The unreviewable preampIn a very strange commentary on the Brazilian Audiopax Model 88 monos, legendary UK reviewer Ken Kessler once opined that they were essentially unreviewable because their adjustable TimbreLock controls -- altering output impedance and THD behavior -- meant that the amps lacked a factory default setting. How was a reviewer supposed to know the sound of the amps? Naturally, the best achievable sound in any given scenario. However, Kessler failed to grasp that apparently outré concept by insisting on only one fixed right way of doing things. He would throw a veritable conniption fit -- squared -- over the dual Cabernet. Various stages of gain for the 101D circuit, variable output impedance for the bass circuit plus the continuously variable bass pot and the remote-driven master volume make for near endless permutations of different values, all of which should add up to the same eventual output voltages but different sonics. In the consumer sector, a similar rationale -- albeit not dedicated to bi-amping -- saw itself applied to the Audiopax Model 5 solid-state preamp. It sports two adjustable gain stages in series. One is the stereo master control. The dual-mono controls preceding it are, once again, dubbed TimbreLock. Exactly how the two gain stage values are strategically offset affects how the preamp sounds with any given amp.
Drivers Gps Supratech Triton Xl
Supratec cam download File Name: suprateccamdownload.exe Version: 2.1.3 Driver Date: 29 April 2012 File Size: 17,086 KB Available for: Windows XP, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS, Windows 98, Linux. So, I trialled an older Supratek preamp in my system a little while ago and while I wasnt completely overwhelmed with awe, being a 20odd year old design obviously theres been improvements over this time. Im pretty sure Ive decided to make one of these my next preamp after I sell the Bel Canto Pre.
Back with the Supratek, we haven't even mentioned tube rolling yet. On that subject, Maloney voices each of his circuits around standard bottles. That's also what he supplies (here with glass by Electro-Harmonix, Sovtek and TJ). Expensive NOS designer valves are viewed with a bit of suspicion whenever they're claimed to be instrumental to obtaining good results. Supratek machinery, he holds, wins its races just fine on regular unleaded.
Supratech Drivers
Point-to-point wiring may look like a snake pit but is said to be more reliable than PCB due to the high voltages involved
Anyone looking for today's preamp' to have a set-in-stone factory default voice naturally barks up the wrong tree. He better stay glued to the plush seat of his lazyboy. The Cabernet Dual demands that you get involved. Its designers have made the deliberate effort to offer comprehensive tuning facilities. So let's spell it out in no uncertain terms: If you can't handle choices; if you don't trust your ears to make the ones that best suit your needs... don't touch this Supratek preamp with a 10-foot pole. Don't insist on labeled connections either. Supratek's customized approach means that each piece is tailored to its owner. Hence standardized silk screening has been abandoned. Everyone else intrigued rather than scared off by this piece -- and in possession of the requisite two stereo amps (or four monos) to power bi-ampable speakers -- gather 'round for a Maloney-style snippet of common sense:
'To really get the best out this pre, the user would use power amps with level controls on them, not so uncommon these days. He would also be quite an experienced audiophile who knows what he's doing. This preamp is not really for beginners. I'd like to emphasize an important doctrine of the Supratek philosophy. Nothing is 'right' or 'best' in audio. There's lots of ways of doing things. Whatever gets into the head of the listener and gives him or her the greatest enjoyment is right. I have no time for gurus or know-it-alls who pontificate about audio. The point I'm trying to make is, don't take this preamp too seriously. Find the levels that make it work for you, don't question why and enjoy it. It's a bit silly but I like to think these Supratek preamps are closer to musical instruments than electronic equipment.
'Basically, the circuit runs one half of the 6SN7 as the input tube which is direct-coupled to the 101D and to the other half of the 6SN7. The 101D is designed to be the mid/treble output. It is fantastically transparent but has weak bass - which doesn't matter here. The 6SN7 bass output is designed to extend very low and to be tight and accurate. Both outputs are transformer-coupled. You can actually use both outputs full range if you want to hear them with their full character and particular strengths and weaknesses. The circuit is a bit more complex than that, but that's it in a nutshell.' In my nutshell, Maloney believes in the sanctity of individual taste and trusts the intelligence of his customers implicitly. Another outré concept? Apparently not in SW Australia where Maloney makes his home.
Having heard the mighty Melody preamp, I already knew from experience that 101Ds run full-range are soft and somewhat indistinct in the bass - except I didn't know at the time that the globes in particular were responsible for that. The concept of letting this tube shine were it excels, then delegate beast-of-burden bass duties to another tube type tailor-made for that particular assignment - well, it makes perfect sense. To provide separate gain provisions on the preamp's twin paths in lieu of input level trim pots on amplifiers (should your favored bi-amp amplifier not come fitted with them) makes perfect sense. As does separating out the power supply for best S/N ratio with a high-gain device. In short, the Cabernet Dual is a perfectly sensible solution that slays a number of issues which routinely face the prospective bi-amper. And while the twinned Cabernet could certainly run a transistor amp on top and tubes on the bottom, the recommended scenario based on technical specs is the reverse (though running a tube amp on the bottom is fine too and in either case, one should experiment with the three-pole bass circuit toggles).
Within the Supratek hierarchy of preamps, the $5,000 Cabernet is the line-stage version of the top-line $9,000 Grange. That full-function unit adds 6688, 6922 and 6H30 valves for its phono section. The Grange/Cabernet originally used direct-heated triodes in the output stage - user-swappable 300Bs, PX4s or 45s in conjunction with selector switches and a 6SN7 input driver. However, DHT-based 'microphonics and slightly woolly bass response' compelled Mick Maloney and design partner Kevin Covi to return to an all-6SN7 architecture. When the 'Dual' concept was birthed, a return to DHTs could be implemented without the prior compromises in bass performance (by restricting the direct-heated triode to the mid/treble range). As we know, the tube of choice became the 101D. Supratek has worked with it since its reintroduction and considers it to be the most transparent and magical triode for bandwidth-restricted preamp applications. It's a real beaut as the photos show. And yes, it's microphonic. Flicking the tube with a nail under no signal produces an instant hollow ringing through the speakers. Yet even over 110dB+ horns -- I had a chance to test this myself -- there is zero hum. Just tube rush when you physically tap the tube or the top cover or if either get mechanically stimulated by lack of proper resonance control in the stand supporting the Supratek.
This concludes the introduction of basic features and visuals. Here's the essence of first impressions: With this preamp in the chain, the system lets its hair down. Flash on a slow-motion shot of a shampoo commercial. It shows a beautiful woman's hair bounce, swirl and flow with every step and motion of her head. Exactly the same sense of weightless buoyancy now appears in the musical fabric. Notes ring out longer. That's dead obvious especially on piano. There's more fullness at far lower levels, testament likely to the very high gain structure. What was kept composed and orderly yet somehow reined in before loosens up and blossoms. As a result, the Cabernet produces an uncanny sensation of breath which the musical action rides on. This quality is exceedingly fine and filigreed yet instantly apparent. It revolves around not inner detail but the inner motion of music. Those aspects are interrelated. Yet detail can be presented in a static and sterile fashion. Motion can restrict itself to conveying merely the outer effects to remain stilted by comparison. The Supratek Cabernet Dual, first and foremost -- by what's most apparent right from the start -- is plainly about fluidity of gestalt...