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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
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.

lynn_olson's avatar
lynn_olson
353 posts
 

The Raven was the surprise for me. You see, I’ve been listening to the Karna amps for 20 years, now reborn as the Blackbird. Yes, there are differences, but what’s at the show is very very close to what I know so well at home ... maybe a teensy bit better, with a couple more improvements Don and I are hiding up our sleeve. But the show amps are 95% to 98% of what the shipping amps will be (yes, the production Blackbirds will be even better, Don and I promise that).

But I’ve never heard a Raven before. Hoo boy, is it good. Wow. I didn’t expect that. I knew what it does, of course, because I designed it more than twenty years ago, and Don refined it and took it a few steps further. But I never actually heard it, just other people’s impressions of it. I was quite surprised when I hear it for myself, in what is a very good room.

I’m not all that good at writing puff pieces, but the initial impression is speed and power, followed by vividness, and depth of tone, an impression that grows over the course of a few minutes, and after listening to a few different selections. We keep telling visitors, no, there is no 200-watt subwoofer (or two) tucked away in a corner, and yes, the new Spatial speakers are entirely powered by ONE Blackbird per channel, with passive crossovers (sample on display at the entrance to the room), and no electronic EQ, no active crossovers, no multi-amping, and no DSP. What you see is what you get.

As for source, Don and I are joking around about our favorite DACs. He’s all-in on the LampizatOr family, while I was dazzled by the Bruno Putzey-designed Mola Mola in a nearby room. I was expecting to be bowled over by the Holo May, but nah, it’s not for me. But there’s no way I’m going to cough up the $13,500 the Mola Mola costs, especially considering how fast DACs become obsolete ... five years or less.

Tube amps, by contrast ... the tech never becomes obsolete. For that matter, all of the tubes used in the Blackbird, and the basic circuit, were first designed in the 1930’s! Talk about not going obsolete.

 

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