Preamp Deal of the Century

Asa

The Parasound Halo JC1 is the onlu=y SS amp I have ver owned. I am a true blue tube man. But these SS mono's are the best amp I have heard on my speaker by a wide margin.If I xlosed my eyes I would have NEVER guessed it was a SS amp. Would have bet is was a powerful tube brute with dozens of glowing tubes. Except the bass is better than any tubes I have heard.

I want to thank everyone for the great info on the tubes. I will start one tube/pair at a time and give my ears a chance to understand what is happening.

I do notice quite a bit of tube hiss through my speakers. I suppose this is common on the Syrah? When my Opus went directly into my amps it was dead quite. I also had to put cheater plugs on both amps and the pre to rid my system of an aweful ground loop hum. Hate spending all the money on dedicated 20 amp outlets, PS audio outlets, high end power cables and introduce this .59 cent cheater plug!

Do love the pre and wonder if anyone else had the same ground loop problem.

Grannyring

Granny- If I remember you got your used as did I. Did you get the "manual". If you did, re-read it and you will see that Mick used unshielded wire throughout and you also have the umbilical. Combined with the overall high system gain, there are lots of opportunities for hum and noise. I had to re-arrange the two pieces, and re-dress the umbilical to get rid of the hum, but now it is as quiet as a tube piece will ever be. There IS crosstalk between sources, so you will have to shut off one when you listen to another (or at least I do). I also am using a Balanced Power unit, but have had that for a while. Of course ground loops can be a bitch, but you may not actually have a loop. If the pre is closely positioned to a powerful transformer, you can definately get hum. Try moving things around and you should be able to get rid of the cheaters (if not, give me a shout and I've got a Vans Evers power cord with a 2 prong plug and separate ground wire you might want to borrow.

Power Cord for Supratek's! Grannyring - sorry I haven't replied to you about the power cord for the Syrah.... I have been waiting to determine if this new cord is better than the old. *I* think the old cord is better but the designer seems to think his new one is better..

Also, once you get through reading this, you'll understand why my recommendation of this cord was not as easy as just stating the name.

Here we go...

The cord I am using and recommend is called a Moray James PWR1.5. It doesn't do much to increase the bass but what it does do is magical on the Supratek. After you listen to a Supratek with this cord, you'll realize that the stock unit sounds dull and lifeless by comparison. The effects of this cord are a bit difficult to detect since they are not night/day tonality differences like many of the more popular "over the top" sounding power cords. Instead, this cord simply adds a very "happy" / "snappy" and/or lively character to the Supratek which once heard is difficult to live without.

Moray James can be reached at: morayj1@juno.com

He will most likely try to sell you on his new cord. I think the new one sounds similar in some ways but somehow is "cardboardy" and lacks that certain "happy" quality found in the old cord.

Caveats - In some cases, the cord can be somewhat "bright" (slightly) in some systems which lean in that direction - or have poor room acoustics. I have heard this cord in in multiple systems with multiple Suprateks and in each system it has been the best cord - period. My room is one of those with poor acoustics (hardwood floors) and as a result, I was forced to find a solution. The Moray James 1.5 straight into the wall (PS Audio Power Port Outlet) was a bit too much for me. I could have changed out the outlet but decided to go a different route. I used a DIY extension cord made from Carol 12/3 cable (warmish sounding), a 15A Male Furutech copper plug and a 15A Leviton female connector. This cord adds enough warmth to the Moray James to make it acceptable in my room and for my tastes.

Everyone else who has used this cord goes straight into the wall - no problemo - but they all have carpeted rooms.

On the Supratek specifically, this cord has sounded better than top of the line cables from Electraglide, Omega Mikro, Sahuaro, NBS, Shunyata, FIM, Harmonix, Cardas and others. I have not compared this cord to David Elrod's cords yet.

Should you decide to try this cord, please be sure to specify that you want the OLD PWR1.5 cord! Also, be sure to get Moray to commit to a 30 day trial..

If anyone would like more information or is interested in discussing this further, I would be happy to assist - just go ahead and email me.

Asa, I will happily disagree with your advice to Granny. I hate to look back on all the time I wasted listening to inferior tubes, pc's, isolation footers, etc. I wish I had arrived at my current combination of gear and ancillary products in my sytem from day one. I enjoy listening to my system at it's best rather than taking some sort of hit or miss journey along the way. Many here on the 'Gon and at AA have helped me enormously and I can't believe how much better my system is now. It is night and day.

When I make my next upgrade, I will again ask for advice from owners on how to achieve the optimum sound of my new gear right from the start. Maybe its just me, but I have never understood the rationale, "No, don't listen to the best yet, try some inferior tubes, pc's, ic's, etc. so you will have something to compare the best to."

I think experimenting is fine, especially if you are talking about fine tuning. But I'm one who had rather ask for a consensus on what is best and if there is general agreement, that's the way I go. I don't want to re-invent the wheel. If enough people tell me a certain tube sucks or is simply inferior, I don't need to find out for myself. Experience has taught me that a number of guys here know their stuff and I don't need to hear mediocre tubes or whatever just to say I heard them.

I think I may have been the first or second Supratek owner to try WE 350B's in their Supratek. Looking back, I wish I had put them in the day I received my Chardonnay. Instead, I listened to several other good (and sometimes expensive) regulators only to eventually try the WE's. The 350B's are the cat's meow for me.

Most of what we post here is subjective, but in my opinion if Granny wants to get the best out of his Supratek, especially with the world-class JC 1's, he should use WE regulators, Ken Rad, Syl or Tung Sol (round plate) 6SN7's and a Mullard GZ 34 rectifier.

I am sure there are others that will disagree with my choices, but I have tried many other combinations and for me, there is no going back.

I will admit that at times I have enjoyed hearing the "step up" in sound from tube rolling, adding power cords, isolation, star grounding all of my equipment, etc. However, I wish I had known from day one what I know now because it would have saved me a lot of time, money and crappy sound.

I will try the Mullard GZ-30, WE350B's and the Ken Rad Black Glass VT231. First, what brand are the WE350's(Is that Western Electric?)Not sure where to buy these tubes on the net? Thanks to all for all of the wonderful help.

Grannyring