Preamp Deal of the Century

Slowhand, I believe that one of the two preamps Mick is doing now is mine. I can barely stand the wait. I started this process many months ago. Hope it is worth it.

Hi Slowhand,Hi All,
yes, you're right, I 'm too busy to listening . I have to tell you that I still cannot say that I like it more than the "old " ARC LS5 mk2 GNSC ref. mod, Siemens 7308s outfitted with. Both are great, the Cortese doesn't "kill" my ARC at all.Consider that I liked my ls 5 more than a REF 2 mk2 and that the Cortese is 200 hours old.
I need a bit longer time ,my impression now is that my ls5 is a bit more on the romantic side than the Cortese, where this one has a little better dynamic. Soundstaging is large and deep with both units,there is a lot of air between performers.Music flows with easy,I often find myself listening to the music rather than to the pre's differences. What I mean is that these two pre's anyway are showing the features peculiar to what a great pre must have. No trouble at all in bass, mids and highs, only little different tastes.
The phono section is awesome to my ears, but I have few hours(10/15)on it .My early pre phono was an ARC sp11 mk2 with nos Amperex 6922s. The only tube rolling I'm going to get is just the two 6922s, infact I have two Siemens 7308s to try.
The long waiting is well worth, this is one of the best pre you can get, not only for the moneys. It also looks a lot better than on the pics and is dead silent.
Let us know when you'll get yours.
Sorry for my limited English.
Sandro

Interesting. When did you order your preamp? I placed an order for a Cabernet in January, but have asked for some "mods". I exchanged e-mails with Mick late last week, but still no mention of a delivery time frame. Can you let me know when you ordered so I have a reference? Thanks.

Hi Sandro. You have another 200 to 300 hours of run in time before the supratek really finds it's stride. You must try the premium 7308's you are using in the ARC for the phono stage in supratek. It's an interesting comparison though with the ARC,I have a modded out ARC sp-10 mk2 that I still very much adore and will never sell it.It was my first true reference preamp that just simply trounced everything else back in the day. A wonderful voice to be sure, however my cortese betters it in every parameter and the line stage isn't really even close. The mod by Great Northern Sound certainly raised the bar for the ARC stuff,particularly in the bass response department[the achilles heel of the SP-10],but by contrast... the resolution and decay in the bottom end of the supratek is at a whole higher level. I have yet to hear any other tubed preamp compare in this area and still shake my head every day.

Larryrosen,

I ordered my Cortese in late October of last year. I have 2 preamps in front of me, them Mick does mine.