Ordered a Willsenton R300

gregdude,

I do use Don's preamp, being the 3rd purchaser of his initial version and now with the latest and greatest version.  It is a fantastic match for the Kootenai.   I bought a Wells Audio Innamorata SS amp earlier this year -- by far the greatest SS I have ever had, and by memory I thought it might be more revealing than the Kootenai.  I swapped them recently and it took just a few moments to realize that the Kootenai was much better.  I won't be parting with either.   I would like to compare the Supratek Chandonnay preamp to Don's sometime.   Whitestix

Ibought a Wells Audio Innamorata SS amp earlier this year -- by far the greatest SS I have ever had, and by memory I thought it might be more revealing than the Kootenai. I swapped them recently and it took just a few moments to realize the Kootenai was much better

I’m not surprised.😊

It will be interesting to see how the Kootenai compares with the Willsenton  R 300 and definitely Don Sachs’ new 300b push-pull amplifier. Fun times ahead.

Charles

I also think the R300 has a fairly good chance of working with my JMR Offrande speakers.  A few years ago I built the 8wpc Nelson Pass AMP Camp Amp.  The Offrandes were not happy with this pairing.  They sounded decidedly underpowered.  However, I also tried them with another 8wpc amp, the Antique Sound Labs Wave 8.  Some of you may remember this one from 2002.  They were sold for $98 each for a pair.  They came with ECL82 tubes.  The Offrandes sound great with those little amps.  I rarely had to exceed the 9:00 position on the volume control.

If the Willsenton R300 has at least decent quality output transformers and power supply it should be okay. If good rather than merely decent quality then should be quite good sounding pairing.

Charles

will also depend on their output caps.  The photo showed what look like your typical $5 Chinese MKP caps with their fancy labeling.   Klipsch used caps that looked like that in the Cornwall IV crossover.   Changing them to something like a vcap odam will make a very noticeable improvement, but as charles1dad said, the iron will matter.  Also the fact that they driving a 300b with a mediocre driver stage will limit the whole thing...   Honestly, they could build the same amp at a $100 higher price point and improve it considerably just looking at the photo....