I often get asked why there are no retail "shop" outlets for Supratek products.
Usually from people who want to listen to a product before they buy.
The main reason there are no retail outlets is because the price would almost double.
Retail outlets have a mark up of 50%, often more.
I keep the prices of the Supratek products down to the lowest price I can.
I believe they are the best sounding, and best value preamps you can buy ANYWHERE.
For the level of engineering in them and the quality of design , they compete with products costing many multiples of the prices I charge.
Even if they were sold in retail hi fi shops at double the price I believe they would still be good value, so the big winners are the purchasers who are prepared to buy on the reputation of Supratek .
In all the time I've been building preamps I've only ever had a couple of people who weren't thrilled with the Supratek sound, and that was related to very poor system synergy rather than an actual problem with the preamp's sound quality.
Another reason I'm not so keen on retail shops is that they have to have high turnovers to make a profit, so they tend to have "flavours of the month" which often have more to do with hype than actual sound quality.
These are the products which get released, get a good review, become fashionable for a while and 6 months later are worth less than 50% of what they cost in the shop.
So what are the advantages of buying direct from Supratek?
Firstly you get a lot of preamp for your money.
You get to establish a direct relationship with the builder of the preamp, and the owner of Supratek.
I've known and become friends with many people of the last 20 years, some people are on their 3 or 4th preamp, or have had upgrades over the years to their original preamp.
These upgrades (and discounts to multiple buyers) are at minimal cost- I've done many upgrades with the owners only paying for freight.
Custom requirements can be easily met - I'll look at any request and if it makes sense and doesn't compromise sound quality I'm always happy to give the customer exactly what he wants.
The Supratek lifetime transferable warranty is real.
I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't absolutely sure of the quality of the engineering and design of the Suprateks.
They are so well built and rugged that I know if something does go wrong it will be a minor job to fix it .
I regularly see 20 year old preamps that are performing as well as the day they were first turned on.
The 2 year "conditional" warranty you get from a hi fi shop simply doesn't compare.
As to being able to listen to a preamp before purchase, I am able to offer a 3 day listening period . If a Supratek doesn't fit into your system for whatever reason, it can be returned after the 3 days.
However as I'm a mostly build to order manufacturer , with low profit margins , there are a few conditions.
Freight is paid both ways by purchaser and refund is sent when preamp is resold.
However the likelihood of this happening is extremely low, 99% of Supratek owners are very happy owners of the finest tube preamplifiers in the world.
