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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
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,850 posts
 

Ralph, it seems curious to me that knowledgable audiophiles would rely on anything but sound to be the arbiter of their purchase decisions.  Tube gear is a hassle and costly, but to my ears, it is the price to pay for such magnificent sound. I think buyers buy tube gear because it sounds better, pure and simple.   

Yes. That is what keeps any manufacturer in high end audio in business :)

The Raven is particularly well-suited to driving transistor amps because:

1) The transformers prohibit the transmission of DC pulses to RCA and XLR outputs, under all conditions, including total failure.

2) Unlike solid-state preamps, there are no DC servos to fail. There are no coupling caps on the output to store turn-on pulses, unlike cathode-follower designs. No muting relays are needed, or used, so the signal path is direct from transformer secondary to output.

@lynn_olson FWIW dept.: We've been using a direct-coupled output for our fully balanced tube preamps since their inception in 1989. To that end we've used a servo to sense and correct DC at the output. Here's the FWIW bit: a servo is (or should be) very reliable. We've not had a failure since their inception.

alexberger
921 posts
 

I upgraded my DACT VC by using constant serial resistors and "half" of DACT itself like a shunt resistor. I used Shinkoh 0.5W resistors before and now I use AN Silver 2W resistors.

pindac's avatar
pindac
2,864 posts
 

I now have a VC, which comprises of two matched Stepped Att' VC's for the mono block Pre-Amp' Design .

These are produced by a friend of mine specially for my Pre-Amp's Design only.

The usual ones produced are for my friends Buffer Pre' Design, I was requiring ones that are with a different measurement at 50K.

The Pre' Builder has expressed his satisfaction with them, and has heard them compared to a very similar Pre-Amp' design that has the other VC I referred to. 

robert1234
15 posts
 

FWIW, I drove up from Portland and met three friends to attend the show. There were three or four rooms that stood out, although our short lists were not identical. However, all four of us picked the Spatial Audio/Don Sachs room as our favorite. End game for all of us. I’ll leave descriptive words to others, but it was simply wonderful. It was crowded in there, but I had no problem getting in twice and listening to a couple songs each time. Great to meet Don in person after owning his pre and amp for several years.

whitestix OP
720 posts
 

Robert,

We are among the fortunate to have Don's gear and I certainly share your opinion of the the room.  We both got to meet Don in person for the first time and he is a great guy, for sure.  Same with Lynn Olson.  Now with a month of run in with the new 300b monos in my system with my Cube Audio Jazzon speakers, every day of listening brings new joys to my ears.  

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