Spatial Audio Raven Preamp

@lynn_olson I’m a believer!  The Speltz level 5.3 XLR Anticables are very reasonably priced in my opinion and seem to be a perfect match for the Raven.  Talking with Paul Speltz about his cables and pickleball among other things was a pleasure.  Many thanks to Don for pointing me in the right direction.

@jc4659 So glad the anticables worked out for you.  Same setup I am running, with xlr from my Lampi Pacific 2 to the Raven and xlr to the Blackbirds from the Raven.  I am going to get Paul to make me speaker cables eventually when I get around to it.

It is always a bit of a stretch recommending cables because we all have our taste.  There are lots of very good cables in the world and people recommend them to me regularly.   I just tell folks what I am using that works for me.  I heard Paul's cables when Spatial used them in our demo in Seattle and I was impressed, so I bought some.  The Raven is very transparent and will certainly show you what your cables sound like.  I don't think Paul's cables really sound like anything, which is the best praise I can give anything.  They are just transparent without any trace of brightness in my system.     Glad they worked out for you.  

Do these preamp tubes have auto biasing or do they have to be done manually?

No adjustments are necessary. The only requirement is the sections within the 6SN7 are internally matched, which is true for any good-quality tube. Each channel has its own 6SN7, and it is preferable the stereo pair are matched, although not essential.

(This is a roundabout way of saying don’t just use random pairs of old tubes pulled out of a junk box. The ones we ship with the Raven are the best modern tubes available. Before you try old-stock, make sure they are tested and known to be good.)

Hello All,

I received my Raven  preamp early last week and have about 20 hours listening to the unit. My CD player is an Oppo 205.  I am not into cd's only having 250 - 300 cds.  My favorite media is LP's having about 4150 of all genres.  Unfortunately my phono stage (Modwright PH 9.0 XT) is out for repair.  So I have been listening to nothing but CD's.  And all I can say is wow. I can't wait to get my phono stage back so i can listen to LP's again.  

The soundstage is wide and extremely clear.  The instruments and voices are well separated and very musical, plus the sound stage is really deep.  It is now very easy to listen to, no fatigue. The sound of cd's, for me anyway, is approaching LP quality. My whole system consist of the following:  A VPI HW19 Mk IV with many modifications, tonearm is a Woody String Theory with a Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC cartridge, my DVD/CD Player  is an OPPO 205, my phono stage is a Modwright PH 9.0 XT,  my amps are V4 QuickSilver mono blocks. my speakers are Watt Puppy clones.  

So, I am 72 and believe this is my final system  it ticks all my boxes.  It is not too pricey, it is very detailed and still extremely musical.  Now I can concentrate on collecting LP's specifically jazz and classical.  I think i will get many hours of pleasure from my system in the future. I will post a review on how the LP's sound when I get my phono stage back.

Richard