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REVIEW: Raven Audio Blackhawk Integrated, Soniquil Cables....

So, I decided to give the Raven Audio Blackhawk a second shot of making it into my audio den.

Some of you may recall that this past summer I ordered a Raven Audio Blackhawk and that I was very excited about getting this integrated amp and that James Connell from Raven was going to personally deliver it to me, and that I posted that here at Agon.

Well James delivered it (I had to meet him at a mall but that is okay) and I brought it home to set it up in my system. Well Bryant at the factory packed my Blackhawk out with defective tubes and when I fired it up well smoke came out of the thing. I emailed Bryant and James and they said they would check it out, so I packed it up and met up with James at the same mall and he took it back. Never once did they ask what I wanted to do or tried to keep me happy.

So, the next day an Agoner asked me how the Blackhawk was working out and I posted what happened. Well over night my phone is blowing up with text messages from James and they were none too kind. Dave then proceeded to lambaste me and brought up another issue I had with my CeLest Towers. (yes, they have an issue with system controls and QC processes. As a MSME in an industry where if we send the wrong part trains derail and aircraft fall out the sky, I am critical of these short comings especially when they are so simple to fix but are repeated (at least with me). I had even written a review and it is posted on the Raven Audio website and here at Audiogon.com about my experience with the CeLest, but I digress.

To be clear I was a Raven Audio fan boy. Even more than Millercarbon, but Dave’s post and James text messages tarnished their image and created doubt about their “Great Company”. Heck I spent close $10K with these guys in one summer and answer a question on Agon and get lambasted by the Principals of this company. I tout how great their CeLest speakers are and their cables (they are top shelf stuff) every chance I get. I think these products are some of the most underrated in our community.

Well I cannot lie I really wanted to get a Blackhawk, but I was not going to give Raven Audio another dime of my money. So, what to do?

Simple buy a used one and give it a go, and that is what I did. Found a Blackhawk MKIII on Agon for $$ well a steal and hooked it up in my system.

Well Raven Audio has an excellent product in the form of their Blackhawk MKII. The stock tubes that came in the unit were great and buying used yes, they are quite well burned in. So I did order some new tubes and plan on doing some rolling (thetubestore.com).

My system:

Raven Audio CeLest Towers.

Raven Audio Blackhawk MKIII with stock tubes.

Raven Audio Soniquil Power Cables.

Raven Audio Soniquil Speaker Cables (yes, they are cables).

Raven Audio Soniquil RCA and XLR Interconnects.

Moon by Simaudio 280D Streaming DAC/DSD (awesome clarity).

Thorens TD145 Beautiful restored TD145 with Curly Maple Plinth with Walnut inlay. Tonearm rewired with Cardas tonearm wire, new Thorens belt, Brand new Nagaoka MP200 cartridge. New RCA Jacks, IEC power jack. Sounds wonderful.

Icon Audio PS2 MM TUBE Phono Amp. Dedicated MI/MM phono stage that sounds fantastic.

Okay so to the point the review.

The Blackhawk is of substantial build quality and this integrated will stand the test of time. Stock tubes were in good condition and I downloaded the Raven Blackhawk user’s manual for the Raven website. Tube installation is straight forward and had I not been shipped defective tubes on the original order … I digress.

So, once I had everything hooked up it was time to spin up a record or two or three.

I spun up Miles Davis Bitches Brew sat back and was lifted into the music. The soundstage was vast and detailed, I felt as if I was at the Green Mill on Broadway in Chicago listening to Miles in 1970.

Next up was a low quality poorly engineered album by the only band that matters The Sex Pistols. Yep sounded just as shitty on this rig as it did on ever since I bought this album in 1977 but Never Mind the Bullock’s just flat out rocks and so did the Blackhawk.

I moved over to my digital section and ran a couple of CD through the system. Queens Of The Stone Age, R. Robin Trower Long Misty Days, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Live in Cuba. The Raven Blackhawk did not miss a beat, fast responsive bass, great balanced mids and high end. Just wonderful to listen to.

To close out I put Holst the Planets on the TD145 to seal the deal! I found that I was listening to the music not the gear.

Yes, the Raven Blackhawk has earned a spot in my listening room. Yes, it is a wonderful tube integrated amp and yes, it is mostly made in the USA.

Though I may not care for James tact or the jib of Dave’s sail I will say they are building some high-quality audio gear.

