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Supratek Owners Thread

Greetings All - 
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.
markusthenaimnut
tksteingraber's avatar
tksteingraber
795 posts
 

@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.

Sylvania US Navy 5U4GB Straight tall bottle, square top getter= just sounds best in all ways

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!

rms456
58 posts
 

@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.

sim_audio_nerd
76 posts
 

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

 

sim_audio_nerd
76 posts
 

Anyone have Supratek amplifier? I'm so happy with my Supra preamp that I am thinking of a Supratek 300B or EL34 amp. Any feedback would be appreciated 

markusthenaimnut's avatar
markusthenaimnut OP
379 posts
 

I don't have a Supratek power amp. If I needed a lot of power and wanted to stay with tubes I'd seek out something along the lines of an @atmasphere or a @donsachs Kootenai.  If I didn't need a lot of power because I had highly efficient speakers (ala Klipsch or big Altecs) I'd seek out an Alan Eaton 45 stereo or monoblock setup.

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