Maril ...just as a matter of interest, have you discussed your concerns with Mick Maloney? It seems strange that any Supratek piece should exhibit glare, it is not in the mien of valve gear to sound glarey. Quite the opposite really, valves are traditionally chosen for their smooth and musical presentation and it is usually the case for solid state equipment that glare needs to be controlled.
I know Mick Maloney personally and have owned five of his preamps over the last ten years - none have ever exhibited any glare (and my system is razor sharp! with Raven ribbons etc.). Mick is an analogue guy (loves vinyl and truthful music), his design philosophy majors on musicality above all else. I think he would be shocked to learn that someone thinks that one of his products sounds glarey.
In one of the earlier posts Opus88 describes the sound of horns as being perhaps bombastic or with emphasised upper mids on his Cortese. I would have thought this is how horns are *supposed* to sound, certainly when you are in front of live performance the trumpets and horns blare and blat at you with uncanny acoustic power! they do not sit in the backround ...
Is it feasible that you are actually hearing for the first time how these instruments *should* sound with all the attack and transients of the instruments intact, and perhaps you are being unnerved by the experience? Listening to Supratek gear may require a paradigm shift in both thinking and hearing??
Anyway, I'm just trying to be constructive and would suggest you send an email to Mick about all of this. The guy is very good to deal with and is a master of sonic tailoring, he can get your preamps to sound anyway you might like it ...
Regards,
Steve M.
I know Mick Maloney personally and have owned five of his preamps over the last ten years - none have ever exhibited any glare (and my system is razor sharp! with Raven ribbons etc.). Mick is an analogue guy (loves vinyl and truthful music), his design philosophy majors on musicality above all else. I think he would be shocked to learn that someone thinks that one of his products sounds glarey.
In one of the earlier posts Opus88 describes the sound of horns as being perhaps bombastic or with emphasised upper mids on his Cortese. I would have thought this is how horns are *supposed* to sound, certainly when you are in front of live performance the trumpets and horns blare and blat at you with uncanny acoustic power! they do not sit in the backround ...
Is it feasible that you are actually hearing for the first time how these instruments *should* sound with all the attack and transients of the instruments intact, and perhaps you are being unnerved by the experience? Listening to Supratek gear may require a paradigm shift in both thinking and hearing??
Anyway, I'm just trying to be constructive and would suggest you send an email to Mick about all of this. The guy is very good to deal with and is a master of sonic tailoring, he can get your preamps to sound anyway you might like it ...
Regards,
Steve M.