2. amps-preamps
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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

Showing 5 responses by thom_at_galibier_design

thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
724 posts
 

Weirdly enough, both Thom Mackris and Don Sachs came up with the 6V6 driver within hours of each other. Thom was hacking around with his SET 300B amp and swapped in the 6V6 driver and was jumping up and down about it, and Don calls the same day. OK guys, you win, tell me how it’s going.

Thom plays electric guitar and has built his own guitar amp, as well as his 300B SET for his hifi system, so he’s really into tone. The 6V6 is famous throughout the guitar community for its tone. And Don’s a big fan of the 6V6 too. I’d been casting around for a replacement for the unobtainium 45 (in matched pairs no less), and both my friends say the same thing on pretty much the same day. And yes, Don and Thom chat on the phone on a regular basis. I think they have an ESP thing going.

My NiWatts started off as 6SN7 --> 6SN7 --> 300B.  You could think of the Reichert as being the launch point, although through the years, the only remaining similarity between the two designs is two tubes (the 6SN7 input and the 300B).

I was pondering switching to a 45 for a driver for quite some time, and thought, why not start with a 6V6?  I have to say that I can't find a compelling reason to change.

I let this amp sit in a 90% state of completion for several years.  I had too many irons in the fire. 

Anyhow, Lynn's conversations with Don motivated me to pop the hood and finish the job.  The spooky thing about this process is how many things the two of us discovered in parallel, and even more spooky - within days of each other.

I could swear that an audio muse was injecting thoughts into both of our heads.

The fact that we settled on so many similar design concepts (while the two designs are so radically different) still has me shaking my head.

The most recent "coincidence" occurred last Friday (literally within hours of each other, according to Lynn), where we made parallel revisions to our 300B cathode's circuit.

... Thom @ Galibier

thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
724 posts
 

The speakers appear to be 8 ohm 90 dB from a stereophile review. They dip to 3.2 ohms, which isn’t bad. The amps would drive them with no trouble in any reasonable sized room. I cannot comment on pricing until Spatial Audio figures out all of their costs. I would expect $15,000 - 20,000 per pair with premium tubes, but that might be off a bit. There will be an announcement after the Seattle show in the spatial audio lab website once it is all figured out.

I don’t know Don’s power supply design, although with Lynn’s collaboration, I’m sure some sort of split supply has been implemented - whether via isolation or regulation. It’s one area Don and I haven’t discussed.

Lynn’s original Karna concept (which I’m employing in my NiWatts) runs a separate separate B+ supply for the output section. We’ve already discussed how the sound of a 300B is the sound of the driver.

With a dedicated power supply to run the input and driver sections (separate power transformers and supply circuitry in the NiWatts - 4 transformers in total per channel), an inefficient speaker may whip the output tube’s power supply into submission, while the input and driver stages are just coasting along.

The perceived effect is that of much more power than the specs would lead you to expect.

Lynn was at a session where I drove a pair of Von Schweikerts with my puny, single-ended NiWatts. Until things got rock concert loud (I put in my musicians’ ear plugs - these guys were nuts), the NiWatts were breezing along.

... Thom @ Galibier

 

thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
724 posts
 

Hi @charles1dad

I couldn’t agree with your comments (below) more. In theory, reproducing music at concert levels sounds like a good idea. In practice however, I think that for anything other than a string quartet or solo guitarist, live concert levels would violate OHSA regulations.

My wife was trained for the Broadway stage, and when she belts it out in our listening room, it's LOUD.  She still has a wonderful voice but it can be a bit too much in a small space.  Back in the day, you were trained to reach the back of the auditorium without the benefit of a microphone ;-)

I’m all for rock and roll but I also like my hearing, and loud demos are more frequently than not a sign of an unimpressive system.

One little secret of better systems (especially horn or electrostat based ones) is that the resolution level is such that lower level listening can be quite satisfying.

People conflate horns (for example) with playing loud, and they surely do that, and with low distortion. The real benefitis that they’re superb for late night listening.

... Thom @ Galibier

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.

thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
724 posts
 
@donsachs

I know that when I have my system "cranked" and I measure the level it is about 81-83 dB. I rarely listen at that level. As was stated above, the hallmark of a good system is that it has enough resolution and balance that it can be enjoyed at low to moderate volumes. There is a minimum level for the bass to pressurize or load the room, but that isn’t all that loud in any house I have lived in. I generally listen at the level where that has happened and not much higher.

Funny how our perceptions change as we traverse through time. At 25 years of age, I would have  considered 83dB to be a mere whisper, and now I (like you) consider it to be quite loud, although I don’t think of this as concert levels ... maybe coffee shop concerts, where the performers are implored to turn it down, so everyone can talk over the music ;-)

This brings up a related a rabbit hole into which we can jump - the perceptual difference between hi-fi reproduction and home listening.  Lynn touched on this above.

 

Thom @ Galibier

thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
724 posts
 

@gladmo

The takeaway from your observations (quoted below) is that no system is universal, and we all latch on to different elements of the sonic illusion. Well done!

... Thom

My personal award show notes from PAF, including the room with the amp in this thread:

*Most intensely rich yet detailed tubey midrange: LTA prototype DAC, LTA Pre, LTA Ultralinear+ monoblocks, and Daedalus Argos V3 speakers

*Most delicate and intricately revealing top end with too much mid-bass: VAC components and Von Schweikert Ultra 7 speakers

*Second place for best top end and also clear midrange but garbled bass: Songer + Whammerdyne

*Most gossamer presentation: Don Sachs’ Raven/Blackbird + Spatial Audio Lab X series speakers

*Largest sounding very small, yet full range speakers: Gershman

*Most humongously oversized images and stage and most impressive driver tech: Aavik/Ansus and Borreson M6

*Most resonant enclosures: Black Ocean Audio

*Most disappointing tonality: Joseph Audio Pearl Graphene speakers

*Biggest surprise: Vanatoo’s little office stereo sized powered speakers

*Friendliest exhibitor reps: Tie between Furutech and ASC

*Most advantaged by vibration control: Millercarbon

*Most classic solid state sounding room: Infigo Audio

*Most inoffensive yet not all that unique sounding room: Bella Sound

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