I have found that a good 50hrs seems to open up the OPT's,.. I always hear a difference in the first hour as the unit gets hot and temps stabilize. Tubes can be hit or miss with their own break in,.. some don't require much time and some do,.. doesn't really matter the brand, age, etc.. this is more specifically to the output tubes, not rectifier or regulator tubes.. If you hear the center or imaging shifting back and forth some, thats the tubes.. They generally always settle in at some point. I have had some that were stable for the first few hundred hours and then shift only to restabilize and lock into place. Kinda crazy but nature of the beast if you will.. GZ34 (5AR4) should last many thousands of hours,.. 5k at least if not 10,.. the power supply on your unit is pretty easy on them,. The dht cabs pull a bit more current but a straight SN7 cabernet is a pretty light load.
Supratek Owners Thread
It appears that the 26-million-plus view, multi-decade "Preamp Deal of the Century" Supratek thread has been removed. I'm not sure why, but suppose there must be a reasonable explanation.
In any case, on that thread I recently asked whether there might be interest in a "Supratek owners thread" and received some interest.
The purpose of this thread is for Supratek owners to share the details of their system, ask questions, share information about any tube-rolling they have done, and so forth.
I'll kick us off here with a few details about my system -
ancient Linn LP12 with Ittok arm, Dynavector 17D3 cartridge into Cortese LCR phono stage
Power amp is a fully serviced Innersound Electrostatic amplifier
Quad ESL63 speakers (not USA monitors) or JBL 4430 studio monitors
Digital sources are immature and evolving - ancient Fostex CR300 cd player/burner
DacMagic 100 DAC
Nordost Blue Heaven 75ohm interconnect
Due to the fairly long lengths of speaker wire required in the new listening room, speaker wire is Belden 12 gauge wire designed for low-voltage outdoor lighting systems.
Next steps - dedicated circuit, new power cords, new interconnects, new wires.
- ...
- 501 posts total
@rms456 not sure what rectifier make came stock but I would suggest you try a few different rectifiers. They do sound different and can enhance the SQ and last many years. My list that I have used on my system in order of my preference. RCA 5R4GY ‘58 Brown base ST bottle = Detailed full warm sound that just fills the space more RCA 5AS4A ST bottle = Detailed full warm sound Mullard GZ34 ‘66 = Excellent clarity and detail but lacked the full warmer sound others have. Narrower sound stage. More like studio recording vs symphony hall recording Sovtek ‘90’s 5AR4 = very nice all around just not as good as the rest. Could live with it. GE 5AR4 ‘60’s copper plates = similar to Sovtek with less punch and detail. Russian Stock Supratek Rectifier = same as GE just less of it. Cheers and enjoy! |
@tksteingraber , the shipped rectifier tube with the Cabernet 6SN7 is from JJ Electronic (Slovenia) JJ GZ34 5AR4 is their ID. Many thanks for the list of choices...looks like the RCA are a good start. |
I tried Ingress rollerblocks under my Grange and heard some nice sonic improvements. From what I understand they are similar to Symposium rollerblocks but at a fraction of the price. I might try them also under the Supra power supply unit. There are few forums mentioning the Ingress products as well. https://audiotwo.com/products/ingress-audio-level-2-stainless-vibration-isolation-system
|
- 501 posts total