Preamp Deal of the Century


If anyone is looking for a true "World Class" preamp at a very fair price..heed my advice. I just recieved a Supratek Syrah preamp that was hand built by Mick Maloney in Western Australia, and it is absolutely beautiful! This preamp is the best deal you will ever find. I would put it up against any preamp out there for both looks and sound. Price? $2500 for the Syrah (includes Killer Phono stage). Not into phono? Try the Chardonney line stage for $2100. Don't get me wrong, I am not associated with this company. I am just a very happy owner! This preamp is VERY dynamic, yet liquid. It conveys the sound of music better than any other preamp that I have ever heard! You can check out the Supratek website at www. cantech.net.au
slowhand
In order to build a Supratek, Mick must order his parts from various suppliers. It's not uncommon for those suppliers to be out of certain parts and/or have them on backorder.

Reasons for delays in getting a Supratek built are often more complex than it may appear.
I have an unused Cortese if you don't want to wait and would like to save some money.
First, I could not lead Mike up the garden path, so I will wait for my Sarah|Chenin even 7 months like Tubegroover suggested! I have got this custom to treat people very seriously and world I have said to them even more seriously.
But I cannot promise that I will not lose patients and will not send a email to Mike in September (I decided to wait that long for "soon" to materialize).
Bad thing about this waiting is that the longer I wait the higher are my expectations. And that is do not augur well for Chenin, unless it is that good like you guys are saying...
Has anyone other than Fiddler tried replacing the stock volume pot with the Dact or some other attenuator? I am not excited about losing remote control capability but it appears that the differnece in sound could be dramatic.
Americanflag - yeah... Mick has done it. He actually commented that the results could be very positive to some people and therefore understand why people may prefer it to the standard Alps. The downside to him was that the stepped attenuator allowed for very little margin between too quiet and too loud in his high efficiency system.

Bent Audio offers a remote control for DACT attenuators: http://www.bentaudio.com/parts/dact.html

I am not sure if it would fit in a Supratek outfitted with a phono stage but imagine it could be done.

Mick told me he would install the DACT's as an option.

*I* haven't done the swap yet mostly because I am debating what to do about my system. See - I just purchased a new turntable (which is a keeper) and it doesn't visually match the Grange cosmetics of my Cortese (Gold & Wood). I am considering selling my Cortese to get another one in Chrome finish.

If I were to keep my Cortese, I would certainly try the DACT and when I get a new one, I will order it with the DACT (+ remote if possible).

My suspicion has always been that the stock Alps is not very transparent.