I meant to post this question the other day, but it apparently disappeared into the ether -
Who, on this thread, plans to attend the Pacific Audio Fest this year?
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.
Showing 9 responses by markusthenaimnut
This thread has been informative and inspiring and I’m looking forward to hearing these amps at the PAF next month. This thread has also caused me to reflect on the question of "what should I do" or "what should we do?" given the fact that Don & Lynn’s new amps are not available to purchase at this time and that, when they are, they are likely to be out of my budget. My guess is that many of us who have followed this thread with great interest already have equipment that reflects the performance goals, priorities and values of Don and Lynn. I'm grateful that there are so many options out there right now - we seem to be living in a new "golden age" of hi-fi and music. So I'm not actually discontented with my equipment right now. But I've learned a lot on this thread that has provoked some new ideas and questions and for that I'm grateful. |
Here's a question for @atmasphere - Though I'd welcome the comments from anyone else on this thread - these are all related to the question of what causes a power tube to wear out - 1. Does it matter what volume a power tube is played at? Does that effect tube life? 2. Does it matter if a tube is cooled, say, by a small fan nearby? 3. If a tube is powered up but not making music does that "cost" tube life just as if you were playing music through it? 4. What is harder on a power tube? Turning it on and off, let's say twice during a day (two listening sessions totaling three hours) or letting it stay on, let's say for an eight hour period?
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I want to share my thoughts about this equipment and about the show, and a little about my experience in the room. The opportunity to hear the Raven and Blackbirds and (hopefully) meet two people I’ve only "met" on the internet was a major reason I drove up from Portland to attend the show. So the Spatial/Sachs/Olson room was one of my first stops Friday afternoon. First visit... what can I say? Completely unlistenable, mind-crushing, thought-destroying, ear-splitting rave music or (what the hell, I don’t know what to call it but I could not think when I was in the room to come up with an alternative to listen to, though I was invited to do so)... I had to leave. Second visit a little later was a little better and my third attempt was much better. Oh - a comment about listening levels at the show. I carry a SPL meter with me and typically measured the SPL levels in every room I went into. Many rooms were playing with peaks well over 80dB. Some rooms were measuring 80dB outside, in the hallway. Since my buddy @jzzmusician has tinnitus we didn’t spend any time in rooms that were loud, ’cause loud music aggravates his condition, which is mostly bearable and controllable. Back to my account about Don’s room. On our third visit I asked a young woman who was managing the room whether Don was around and she said he was in the other room in the suite and would be out soon. They were switching amps from the Spatial integrated to the Raven/Blackbird combo and were having some trouble getting the streamer to connect or something, so when Don came into the room the female assistant let him know there were folks who wanted to talk to him, so we got to hear his thoughts about the Linlai 6SN7s which seemed to be in every piece of equipment in the room, and then the story about the evolution of the Raven & Blackbird. I found Don extremely likable and really enjoyed his off the cuff account of the project. I also really enjoyed hearing about how he came to own a Lampizator Pacific. Fun story. It’s hard for me to assess equipment in this kind of an environment. I think the Spatial integrated amp sounded really good, the Spatial speakers sounded great, and the combination of Pacific/Raven/Blackbird/Spatials sounded simply like music. Pure, unadulterated. Really, really good. Easily one of the best sounding rooms at the show. The Whammerdyne/Songer room was sounding typically top-notch. Oh my merciful heavens. It was also really good. I think the Songer speakers are perhaps my favorite speakers in the world. There were many rooms which, frankly, didn’t really do much for me. The was a ne-to-me brand of electrostatics that sounded okay, but I didn’t really agree with their stated premise that "we all know that electrostatics can’t do bass". Yeah, I don’t agree with that. My Quad 2805s do. They don’t do bass as well as my JBL monitors but they are a very livable compromise. The new electrostatics were something like $70,000/pair. On Saturday I was back in and out of Don’s room a couple of times and somehow, through a kind of a miracle, I thought I recognized @lynn_olson in the hallway and said "are you Lynn Olson?" He stopped, I introduced myself and he generously spent quite a bit of time talking about his experience, amps, design, the Raven, the Blackbird, scattering gems of knowledge right and left. I was far out of my technical depth but enjoyed it thoroughly. I agree with the comment above that he’s probably some kind of genius. (Lynn, I know you won’t let that go to your head.) Only after returning to Portland I learned from my good friend Harry that Lynn is a spiritually oriented person. Wish I’d known that - we could have gone off on that tangent which I really would have enjoyed. This post is getting too long. And it’s unfocused and I’m rambling. Oh well. Oh, one more amazing coincidence was that I got to meet another person I’d only previously met via Audiogon - Michael from Corvallis. Yeah! We’re going to be able to finally have that shootout we’d planned to do back in 2019/2020. Really was a pleasure to put a face to the name. Overall my experience of the show was that it was great. So many audiophiles seem to be real gentlemen and I enjoyed every conversation I got to have. |
This most genial, thoughtful, educational, respectful and generous thread of all time deserves to be a "sticky". Not only is it full of wonderful history, a person can learn a lot from it. A little ways up @donsachs used the expression "nutshell" in reference to one of Lynn’s posts. Hah! I think it is more like an advanced panel discussion between Don, Ralph and Lynn and some of our other technical gray-beards. Or maybe it can be likened to a graduate seminar in esoteric Amp design. Wonderful. My nomination for thread of the year, 2023. |
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. This is such a great thread. Oh! And hi @eddie138 ! Nice of you to drop in! |