Preamp Deal of the Century

I have talked to Mick and the only area of change in the Syrah is the phono section. I only use the linestage and he told me that it has remained pretty much the same. Your right about the unit making noise as I have moved the power supply all around and still get a hum through my speakers. The only way I could stop it is by using cheater plugs on my monoblock amps and the pre!

Nothing else seems to work. I will be trying some NOS tubes and I will see what that does.

Another interesting note on my used Syrah. Mine has what looks to be the same three tube power supply as put on the Cortese. I assume this is an upgrade over the stock one tube power supply? I have not heard of another one like it.

Grannyring

Is there anyone in Chicago with a Supratek preamp or amp? I would love to hear one!

Are the Supratek amps just as good as the preamps?

Stevem1960, I noticed that you have a Cabernet line stage. My questions are: (1) Is this the latest generation Cabernet; I understand there may have been a design change in the Grange/Cabernet since its introduction, (2) did you you have any experience with Supratek prior to acquiring the Grange and, most importantly, (3) can you enlighten us about its comparative performance with respect to any other line stages including Supratek models.

Fiddler, OK. But I think you understood my point perfectly.

You don't respond there, at the point you dismiss me, but then later add, the "ethereal learning excercise" - which I assume is your actual response, albeit, and disappointingly, placed at a safe distance from your opening response/non-response. (Now, why would you do that...?)

So, let me explain: nothing is "ethereal" (read: irrational, in the context you use it) about recognizing learning curves. Giving someone the very best stuff right off the bat can sometimes lead down the wrong path IN THE LONG RUN. Why? Because the mind requires time to aclimatize to deeper experiences through progressive stimuli.

What does that mean? Well, it is not your ears listening, but your mind, and the way it goes "deeper" is through progressively receptive states, and such states, or their "allowing," necessarily requires a PROGRESSION of experience. What rate of progression is best from person to person is, of course, variant, but to claim that one can jump from SS to SE, or from GE 6551's to Mullard EL34's, or from...well, any area you can name that involves an increase of musicality (as opposed to an increase in accuracy, which the active mind identifies and which people can learn/identify faster) is itself a position that exposes its own lack of knowledge in this area, if not a denial of one's own experience.

I'm not saying that someone can't notice the difference, in quantitative terms and in qualitative terms, but not in qualitative terms TO THE DEGREE THAT MAY BE POSSIBLE without SUFFICIENT EXPERIENCE. Yes, they might know it was better, but the degree that they might be able to appreciate such better-ness might be more accentuated had a progression been employed. I think any experienced person in the hi-end who has consulted on system construction over a wide spectrum of people knows this as a given.

I don't know the gentleman originally referred to above - given his later responses I might, in fact, say go for the Kens - but as a general proposition - which is what we are discussing at this point - the point remains valid.

Bottomline: To deny experience, and that process - your position - is merely a symptom of greed for the next experience; to get there faster and faster. But, that type of greed is the bain of the hi-end; the greed for the experience of beauty through music, those two qualities - greed and beauty - are, experientially, EXCLUSIVE TO ONE ANOTHER; your desire to go faster to get "there" prevents you from seeing what you are missing along the way. When you get there, you don't know where you are, except that you can look down at your WE350B's and be sure, because you just have them, that you are there.

I hope that was clearer.

Mark