Preamp Deal of the Century

Aurel: FWIW, the Cabernet that I have appears to be capacitor coupled on the output stage instead of transformer coupled like the cortese/chenin. There are at least 2 large capacitors in it. Have to be careful when turning it off because of the caps discharge. Turn off the power amp first, but this is recommended for all high-end gear anyway. No one that I am aware of has had their gear damaged by their supratek preamps. My Cabernet has been powered on continuosly (24/7)for 6 weeks with nothing more that an occaisonal (couple times a day) low-level tic or pop from a tube, which is normal in tube gear. I doubt a Supratek preamp would pose a threat to your existing equipment...but you do seem rather risk averse. Might want to email Mick about your concerns.

Jay461: swap signal tubes left-right to see of the crackle follows the tubes. Do the same with the regulator tubes, just to be sure. It really sounds like the signal tubes to me.

Hi Wc65mustang, No insult taken whatsoever. In fact, I very much appreciate your comments. And my questions about the MMF 7 come from the fact that I suspected what you said about it. This is why I initially asked about the linestage only supratek, but all the comments about the phone stage have me reconsidering what I might do. If the Chenin would be a significant improvement in the line stage over my modified AN M2, then I could go with that and later sell my MMF 7 & Audion phono stage to purchase a turntable worthy of the Supratek.

Like you said, I need to email Mick. Because if the Sauvignon line is a lot better than the line in the Chenin, then I'm tempted to go with it and save the phono upgrades for a later time.

I sincerely appreciate your feedback; it's been very helpful. I'm pretty set with the AN Quest Silvers and the Zingali speakers, but everything else is subject to upgrades. So if I may impose further, do you have any recommendations or suggestions about a Turntable that would go well with the Supratek?

Again, I really appreciate your honest assessment. Anything else wouldn't really be helpful.

Bill

Bill:
I have no suggestions for a turntable that will match with a Supratek. What's important is the match among the turntable, tonearm, and cartridge. If that works, everything else is gravy.