Preamp Deal of the Century

Maril555...Yes, the argument that "other" factors are at work is the standard one. Sometimes, that assertion is accurate, sometimes it isn't. I do feel pretty confident though that Mick is correct here, and I too trust his judgment. I will continue to do my best in an effort to neutralize the bugaboo. My experiences with Mick have also been very positive. I've e-mailed him a number of times with various kinds of questions. He has always impressed me as having been forthright and concerned to help with any matters that have arisen. Incidentally, I too have a dedicated listening room. I always wanted one, and my wife was very supportive. Upon retirement, I had one built onto the house we purchased when we moved. I've fashioned my own acoustic materials, and they seem to work as well as those I fashioned some years back in my single days. Well, anyhow, here's to good listening. My fingers are crossed too.

I have never experienced any glare from my system when using the Syrah that I previously owned or from the Cortese that I now own. I am using a Berning ZH270 amp which is very revealing of any problems in the system. Everything sounds fantastic to my ears. As I have said before, tube rolling is a wast of time and money for me in my current system. I have not found any benefit from using NOS tubes in my Cortese. The biggest improvement that I have made to the sound of the Cortese has come from buying SRA iso bases for the Cortese and for it's power supply. I feel these are the best isolation bases you can get at any price and they have taken my system to new levels that I never dreamed of. This is the best $1200 I ever spent on my system. I will say that when I owned my Syrah I did feel that I benefited from NOS tubes, but I don't feel they are needed for great sound from the Cortese.

One other thought: Since every Supratek unit is individually made with point-to-point wiring, it is possible, at least in theory, to introduce some variability into the final product. Maybe Opus88 and myself just an unlucky few to own Supratek with this artifact.
It is a pure speculation on my part, though.

I read with extreme frustration these recent "glare" posts. Are you kidding me? Well,I guess all the owners who've made up the previous 56! pages of posts are just a bunch of mid fi hacks who just don't have the proper experiance or equipment to really show the obviously glaring faults of Supratek equipment.
"Consciously or unconsciously" is really beneath contempt.
What do the two of you actually mean by "glare"?
Certain frequencies?(which ones?)
What recordings?(please elaborate)
Solid state thinness?
Grain?
Have you tried other cables?
Have you tried different equipment combos?
The Supratek equipment isn't a tone control. Perhaps the two of you do share a certain sensitivity to certain frequencies.(Doubtfull)

Maril555-you at least sound like you've tried hard to shore up other areas,the GIK panels are excellent and should help tame or conquer the very large room influences.
Have you tried to pair the Supra with the Butler? I find it extremely hard to believe that a Nuforce pre is "glare"free while a Supra isn't?!?! What are you using to isolate your pre from your rack? Boston Audio Tuneblocks for me added a higher level of detail but made the sound thinner and what's considered "ss" like. Could be described as adding some glare perhaps.

Opus88-Apogee Diva has "glare". Yeah,right. I won't even begin to bring up how sensitive those speakers are to amps,cables,and the life long process of constantly moving them millimeter by millimeter to find the perfect spot. Yes,they're thinner sounding than Scinnies,what isn't?Oh,yes,I own multible pairs of Apogees BTW.
You seem to pride yourself in finding flaws where no one had the talent to before. And yes,I'm sure your homemade absorbtion panels are just as good as the professionally tested ones Glenn markets. Uh huh,must have "Golden Ears" while the rest of us are just struggling along with our "Lead Ears". ;^) Let's leave Stereofool out of this.

What isolation are the two of you using on your tubes? At least Herbies,I would hope.
I don't think either one of you are going to "fix" your problems by throwing tube combo after tube combo at it.
By all means feel free,when you get to the point where you've spent as much for tubes as you did for the pre,be sure to blame the pre as you seem to want to do now.

The only fault I can find that's been brought up by various long term owners is that perhaps the soundstage can be a little bit thinner front to back than a few other top line pres and that the stock remote option Alps volume control does add some veiling. The Dact unit does reportably sound better,but won't fit in the case. You picks your poison.

If either of you decide to sell your unit,you will lose a hell of a lot less on resale than for most units.
Take that to mean whatever you want,apparently us "conscious or unconscious" fools don't know what we're doing.

It's been a long day,I hope the both of you find solutions to your liking.

Wow! I have not been following this thread that closely as of late but I think it would be a whole lot more constructive to address this glare issue collectively rather than questioning ones sensory acruity or posting antagonistic and/or ambiguous retoric. Hey gang, glare can manifest itself in too many ways and can be often be rather difficult to exorcize. System synergy and resonance control are of paramount importance here, paricularly in a system capable of such high resolution. Consider how many variables involved here.....room size,room dimensions,sound pressure levels,room gain,component compatabilty,speaker type, speaker efficiency, nominal impedance and crossover type,speaker Q, amplifier topology and speaker interface, tubes,wire, component support and resonance control etc,etc, etc. A complex equasion and invariably takes some effort[and money] to bring out the best in ones rig. Opus and Maril: Would you be kind enough to post your system here? A little insight as to your past experience re: equipment and speaker type, music genre,room etc. Perhaps we can get to the bottom of this. Cheers!