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
I received my Cabernet yesterday. Even in the first two hours, I couldn't help but grinned and thought how wonderful this preamp is. I will reserve from going into details, but simply put it brings life to the music and exceeds all my expectations.
A question for Supratek owners who are also using Berning amps. At what settings do you set the amp for optimum sound. I have mine at normal and 12 o'clock for volume setting. At that level there's no noise or microphonics. I would like to turn the volume (amp) up more, but then it gets very noisy. The Berning manual cautioned about overloading the high level stages in the preamp. Am I running any risks by not turning the volume all the way up on the amp?
Nice to see some traffic here. I am in my fifth month, happily waiting on a Cabernet. I love reading and researching while I wait, all the details to follow.
Mhu,

I own the Berning ZH270. I use the normal setting and run the volume wide open. This effectively eliminates both volue controls being in circuit. I find that the music has much more dynamics to it this way. Yes it does limit how far you can turn up the volume on the preamp and you may get a little more background hiss, but I find this to be a small tradeoff for the increase in dynamics.
As some of you know, l have been the very happy owner of a Supratek Cabernet pre amp now for about 4 months.

Prior to purchasing the Supratek l was close to buying a passive pre amp. Not the traditional stepped resistor type but a transformer based system. The one that seemed to garner the most consistent praise is the Bent Audio NOH. Its made in Canada and in the end l lost my nerve on tking a US$2k chance and went with the Supratek. l am enjoying my Supratek immensley but after it developed an intermittent cut out in the right channel neseciating a return for repair l got to wondering about the NOH. Not much to go wrong there

Bent Audio have recently ceased production of the NOH so l placed a WTB on an owners forum and within days had located a unit for sale in Hong Kong. l have decided to take the plunge and decide for myself once and for all if TVC is for me. My system has way too much gain so is ideally suited.

Expecting the NOH in the next week. Within a month there will either be a mint near new Supratek or Bent NOH looking for a new home

BTW the Supratek was only suffering from a loose wire, be interesting to see if thats its downfall!!