300b lovers


I have been an owner of Don Sachs gear since he began, and he modified all my HK Citation gear before he came out with his own creations.  I bought a Willsenton 300b integrated amp and was smitten with the sound of it, inexpensive as it is.  Don told me that he was designing a 300b amp with the legendary Lynn Olson and lo and behold, I got one of his early pair of pre-production mono-blocks recently, driving Spatial Audio M5 Triode Masters.  

Now with a week on the amp, I am eager to say that these 300b amps are simply sensational, creating a sound that brings the musicians right into my listening room with a palpable presence.  They create the most open vidid presentation to the music -- they are neither warm nor cool, just uncannily true to the source of the music.  They replace his excellent Kootai KT88 which I was dubious about being bettered by anything, but these amps are just outstanding.  Don is nearing production of a successor to his highly regard DS2 preamp, which also will have a  unique circuitry to mate with his 300b monos via XLR connections.  Don explained the sonic benefits of this design and it went over my head, but clearly these designs are well though out.. my ears confirm it. 

I have been an audiophile for nearly 50 years having had a boatload of electronics during that time, but I personally have never heard such a realistic presentation to my music as I am hearing with these 300b monos in my system.  300b tubes lend themselves to realistic music reproduction as my Willsenton 300b integrated amps informed me, but Don's 300b amps are in a entirely different realm.  Of course, 300b amps favor efficient speakers so carefully component matching is paramount.

Don is working out a business arrangement to have his electronics built by an American audio firm so they will soon be more widely available to the public.  Don will be attending the Seattle Audio Show in June in the Spatial Audio room where the speakers will be driven by his 300b monos and his preamp, with digital conversion with the outstanding Lampizator Pacific tube DAC.  I will be there to hear what I expect to be an outstanding sonic presentation.  

To allay any questions about the cost of Don's 300b mono, I do not have an answer. 

 

 

whitestix

Don, looking forward to seeing you at the show with your working prototype.

 

Why the radio silence folks??? Where are the impressions from the show? Inquiring minds wanna know!

The show mentioned in this thread is in 2 weeks.  There was very little at the LA show this past weekend in the way of 300b.  One that had promise was very nice japanese 300b paired with Songer field coil speakers.  But the speakers were only 93dB and every room was playing very loud to keep up witht he volume in the other rooms and the amp was literally turned up to the stop.  It didn't even sound like a tube amp to me.  I would have loved to have heard it at 1/3 volume.

Jerry

@carlsbad2 

Good observation. Over the years I have attended my fair share of high end audio shows. For the most part I have enjoyed these experiences quite a bit. I do get annoyed with the high volume level demonstrations. Personally I do not fine these displays impressive. Even with the very high powered amplifiers driving difficult to drive speakers.

Good quality music sounds better on a good system played at what I consider reasonable listening levels. I do not understand the attraction of the “crank it up”  approach.