I also want to thank Raven Audio for initially shipping defective tubes and not trying to reconcile. If you had I would not have been so determined to get a Blackhawk and review it (hoping for validation) and you saved me thousands by sending me to “THE U$ED MARKET”, but I would have paid $$$$ Thousands more for this quality and sound.

No really Dave, James and Bryant thanks for building a quality product and one day you will be a “Great American Company.

Enjoy and Listen to the Music not the GEAR! BUY A RAVEN!


128x128skypunk
kren0006
1,859 posts
 
If this didn’t happen the way the military veteran claims it did, why doesn’t Raven come on here themselves and clarify?

If it did, sorry Raven, you lost a potential customer. 
For now I’ll choose to believe the military vet 
Post removed 
ravenjames
5 posts
 

Hey everyone, this is James Connell with Raven Audio. Firstly, I want everyone to know that Raven Audio is extremely pro-Military. Both of Dave Thompson’s (Raven Audio Founder) parents were military. My father was Airforce, my uncle was as well, and many of my extended family members are and were in the Military. Two of my closest lifelong friends were Arm and Navy. As many know I have been involved in music production my whole life, but I have also owned a television production firm as well. About ten years ago I hosted a dinner in Dallas honoring WWII veterans and prior to that filmed them telling their stories. This was one of the most meaningful things I feel like I have ever done. If anyone is interested, message me and I will send you links to these wonderful men’s stories I produced. I am delving into this information because I want everyone out there to know how much I personally love and respect the military and people who have served.


As a company, Raven Audio gets many solicitations every day via email and phone for all sorts of scams. Occasionally, the stories are by claimed Military members. I am in a constant state of hyperawareness of these issues because we are bombarded every day and week with various scams. Having said that, I do believe that Erik was most likely representing himself as serving in the Military even though through all the communications he offered no proof of it. This communication was over a several-month period. I never at any point told him we would not honor the discount on the amplifier. The problem was over a new speaker that we are coming out with that I wanted to be a surprise to the public. We have had several versions of the prototype. When we first spoke, I mentioned I could sell him the prototype for s specific price. A couple of months passed before Erik called me. During that time we rethought the speaker. The first version was a small bookshelf. We wound up with a larger bookshelf that we believe is more marketable because it has enough authoritative low bass to not need a subwoofer. When Erik called me a week ago and said he was ready to go, and mentioned the prices I could not sell him the newer version for the price quoted two months before. That is how this got started, It was not until after the call that I put it all together in my own mind. I deal with twenty to fifty customer phone calls per week and we discuss many things. Many people talk about buying and then do not call me for several months and I have to be reminded of what we talked about. Sometimes things change during those spans of time and we are not able to do what we could have done when I made the original offer. When Erik sent me an email listing out what we had talked about, I was simply acknowledging that what I had told him initially was true. When he called me last week, the conversation went sideways when he told me he was a lawyer and gave me a lecture on a verbal contract and then threatened to smear us on social media. Within a day I was getting emails from fake email accounts accusing me of being a “Liberal Activist” and dishonoring military veterans. I then started getting emails showing long diatribes being posted on all our videos on YouTube, of course, I deleted them because I feel like this is a ridiculous and dishonorable way to handle this situation. If Erik would have simply taken my phone calls the evening that this happened, I was prepared to sell him the speakers at our loss after thinking it through because once I put myself in his position, I could understand why he was frustrated. I still will sell him the amp with the discount and the original smaller bookshelf speakers that we discussed and I showed him via FaceTime a couple of months ago. I am open to suggestions.

Erik, If you want to have a reset, call me and we can put this behind ourselves and work something out to make you happy.

All the best,
James




allears4u
135 posts
 

Sitting here enjoying my Raven Nighthawk upgrade. These discussions can wear any member out. The fact that James chirped in and offered any solution shows how difficult these communications can be. My experience with Raven Audio has been crazy excellent in several ways. I've been on the phone with both Dave, James, Bill (tech), and Bryant. These guys have invested not only time into my system with advice, trial tubes, endless tips but I have been treated like a close friend. The bottom line is: my system is my personal dream system thanks to Raven Audio. This Integrated amp sounds better/real more than anything I've ever owned or heard. Started as a junior stereo salesman in 1977. Yes, I'm pretty old. My Raven experience has been an unqualified pleasure.  

agisthos
504 posts
 

Well from these posts here James Connell from Raven Audio seems to have comported himself very well.

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