Preamp Deal of the Century

Well,if between the talents of Ecclectique and Mick this problem can't be resolved,I don't know how it would be. It's a shame we can't get more ears physically to these two systems,very difficult to solve tough problems via the web. I hope eventually we can get this solved to everyones liking.

When you take into account the hundreds of positive comments from this thread and the many happy customers that Mick has had over the past few years, I don't think that Mick has to worry about his business going down the drain, or even being affected by a couple of people that hear a glare in their system and attribute it to Supratek preamps. I am sure that the satisfaction rate for Supratek is over 99%. I believe these are the best preamps in the world per dollar spent. I don't believe the 2 guys that hear a glare in their system are saying this to bad mouth Supratek or to sabotage Mick's business. Many people have offered ideas to try to get rid of this glare. That is what I love about this thread. People try to help each other out if a problem arises. Bottom line is if you cannot solve the problem (and I hope you can), sell your Supratek and buy another preamp. If I were considering buying a Supratek for the first time and I had read even a third of this thread, I certainly would not let a couple of non glowing comments keep me from purchasing. I would advise any potential buyers to not be turned off by a problem that 2 people are having when hundreds of people all over the world sing nothing but praise for the sound of the most musical preamps in the world, Supratek preamps.

Stiltskin, Zachzdb and Slowhand...Just reading your comments gives me a much better supportive feeling about hopefully finding some solution to the matter facing both maril555 and me. Very importantly, Slowhand is absolutely correct when he asserts (speaking for myself) that I have no intention whatsoever of badmouthing Supratek or hurting Mick's business. I will say again, as I have several times earlier, that I believe the Cortese to be a superb product. I would LOVE to be able to more fully enjoy it in the same way most others have and do, and I am still confident I can. I am still in the process of trying different things, and it's probably wisest for me to kind of lay low for awhile until I can hopefully come up with the proper medicine, so to speak. I just want to relate that I found a few interesting comments on Audio Asylum from Todd Krieger (type in Supratek Cortese in Search of Amp/Preamp Asylum and look at entry #18). His choice of words---"shout" and "bombastic"---could possibly be his way of describing what Maril555 and I have been hearing. From my listening perspective, the upper midrange in particular seems to have that somewhat overly emphatic characteristic which, with certain instruments, e.g., horns and massed strings, I hear as glare, and I haven't been comfortable with it. I heard it again last night, while trying both Mullard and Amperex rectifiers, Tungsol regulators, Siemens gold pin 7308s, KenRad 6SN7s, etc. all working together. I assume that some of you would agree with me that these are pretty decent tubes. I might try Todd's recommendations with the KT-66s, etc. I read in a some previous Audiogon threads where a few Supratek owners attained results similar to Todd's using the same approach he did. In any event, I'm also preparing to experiment with several other cables (interconnect and speaker). Well, enough for now. Got to get to bed. Sincere thanks again to you fellows.

These comments made of possibly hurting Suprateks reputaion over acouple of problems, are way off. Micks sales are word of mouth,no amount of money will buy you advertising like this.Slowhand ,I hope Mick was appreciative....The preamp that I was set to buy before coming across Slowhands thread was $3000.00 more then the Chenin .I got around to comparing them side by side in my system. The Chenin wiped the floor with it especially comparing the phono stages...... Opuss hopefully you have afew audio dealers close to where you live. Getting complete runs of burnt in wire to try is not an easy thing to do.I had to be force full with some of these sales guys and store owners.

I should put all my futher comments on hold, until I get my new Cortese and Mondeuse amps from Mick.