Preamp Deal of the Century

Mrmb
Mick told me in a e-mail that there would be no sonic degradation with the optional remote, but I have never heard one, so I am taking him at his word.

Tim

Several Supratek owners, myself included, have gone from CATs to Suprateks. I had a Ref MK2. No comparison. The Syrah made the CAT sound clinical and flat. And the ability to change cart loading on the fly is a real nice feature.

Mrmb. Wow! A very fine system indeed sir,and being a former owner of soundlab A-1's..very close to my heart.While my system is voiced primarily for vinyl,I am certain you would be amazed at the benefit of a top level pre in your rig,whether it is a supratek, one of the Cats or any other pre at that level. I have never auditioned the wadia in my own rig,however....the supratek syrah's line stage was considerably better than my cat sig sl-1 mk2,my MFA luminescence or my ARC sp-10 mk2 when paired with my sony es9000. And I can say for certain that all of the pre's were much more preferable than a direct hook-up to the amps.My experience with a digital source without a preamp in the line was that the music was somewhat thinner dimensionally than real life, missing the body and the bloom of the real thing. The syrah is incredibly transparent and dynamic,and adds nothing of a character or signature per sey. I have never heard the cat amps paired with the cat preamp either so I cannot attest to their synergy and can only surmise they would be a very good match. I did have the pleasure of hearing the magnificent JL-1's mated to the Klimo Merlin pre,[another great pre BTW] powering a pair of proacs former flagship model response 4's and can honestly say I was completely mesmerized with the fidelity, and one of the finest sounding rigs this guy has ever heard. The remote option is also one that I had reservations about as well, but now.... something I couldn't live without. It functions strictly as a motorized pot for gain only and isn't in the signal path. My acquisition of any of the pre's mentioned above, were solely on the merrit's of their phono stages and I can honestly say I enjoyed countless hours with all of them while spinning vinyl. I still use the Luminescence and doubt I will ever part with it. That said:The supratek bests every one of them when used as a line stage and by a wide margin. At the current price of admission...it has no real competition that I am aware of! Perhaps, someone here with much more experience than I have in the digital medium will hopefully chime in here.

Hi MRMB

The CAT I owned, still own but it is on extended loan, is an older unit. How the newer units compare with the Supratek Syrah is open to question especially since you have the JL-1 amps. As Ecclectique notes, the Syrah is more transparent and seems more extended along with a sense of undefinable rightness, this is closer to how music sounds. I have also listened extensively to a friends ARC SP-10 Mk 2 in my system and while I feel the Syrah has a much better line stage I have come to the conclusion that the phono stage in both the CAT and ARC is mighty good compared to the Syrah. It should be noted that both the CAT and ARC are well noted for their phono stages and with very good reason. I still have work to do on my analog front end, different ic maybe a Koetsu but it is not where I want it to be. So the final chapter hasn't been written yet. You don't mention a tt so this may not have any importance to you.

I have a Berning zh270 and Bel Canto DAC 1.1 with a JVC 1050 zn as a transport which I have run direct without pre. It is very clean and transparent, not at all harsh but seems to take on a more clinical presentation than with no pre.

With your wonderful system I feel you would benefit by a Supratek but a CAT should also work quite well and I doubt that anyone here can give you a definitive answer. A Supratek would definitely be a great choice if you just need a line stage, you can't go wrong, especially at the price point. If you need a phono stage as well, there are more options and in my opinion the Supratek has serious competition based on my experiences to date. Hope this helps a bit.

Mrmb. I have a system very similar to yours and I can confirm you that you´ll get a huge improvement with the Syrah in your rig. I have a Wadia 850 upgraded by Steve Huntley (Great Northern Sound Co.) to the Statement level, the best one, that means that´s a GOOD Wadia. Well, I had it driving directly a pair of Wolcott monoblocks connected to a pair of Sound Lab A1. For a couple of years I thought that it was the best possible sound on earth but... then I decided to try a preamp, and the Supratek Syrah was the choice. I can tell you that there is a big difference in the quality of sound, now the soundscape is bigger, it´s more detailed (it seems odd taking account that there are more cables etc.),the sound is more subtle and much more coherent. Now the music seeems to be a whole giving you a feeling of truth. Never, I mean never will be back to the other configuration. The Syrah is now the heart and soul of my system. Besides, you can modifie the sound to your taste rolling tubes because, as many people here said, the Syrah is very revealing of those changes.
I hope it helps you.

Ecclectique, thank you for your permanent advise.
I´ll contact you about your kitchen system.