Bit the Bullet ... Don Sachs Model 2 Preamp
I too own the DS2 and it’s met all my expectations and more. Dealing with Don has been a real experience. I owned the SP14 with a lot of upgrades, but had a damn ground hum in the left channel that I couldn’t exercise for anything. It was driving me nuts.. I called Don to see if could maybe shed some light on it, and he had me send it in. I think it took him less than 10 min to ID it and fix it.. while he had it open, he squared it away with Duelund wire Mundorf silver oil caps, Black Treasure tubes, 6BY5 Rectifier Mod. I got it back and was blown way. So much that I bought the DS2 for my 2nd listening room. Again, blown away.. sound stage wide and bowling alley deep. As good if not bettter than my Citation that was twice the price. .. Both were enjoyed driving my Cary 200.2 Power amp. Ultimately, The one he squared away drives my Cary Audio SA-200.2 SS Amp and it’s just killer. The DS2 is slated to drive Don’s KT88 stereo tube amp.. I can’t wait. Don also has freely answered all of my questions, when her didn’t have to do anything more than tell me to “send it in, I’ll get ‘er done” I can’t recommend this dude and his Audio Works enough. https://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af194/adlerburg1/0FD31DBD-EF63-4B92-9B07-7545F88AE98E_zpsigwapgwa.jpeg |
I took delivery of the DS yesterday. Initial impressions ... more height and width to soundstage, more air around instruments and voices, lots of micro- detail, and more b@lls to my system. No doubt, the "b@lls" part (in terms of slam and impact) comes from the large output caps running my low impedance power amp and sub. Only have about 6 hours on the preamp, but I like what I hear so far. DS says the unit really opens up after about 50 hours, so we shall see. It's very different from the BAT, but I will not be in a hurry to sell the BAT, if at all. Evaluation periods can take some time. |
