Preamp Deal of the Century

Chardonnay does not have a phono either! That is one of the biggest blunder one can commit in buying a Supratek product is to get the "linestage only". Reason being is the $500 difference, which in the long run pays for itself in terms of retaining the value of the preamp in case you will sell it, for a unit with the same circuit topology on the linestage and equipped with the phono pre is a no brainer! The phono section of the Supratek, as other owners mentioned already, is excellent!

If you are adding a phono to your linestage, the only concern I can think of is make sure the phono preamp you are getting has a well thought off grounding scheme or else "hum city" can occur.

regards

Oops - I meant Cortese. The diff here (over the Sauv) is $1500 so it is not 'trivial'. I didn't know if I'd ever try vinyl.

Am considering a Pro-ject Tube Box II, perhaps only has a holdover till I order a Cortese.

In Piano Black, of course.

Boy!! With your system hardly worth the bother to go with the Project. How about the Graham Slee or Dynavector. Stay with the separate phono stage but spend a few more bucks.

Am considering a Pro-ject Tube Box II, perhaps only has a holdover till I order a Cortese.

Hello,

In my opinion, going SS phono pre to the Supratek is nice (I have one: a one box Bugle PSU, Bugle, and Piccolo all from Hagerman Technology). But if push comes to shove, I will opt for a tube design. Having said that, I own a Hagerman Cornet 2 and its synergy to the Supratek is uncanny! You will spend about $600 if you build it yourself from half kits source through Hagerman Technology. For the record, I owned the Hagerman trumpet also.

Of course, going Supratek all the way is another great option. But if you decide to go with an outboard one, you have to find out what kind of circuit topology (tubes use etc.) you really like. I can tell you that the phono section on my Supratek (uses 6C4 and 6922 tubes with FET gain stage on the front) sounds different than the 12XX7 base phono preamps I own in all cartridges I tried. Also, for whatever reason, line contact stylus cartridges sound a little better on the Supratek than the other phono preamp I have.

Sorry for the rant, I just want to point out that there are several factors that you might want to consider before you commit on buying whatever phono preamp you want to get.
BTW, I saw your post at the Asylum. One poster wrote about the Wright WPP100C phono preamp having "someone" preferred the Supratek to it. I am that person! I compared them side by side for months to make sure that I will not make the "honeymoon syndrome" mistake, and in my system and to me, the Supratek phono is much much better.

Goodluck!

Oops correction! On the first paragraph, I was thinking about the Graham Slee from your response at AA.