pleases one most and then work hard to find the best synergistic component combination that works towards that end within the context that your budget (and then some) will allow.

We have all been fortunate to have the Audiogon Thread forum to learn from the experience of others. I have a Cortese (and are thrilled with it) only because of the honest, intelligent and sharing people who were willing to pass along their collective experience from their trials and tribulations. Sam Levinson, an oft quoted American journalist, once said “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can not possibly have the time to make them all yourself”.

I have learned over time that many tweaks do not yield just small increments or fictitious improvements, but rather some pretty dramatic gains. Assuming one has gotten as far as one can with the major components, missing out on taking your system forward with the benefits of the so called “tweaks” would leave one far short of what you might other wise enjoy.

I assume that you just have not had the positive experience of changing out a power cord or adding some sort of mechanical ground that yields a jaw dropping improvement to the sound coming out of your system.

To be sure, some lesser quality component pieces that have large short comings can have their liabilities masked or compensated for by the help of a power cord or interconnect. But, I have yet to find a major component piece that was not objectively improved with the addition of a well matched power cord or mechanical grounding device or system.

I would not favor dropping a tweak in my system in lieu of adding a superior pre-amp, amp, speakers or front end piece that I could afford, but I also would not want to miss out in getting the most of what components I have by over looking a good Tweak. Why argue for a limitation against an improvement

Steve,
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I would suggest that you try a set of Symposium Roller blocks (that do make a difference) under your pre-amp or front end piece or try Tom’s suggestion of using the Sistrum system (although I am not familiar with it). Bwhite might be able to share what his best power cord has been for a Supratek pre. Do make the time and effort to search out some good tweaks and you will certainly be pleasantly surprised and rewarded for your efforts.

I continue to be flabbergasted by the sonic improvements as I have worked my way through tons of tweaks and have uncovered some real gems. Several of the tweaks I have tried could be considered to have benefited my system as much or more than some of the good component upgrades I have done.
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Hey Gang. I suppose what one might call a tweak,another may call it a component.In defence of stevem and keeping things in perspective, I certainly concur with every point he made in numerical order, as they would most definitevly qualify for a top shelf system for making great music and more often than not will make a major impact to be sure. Heck...I own one of everthing he mentions on the list with the exception the digital dac stuff. However... I have also heard every single one of those components mentioned on the list sound mediocre at best, for a number of reasons[my gear included here gang].I personally believe resonance and vibration control is imperative when one gets to the level of equipment mentioned on that list. Tweaks?? I don't think so Stevem. Optimizing a system of that calibre is paramount and really should be considered the common denominator here.

Once a system reaches a certain point of refinement (synergy), finding components (or cables, tubes, etc) which further IMPROVE the system can be VERY difficult. Simply replacing a component with a more expensive component or one which is rumored to be better, doesn't always produce an improvement in overall sound.

Tweaks are an effective way of further refining a system once this point is reached.

Additionally - tweaks can be an effective means of obtaining synergy between components that do not synergize naturally.

**THE** power cord for Supratek? I have what I believe to be the best power cord EVER for the Supratek. I was planning to post info on it but the designer just changed his design. I want to compare the new design to the old before making any recommendations - just incase the new is better than the old or vice versa.

The new version is supposed to have twice as many conductors as the old version & that's the only change I know of.

The price of the cords when I purchased my "new version" a week ago was $250 for a 6 footer. I think he offers a trial period too but I'm not sure.

The new cord is on its way from Canada and I'll post more info once I've heard it.

Bwhite, the most effective way to reach the synergy we all wish to achieve is thru high speed mechanical grounding techniques. Ground is the point of reference,and the most efficient way to reach the reference is direct coupling..Tom