Well, tariff land is avoided for 30 days. A certain someone loves to inject uncertainty. He fails to realize that business in all countries likes certainty. I have never seen my fellow Canadians more united across the political spectrum than they have been in the past 30 days. I am not sure that certain someone has any clue about the resolve of Canada, and how he has damaged the relationship with his most trusted neighbour. Sad..... I have many American friends and colleagues and that will not change, but the relationship between the two countries has been seriously damaged. Just so sad and unnecessary. Let's hope the whole situation settles down and is over. I doubt it will happen for 4 years though....
Spatial Audio Raven Preamp
Spatial is supposed to be shipping the first "wave" from pre orders of this preamplifier in May, does anyone have one on order? Was hoping to hear about it from AXPONA but I guess they were not there. It's on my list for future possibilities. It seems to check all my boxes if I need a preamp.
Showing 10 responses by donsachs
@yyzsantabarbara The remote on the Raven works very well even at 20-25 ft as long as it has a clear line of sight to the preamp |
The current de minimis threshold for goods entering the USA is $800. So used things from Canada under that value will not see a tariff. They may change that, but so far that has not changed. It is also where the gear was made. If the seller can prove the gear was made in USA and not Canada, then theoretically, there should be no tariff. Now if you were to buy a preamp from me, when I was still making them, it is made in Canada and worth more than $800, so it would see a tariff. Or a speaker from say Troy Joseph Crowe in Ontario. Made in Canada. So the answer is it depends:) |
Actually, he is violating the CUSMA free trade agreement (which HE negotiated during his first term). There is a clause that says you can get out and establish tariffs under "national security" reasons. So they invented the fentanyl problem at the Canadian border to do so. Less than 1% of fentanyl (far less than 1%) that enters the USA does so through Canada. A significant proportion of the illegal guns that enter Canada do so through the USA, but we prefer to have diplomacy about that issue rather than start trade wars. It is a made up excuse so he can tear up the trade agreement and start a tariff war. Why? Who knows. Every sane economist says it is a horrible idea, but he listens to Navarro, who has been ridiculed by the economics community as an idiot. So here we are in a tariff war for no reason whatsoever except the whims of a couple of people in power. This will hurt everyone... sad, but true. |
Indeed on the speakers. I own 95 dB speakers that are an easy 8 ohm load. The giant 84 dB speaker that takes 200 watts to wake up really don't sound any better to my ear. In general they sound worse. Give me a 90+ dB well behaved speaker every time. Then I can drive it with a 20 watt tube amp and be happy:) As for tariffs, we shall see. Now there are more negotiations going on. One thing business hates is uncertainty. Consumers hate it too. |
The Caladan a nice speaker and great value! It is 93 dB and 4 ohm. That means you can use most any amp you like of 10 watts or so. I built a little pair of 45 monos and a pair of 6C4C (the Russian 6B4G) monos. Both were push pull and clipped at about 6 W. They easily drove my 95 dB 8 ohm open baffles to screaming levels. So a properly designed low power tube amp would easily drive the Caladans for most folks. The 300b monos are 24 watts and represent essentially unlimited power into that sort of speaker. The 300b amps are spendy. But there are plenty of good quality tube amps under $5000 that I think would be a sonic revelation compared to what you are listening to. My 2 cents. It might be a road worth exploring. Especially if you have a friend with a decent tube amp who would bring it over... XLR inputs would be best, but rca inputs are fine with the Raven. Then you would know if a tube amp would sound more pleasing to you. |
I have seen all sorts of things rebuilding old tube gear. If it was original, then it was pretty well made and everything tied down. If someone else had "restored it", all bets were off. I won't name anyone, but there were a couple of well known vintage restoration places where I could not believe what I saw when I opened the hood. 50 cent caps with leads hanging in the air, etc.... The best story though, was an old Fender guitar amp I was fixing for a musician friend. Someone had wired the hot side of AC to the chassis and neutral to the fuse! The amp worked.... but if that guitarist has put his cold sweaty beer can down in just the right spot on top........ |