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

The takeaway is that is impossible to "overdrive" the 300B. By contrast, a charmer like an EL84 can be driven with a whisper ... even a 12AX7 biased at 1 mA will sound good as a driver (which doesn’t work with any other power tube). A classic Mullard circuit is ideal for a pair of EL84’s since they are so easy to drive. 6L6's take a bit more muscle, so 6SN7's are a better choice.

The 300B is the opposite. A high voltage, high current, and ultra low distortion driver is mandatory, otherwise you never hear the 300B.

A simple and very effective way to drive 300bs is to use a cathode follower driver, direct-coupled to the grid of the 300b as it fulfills the requirements listed above. This requires a B- supply but you can control the grid so well that it can be driven class A2 (grid current) and you can easily overdrive the tube using a single 6SN7 section. This also allows for a much smaller coupling capacitor; 0.1uf (at the grid of the 6SN7) will allow -3dB bandwidth at 2Hz. This frees up the Voltage amplifier/driver of conventional design from a highly capacitive load. The downside might be that the power tube has to have its bias set correctly (so a provision to measure current is needed), which is done by setting the bias of the 6SN7. 

Doing this I've been able to overdrive 300bs (even multiples!) quite easily. The CF circuit, without the typically large coupling cap that often gives CF circuits a bad rep, has a tight grip on the grid of the 300b; so much so that driving class A2 with the substantial grid current that tube needs is no problem. You can easily drive the grid +15V WRT to the cathode with good linearity. 

The cost of a B- power supply is insubstantial when compared to the cost of a good inter-stage transformer and you get less distortion with greater bandwidth. You also don't have to introduce a power tetrode or pentode into the circuit.

A nice feature of this approach is the bias setting is very stable so might only need checking once or twice a year.

 

Has anyone purchased a set of the Blackbirds? Kind of surprising there still hasn’t really been any real world feedback on them yet (tho maybe I missed something).

Well, I know more people than Whitestix bought the Blackbirds. My guess they are not on this forum (yet).