Preamp Deal of the Century

Slowhand, What's the price of the SRA series 3 you bought for your Cortese?If you say it has an amazing effect,I,m interested. With all thats on the market most of these isolation devices have subtle to no effect at a high price. Few stand out and work like Symposium Titanium Rollerblocks.Expensive ,but they do work extremely well under some but not all conponents.The expense for a set I can understand why. These Titanium balls are as perfectly round as can be,this is the key.Few millwrights and their machinery can achieve such extreme tolerances.Set up is cridical like any isolating device,you have to experiment to find that sweat spot under your equiptment. Symposiums platform line is also expensive which is not relative to manufacturing costs. Foam sandwiched between aluminum with a nice finish.They work also,for me not at these prices. Start double stacking the Titanium Rollerblocks on these platforms on all your equiptment.It can be a real ear opener in some systems, though at a high price. A friend of mine owns a audio store and has been looking into various new to the market isolation devices from all parts of the world.He's looking for things that acually work . Everything is checked out in his home system . I was in to see him at his store just before Christmas.Right now he is checking out some stuff called Black Raveolli from Germany I believe. Very inexpenive.Four blocks of the stuff for under a 100 bucks.I plan to stop by his home after the new year to check it out in his system and get some for myself.They also make a mat for turntables.Anyway he is AMAZED at what they do for his system and I can tell you the man is not easily impressed.What I know of this stuff it comes from development of isolating nuclear subs. A now declassified material and they will hold alot of weight. When I hook up with him,I will report all the details....Good listening Mark

Where is Malbec? NT

Any body has a hum/buz (come from high, mid, and low)on Syrah when playing linestage?

Your help would be appreciated.

Stiltskin,

The SRA iso bases are not cheap. $600 for each base for the Cortese. The improvement in sound that I heard was greater than any NOS tubes I have used and I don't have to worry about the iso bases becoming microphonic or going bad. Between Tung Sol round plates and 350B's you could easily spend as much as the iso bases cost. Keep in mind that the base I am experimenting with is not even made for the Cortese! Kevin custom builds each base for the piece of equipment it will be used with. He has a huge data base which tells him the dimensions, weight , and distribution of weight for components.

On music that was not dynamic, the iso base did not exaggerate, but it made the music very fluid. The music flowed and was very relaxing. I could have listened all night with no fatigue. On music that was dynamic, the "slam" factor was staggering! Notes seemed to trail off forever. Attack and decay of notes was more noticeable. I could play music at higher listening levels, and yet the sound never got hard. I guess this was because the iso base was doing a better job of isolating the tubes for vibration. Also keep in mind that my equipment rack sets on a concrete slab floor covered with wall to wall carpet. I would have thought that alone would have aided in isolating vibration. I would think the effects would be even greater on a suspended floor.

Slowhand, You have a good ear. How many hits has this posting got since you started it? ....I'm at a point with my system where some proper isolation should kick it up a notch or two.You and most here know what a thrill it is to discover yet another whole new level of performance that was hidden in your system.My first real eye/ear opener was taking care of the a.c.acouple of years ago.The next HUGE leap were cables.... The only platforms that I have tried under my amps and pre. that worked pretty good were Symposiums top line... Alot of money for some aluminum and foam. More in fact then SRAs platforms. Cello what are your impressions SRAs products? Thank You