Preamp Deal of the Century

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Pablo,
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Congratulations on your Chenin, a nicely designed system and your obvious joy.
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Do wait for 300+ hours suggested by Ecclectique to pass by before starting your tube rolling. Roll only one set of tuebs at a time and live with them for a while before starting on the next set or position. Do invest in some of David's suggestions as well as some great NOS tubes.
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You might want to give some BMI power cords a test drive (specifically the Sharks, Whale Supremes of Orca Generation 2's). I would be happy to loan you a Shark to audition (for loan only, don't want to sell it). Email me offline if you have an interest.
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Happy New Year - enjoy your bliss....
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Rgds, Larry

Hi Larry. Hope you and your family had a very Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year! I didn't mean to suggest to Pablo to wait 300 hours before tube rolling... The new supratek or any other new tubed amplifier/preamplifier[for that matter] will become more focused and coherent with around 300 hours of run in time due to the transformers and the passive parts in the circuitry. Capacitors in particular are notoriously slow to form themselves to modulated frequencies. They take many hours to open up,particularly the top end. I would recommend we swap out the rectifier and regulators immediately [like right out of the box] as I have always consider that a no brainer.

Kevin,

l recently upgraded from an SP-9mk2 to a Supratek Cabernet. While the SP-9 is probably not in the class as your pre, the improvement was immense. To use a local analogy, l traded in my Ford Falcon for a BMW M5. Everything the others have said is true, the Cab is a revelation. l doubt you could go wrong.

Have a great new year everyone.

Cheers Simon

David,

Happy New Year to you and your gang.
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I was suggesting the break-in of 300 hours so that when Pablo rolls tubes, he makes moves based on a broken in pre-amp and all of the tubes are somewhat stable in their sonics.
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I just think it is a valuable learning experience to have a clear understanding what each new tube does when added to the system and not confuse its value with the changes occurring from the circuitry of the pre or the other new tubes as they break in.
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I do agree that the changes you recommend are a no brainer, but there might be some valuable lessons to learn along the way by going a bit slower. Either way, he can't go wrong.
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Rgds, Larry
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Hi Ecclectique ( David?), Thank you for replying to my post concerning Cabernet vs ARC. I had previously e-mailed Mondie on another forum about his experience with his Supratek. His enthusiasm hasn't changed a bit ( thanks for replying again , Mondie).The staid conservative in me says the safe option is ARC ; the other half says I could be missing out on something quite special. I am looking for a touch more warmth in my listening- I don't doubt the Ref2 is a great pre but maybe emphasises detail more than I want?I'm in New Zealand; as far as I know there is only one Supratek here (may be wrong); fortunately the owner is happy for me to go and have a listen which I will do very soon.
Can any long term Supratek owners attest as to the reliability of their pres? I've had problems with gear before requiring dealer and manufacture support. I know that ARC is very good in this respect-does Mick's gear give any problems?
Thanks again Eccletique and Mondie for your time in replying.
Cheers,
Kevin