Don Sachs Owners Thread

Gents,

I am picking up my Wells Audio first-gen Innamorata on Friday at Jeff Well's studio.  I currently have the Wells Audio Majestic which was uniquely configured as a pure power amp and it absolutely betters my former McCormack SS amp in all respects. I am sure that the there will be even more of the same "goodness" with the Innamorata that I currently hear with the Majestic.  I heard the Innamorata at Jeff's studio 10 years ago and have since heard it at several audio shows and it always make feel as if I were listening to a very quick and accurate tube amp.  Just like with Don's gear, I somehow knew that Jeff's amp was something that was really special, a legacy piece of gear.  Between the Kootenai and the Innamorata, I am going to be "amped" up for a good long time.

I had Don's first preamp and now his latest version, which is fantastic as well.  I recently got the Linlai 6SN7's and they sound fine to my ears, as Don said they would.  My current ss amp in the rack is dead quiet and I sense no noise generated by the preamp at all.  I have dozens of NOS 6SN7 tubes -- not the holy grail variants, but Sylvania, RCA, and Raytheon, which were dramatically better than the crappy Russian tubes Don originally sourced with his first preamp, figuring buyers would be rolling tubes anyway, but Don has been a devotee of recent Chinese tubes and I absolutely agree with his assessment.  Don told me long ago that among the 4 6SN7 tubes, sonically the 2 most important ones are those on the left side of the top of the preamp.  If you have a pair of fabulous NOS tubes, it is best to place them there. 

I have both Don's preamp and KT88 amp and believe that I own legacy audio gear, somewhat rare in quantities produced as well as with respect to their sonic excellence.  Don's own passion for music is reflected in his excellent gear.

Soren,

The Kootenai amp is really outstanding, far better than the HK Citation II and V amps that Don earlier fully modified for me.  Its 60-wpc drives a lot speakers just fine with remarkably solid base response, a warm liquid mid-range and extended high end.  It has none of the sluggishness as several my former CJ tube amps had;   it is as quick as any excellent SS amp.  The true magic of the amp is its outstanding soundstage, front to back, side to side, and up and down.  The amp provides a glimpse of "being there" with the music, which is additive to the sound of his preamp.  While it might not be exactly as quiet as the better SS amps, to my ears, it is very close, pretty much dead silent.  

When Don first told about his idea to create his Kootenai amp, I was at that point annoyed with tube amps because of the PITA biasing of my HK amps, but the Kootenai is self-biasing/auto-biasing (I don't understand the difference, honestly) and when a pal brought his Kootenai by for an audition, both of our jaws dropped driving my Spatial Audio speakers when compared to my Platinum-upgraded Modwright DNA .05 SS amp.  I currently run the Kootenai in the cool months here in Northern CA and a Wells Audio SS amp the rest of the year.  The Wells Audio amp is a SS amp masquerading as a tube amp and is as fine as the Kootenai, but at a dramatically higher cost.

I have a pair of Dynaudio Confidence C-1's in transit to me -- a relatively constant 4 ohm load, and Don assures me that the Kootenai will drive them just fine.

Back to the DS2 preamp.  Roger Modjeski of Music Reference fame, told me at a Burning Amp gathering in San Francisco that 6SN7 tubes were more appropriate for old TV's than for preamp circuits, inherently too noisy for audio.  Modwright and Supratek employ them to excellent advantage, perhaps others too.   Don's preamp is a fully-developed iteration of Roy Mottram's of Tubes4Hifi SP14 preamp, which employs the same tube configuration, the development of which has been fully sanctioned and applauded by Roy.  I had Roy's stock SP14 for a while and it not nearly the equal of Don's version, but it definitely will give one a strong sense of the magic of a 6SN7 tube preamps for a very economical price and if you have the skills, cap upgrades are pretty easy to do and very beneficial.  Tubes4Hifi make very well-made power cords and speakers for very reasonable price, as well.

As Don has always said, "there is magic in 6SN7 tubes."   My ears tell me that he is exactly right. 

...

Barondla, 

I told Don that I would never again consider a tube amp that did not auto bias and he assured me that he sorted this out with the Kootenai and the LED meter on the Kootenai has been locked on solidly since I got the amp for all 4 power tubes. By many accounts, the Carver Crimson 275 amp is a good performer, albeit with questionable current output, but it too required manual biasing which to me would be a PITA.   With modern electronics, this auto-biasing feature ought to be de rigueur for all tubes amps. 

The Dyn's are to arrive in a couple of days and since you asked, I will report back how well the Kootenai performs driving the consistent 4 ohm load they present. They will be compared to my Buchardt S400 SE speakers which are quite good.