Preamp Deal of the Century


If anyone is looking for a true "World Class" preamp at a very fair price..heed my advice. I just recieved a Supratek Syrah preamp that was hand built by Mick Maloney in Western Australia, and it is absolutely beautiful! This preamp is the best deal you will ever find. I would put it up against any preamp out there for both looks and sound. Price? $2500 for the Syrah (includes Killer Phono stage). Not into phono? Try the Chardonney line stage for $2100. Don't get me wrong, I am not associated with this company. I am just a very happy owner! This preamp is VERY dynamic, yet liquid. It conveys the sound of music better than any other preamp that I have ever heard! You can check out the Supratek website at www. cantech.net.au
slowhand
Help !
Trawled the net & searches mainly relate to marshall guitar amps, must buy a book on valves
Using Tungsol 5881s very happily in my Syrah.
Have a spare pair of 6L6EHs which I've not tried.
What are the equivalents - offered a pair of Brimar 6L6Gs but not sure the difference in voltage - GBs, Gc'S etc, etc.
Nuts I know but they are crazy looking valves - screw the sound, I want the best looking Supratek - joking, although I have thought of a piano black finite reference just to match the Syrah - waf & all that( tried to tell her they do not sound as good as my rack but hey, what does she care- about sound)

Ran the gauntlet of 6SN7s - mouse ears/boring, grey glass rca's/nice, cbs5962's/expensive & noisy, sylvania gtb's - finally got some non destructing ones and imo very hard to fault.

Still looking for a Mullard Roehre ?(getting the hang)metal base GZ34 but so is half the world given the f-- ridiculous prices? $350 each for a tube???
Strikes me there are people extracting the pure p--s from
us transistorallaly ? challenged people
Any pointers, good threads re 5881/6L6s welcomed,
Thanks Simon
Simon,Ive been thinking of trying some Sylvanias,could you tell me what you like about them,Thanks
Hi Ray,

I was using Sovteks that were ok & quiet. Lots of duff sylvanias initially caused me grief.
I was very pleased with the grey glass rca's but I think the Sylvanias are slightly better (in my system)- these are the green lettered ones which I'm told are not as good as the yellow lettered ones - sorry I don't know all the nos..
The sylvanias are just slightly warm sounding, not as warm as the rca's but they sound tighter, a bit cleaner ,have very good bass and give a bigger/wider image.
The added 'sparkle' over the rca's gives the impression of more detail/dynamics although I don't think they really give anymore info than the rca's.
The tungsol mouse ears are just too laid back for me and the
cbs 5692s, apart from one being very noisy are really nice & warm but don't have the 'grunt' of the sylvanias imo.
Neither the rca's or tungsols have any obvious shortcomings, I just prefer the Sylvanias which test very well and seem to give lots of gain - I may have to turn down the gain on the syrah as it seems to be giving 10 o clock volume at 8 !.
Just completed a load of room panels - these & the new valves are a revelation. Listened to Steve Earle, Guy Clark & Townes va Zandt Live at the Bluebird Cafe - I've listened to this 100s of times and in all honesty, I'd never heard the cars passing outside or the plane that flies overhead before - it was quite astonishing !
Hope this helps a bit,
Rgds Simon
anybody noticed the supratek cabernet that's currently up for sale?

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?preatube&1142878331

larry is basically implying that mick has sold the business to the european investor and that mick will no longer be building any of his gear. sounds like some dangerous accusations to make considering there's no mention of mick bowing out anywhere on the supratek site (which is over due for an update) and mick's previous post only said that he was taking on partners to improve service and productivity. am i the only one dumbfounded by this?