Preamp Deal of the Century

Hi Kenji. Yes, think of both the genelex kt-66 and the we 350b's as an investment. The genelex kt-66 is a much sought after output tube and it's market value has near doubled in the last 3 years. [ they ain't making anymore!!] cheers David

Congratulations to both Mondie and Slipknot 1 on recieving your preamps. I have had my Syrah for about two and a half year (ever since I started the thread) and I still get excited every time I power my system up. I feel that all of my components are very good, but the Syrah is the heart and soul of my system. I am sure you guys will have a blast listening to your favorite music. Be sure to pass on the the new guys considering a Supratek that the wait is well worth it.

Slipknot and mondie. Congrats and enjoy the ride. cheers David

Dear Slowhand,

Thank you for starting this thread. I decided to order a Chardonnay preamp in June 2004 after reading the review in 6moons.com and the enormous information in this thread. I received my unit in September and has been listening to it for over 2 months. I think it is time for me to join in the discussion and assure those who is still hesitating. I am using a system that is quite high end : Watt/ puppy6 + Emmlabs mod Philips SACD 1000/ DAC6 combo, Melody 2A3 Push-pull monoblocks. Preamp I had owned previously included ARC SP9, Convergent SL1 signature, Matisse reference, Marantz7 (remake) and lastly Nagra PLP. I have been using Nagra for a few years and it is an excellent Pre. It is expansive too, over 3 times that of Chardonnay. I cannot say Chardonnay is a better preamp than Nagra, but I can say I am not missing Nagra in my system (the Nagra is still in hand) and have no temptation to re-connect it since the arrival of Chardonnay. It is enough at the moment. I will write about my experience with Chardonnay when there is time.

YW

Just picked up a Music Reference RM-200 to amp a Chardonnay, using a half-recipe of Chris VH Cat-5 to drive Hales Revelation 2s. The RM-200 has 8, 4, 2, and 1 Ohm taps, with a hybrid design that allows the lower taps to produce successively *more* power (contrary to most amps) and rely increasing heavily on the pre's amplification; i.e., using a lower tap shifts the total (amp + pre amp) amplification more towards the pre, requiring less from the amp's KT-88s. In the Chardonnay I'm using a 1955 Mullard CV 378 (GZ-37) rectifier, 1940's era Sylvania 6L6GA regulators, and 1940's era Ken-Rad Black Glass VT-231 line tubes.

With a tube CDP source, high end extension is very good, with sweet harmonics, a delicate, long decay on bells, and a "splash" on cymbals; mid-range has a true tube bloom, but not too much; mid-bass is tight and crisp, and bass, while perhaps not the absolute end-all in SS composure, is still quite good and low and strong enough to be felt through my feet when sitting six feet away with no sub-woofer. All this collapses if the source is not well mastered (more the rule than the exception) or if the volume is at a background listening level (sound is then very good, but--presumably in part due to the Fletcher-Munson effect--not at its best). I think improvements can be made in depth and soundstage, but I'll look at the room and isolation tweaks to try to capture that.

All-in-all, a nice synergy with the Supratek.