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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
mresseguie's avatar
mresseguie
46 posts
 

My 4+ hour drive to the hotel ended up being a grueling six-hour battle, but I did finally arrive unscathed. After checking in and transferring our luggage to our room, I kissed my wife farewell and went straight to the Spatial/Don Sachs room.

 

The amps and preamp are beautiful - and have that distinctive D Sachs look IMHO. [I listened to just four songs before getting into a conversation with Don, markusthenaimnut , and his good friend Bob.] How do I describe the music? The first song was a Jennifer Warnes song <not a top 40 song>, and I didn’t analyze it...I mean I so enjoyed the music and her voice without once thinking about the highs, lows, mids, etc. I just sat and enjoyed the moment. How often can you sit down in front of unfamiliar gear; listen to a song, and just enjoy it without analyzing it? And, yes, the songs that followed were excellent.

 

Once I’ve had a good night’s sleep, and <hopefully> forget about the 6-vehicle smash up on I-5 near Nisqually, I’ll return to this room first thing tomorrow morning and pester Don or whomever is in charge of the music to play my favorite songs, and listen for an hour or more.

 

 

tinear123
241 posts
 

I attended the show yesterday (Friday) and spent significant time in the Spatial room listening and chatting with Don.  I have been a repetitive customer of Don's over the years and was excited to hear the latest.  Wow both the amps and pre did not disappoint!  I'm calling Spatial on Monday to get on the list.  .

donsachs's avatar
donsachs
294 posts
 

Thanks for the positive feedback from all so far.  The room was a bit of a struggle to get things to sound good, but after a whole afternoon and evening of getting furniture moved out and putting acoustic treatment up we pretty much tamed it.  We have very good image depth, and of course the ceilings and walls limit height and width, but it is a nice sound.   Like every other team here, we work with what we have!  Hope see a few more of you today!

hawkrising
9 posts
 

Don -- can you provide a detailed explanation (without giving away the secret sauce, of course) of the technical and sonic differences between your DS2 preamp and the Raven? Thanks.  

donsachs's avatar
donsachs
294 posts
 

The older preamp is a nice, but conventional single ended tube SRPP circuit with Akido buffer (extra tube per channel).  It uses dual regulated power supplies and dual regulated filament supplies and really good signal path parts, and the wonderful Khozmo attenuator.  The Raven is a completely different approach and  circuit.  It is fully balanced and transformer coupled at both input and output with custom wound transformers from Dave Geren at Cinemag.  It will take either xlr input or rca input, and will happily provide xlr or rca, or even headphone output, and will drive even a 10K power amp impedance.   The Khozmo setup is dual mono because you have to control both halves of the xlr on each channel.  The power supply uses two damper diodes, very high quality transformer and is a true C_- L - C (cap, choke, then cap) that feeds a much higher quality regulator that is used in the previous preamp and also feeds a pair of gas regulator tubes after that.  It is dead quiet, fully balanced, and has very little sonic signature, but provides great drive for the power amp.  I really like it, and those who have been to the show have heard it driving the 300b mono amps.

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