Spatial Audio Raven Preamp

I use loudspeakers that are designed to be close to room corners, but the room in our new home could not accommodate that setup. While losing the corners decreased bass and the overall energy, I did gain some detail as a benefit. After doing a lot of research, I wound up adding, in my case, custom open baffle subs even though my loudspeakers go down to 30Hz as-is. It’s an unconventional setup as the subs are in-between my loudspeakers and my centered audio rack. However, this not only solved my bass/energy issue due to the loss of corners, but the subs strengthened the system’s foundation, and now it has more detail, sounds bigger, and retains the relaxed sound that I love.

I am also very interested in the Raven preamplifier.

Kenny 

The Raven design is stabilized and they are in production at Spatial Audio Labs in Salt Lake City. Don Sachs lives in British Columbia in Canada, I live on the outskirts of Denver in Colorado, and we both communicate with Spatial on a regular basis.

I am hoping to receive word that my Raven will be shipping by the end of this week.  I plan to post my experiences here after at least 20 hours of burn-in.

Hi remember me, I started this thread. 😁 Anyway, I finally got my Coda s5.5 amp introduced into my system. (In user systems) I replaced my VAC Renaissance 70/70 amp and VAC Cla1Mk III preamp. I use the Legacy Wavelet II as the preamp/crossover/DSP room correction now. With very little time on the rig it sounds very good but I think I would like to add a little "Tube magic" back into the system's midrange and soundstage if possible. So the question is for those that now have the Raven, does the preamp have that characteristic at all? I remember before when I had to run my Focus XD's full range the VAC Preamp added just the right amount of tube flavor to satisfy, so looking for a bit of that. I don't see any reviews about the preamp in this thread so far, just checking.  Thank you!

BTW, I am saving for the Raven, but had a few set backs that detracted from my savings for it, but back on track now.

@fthompson251 Lynn and I designed the Raven and I have lived with all the prototypes and final version for many months and it has all the tube things you like, but is far better than any tube preamp I have ever built or heard.  It throws a sound cloud with very detailed pinpoint imaging, provided the rest of the system can do that.  Plus, it will drive the XLR inputs on your Coda amp, so if your source is balanced, then you will have a completely balanced system.  Of course the Raven will also handle rca inputs and outputs, but there advantages to a fully balanced system from source through the power amp output.  So I hope a few folks with Ravens will give their impressions on this thread.  There are a couple of prototype Ravens floating around and those folks have chimed in above I think.  There is also a Raven thread on the spatial audio lab audio circle.  I know that Spatial will be building the next 5 Ravens within 7-10 days, so hopefully a couple of the new owners will also chime in and you will have a basis for a decision based on an opinion other than mine, since I am incredibly biased:)