[hauteworld]

I've had my Stratos w/ 120 upgrade in my system powered for 4 days now.  The sound is exquisite....hard to believe it isn't completely broken in.  I'm definitely going to order a Tempest in the future.  As of now I'm using the preamp section of a Onkyo TXDS797 receiver.  I don't have much experience listening to separates vs. receivers; so can anyone ellaborate on how the sound will change once the Stratos is mated w/ the Tempest???

[speedcenter]

so can anyone ellaborate on how the sound will change once the Stratos is mated w/ the Tempest???

you'll junk your Onkyo  

I am currently breaking in a pair of Xtreme Mono blocks using an old Yamaha C85 pre-amp to save some life in my precious old Telefunken tubes. The sound is awful with that thing, and that's a $1000+ early 90's Yamaha "high-end" pre...  

I had my nice tube hooked up for a few hours to know that the Xtremes are just great. High quality pre-amplification is about as important as the power amps. Just the low quality volume pots alone in consumer gear will mess with the sound enough to make you wonder how they can dare to sell that kind of stuf...

Peter

[W.C.]

The Tempest will sound much more smoother and musical without sacrificing detail. When you turn up the volume on the Tempest, you will not hear any congestion whatsoever. It just lets more of the music through. I think the Stratos and Tempest are a magical combination.

[drphoto]

I concur. The Tempest sounded much better than two cheap tube pre's (a modded Dynaco and a conradjohnson PV3) and a fairly expensive one (ARC LS15) in both my system w/ Stratos Monos, and in my neighbors with his tweeked out Dyna ST-70.

A very fine pre for <$1K.