There are 3 or 4 sets of the final production Blackbirds in the world. One is probably still in the boxes (go figure) as the person was building a new house or some such. There is one guy who loves his and posted on the spatial audio circle I believe. There are a few sets of the prototype ones in the smaller chassis with 6V6 drivers floating around and people like them. But no one is really active on chat boards. C'est la vie. A review pair will make its way into someone's hands this year most likely. The Raven preamp has had more people posting because it costs less and there are around 30 of the production ones out in the real world.
I have one of or the original stereo prototypes. I discovered it because of this thread though didn’t expect to be able to own one. I did see these amps (Blackbirds though they may not have referenced the name) brought up on another forum when I was looking up 6V6’s and it was brought up as a modern example/option using 6V6’s as drivers. I guess they didn’t know production version changed to KT88’s. I have some NOS matched pairs on order and am curious to see what differences they make. I still don’t know squat about tube design, but when I first got it I didn’t really know the difference between them and say similar looking 6SN7’s, but they seem like a great tube in their own right.
There are a couple owners of the mono prototypes in another circle. I don’t think those owners will ever willingly let them go. The guy I got my stereo amp from definitely wouldn’t have sold it if he hadn’t gotten the monoblock prototypes.
I still see Don Sachs preamps referenced and also notice Raven brought up as a top notch preamp option, even by non-owners. There is definitely lots of talk about amps, but I see that people are more likely to roll through various preamps and DACs while holding onto their amp and speaker pairing once they’ve found a good one. Other than not being many Blackbird 300b owners out there, there are many who don’t know about Don Sachs products, and many that do don’t associate with amps or especially 300b amps. Also experienced audiophiles I’m talking with in person who aren’t familiar with Spatial Labs. Some audiophiles don’t even visit forums at all to see such information if it is there. So only a few owners out there and I think there are a lot of folks out there that don’t know about the Blackbirds to chat about them.
I hope Southwest Audiofest went well and generates some buzz. Has to be taken with a grain of salt due to all the variables, but always interesting to catch impressions from those who visit the feats. Too far for me, but I’m glad Gary and Lou got it going. I would definitely stop by and visit if ever at Axpona.
$20k for amps is pretty unattainable for many consumers, but I’m glad there are those who can afford them so they can potentially be available on the used market some day. Are there any thoughts to a more entry level amp that could also pair well with the Raven as well as Spatial Labs speakers or similar, say 95 dB or better as previously referenced as a good sensitivity for ~20 WPC?