Spatial Audio Raven Preamp

For anyone interested who perhaps has a Raven already...  Spatial has one last pair of the original pre-production Blackbird amps that they are going to sell at a discount.  David will post them on his site shortly.  If you are interested you can find them.....

I’ll amplify Don’s post. The last pair of pre-production Blackbirds are most likely the cheapest ones you will ever see. Spatial Audio Labs will try to hold the line on prices, but there are a number of imported parts in the Blackbird amplifier ... the European-made Monolith transformers, various cathode-bypass capacitors, and other key parts. If the proposed tariffs materialize, that will affect the build cost not just of our amplifier, but many other audiophile components.

I’ve got my fingers crossed the proposed tariffs never appear, but if they do, nearly all audiophile components will go up in price. If you are thinking of a major capital investment, now is the time to buy.

Well.... here we are.  It happened.  We now have a tariff war and I happen to know a number of parts in the Raven come from Canada.  Others are European so let's hope the USA doesn't get into a tariff war with Poland or Belgium.  There are some American parts too..... Like everything else, the Raven contains parts from all over the world, but it is built in the USA.  I suppose I should stop typing.  Since I am in Canada there may soon be a tariff on my words:)

Let's hope the Tariff war will end soon through negotiation and co-operation. 

Well.... here we are. It happened. We now have a tariff war and I happen to know a number of parts in the Raven come from Canada. Others are European so let’s hope the USA doesn’t get into a tariff war with Poland or Belgium. There are some American parts too..... Like everything else, the Raven contains parts from all over the world, but it is built in the USA.

I was hoping Trump was using tariffs as a negotiating tactic, but it appears that very unfortunately he’s gonna implement them. Much like the recent government spending freeze that may have been well intended but not at all thought through and ultimately having to be rescinded, this tariff thing will have significant ripple effects not only in the audio industry but across our economy and not to our benefit, especially if you were hoping for prices to decline from here. Financial capital, like water, flows to the area of least resistance and forcing it to flow here through tariffs will have significant ramifications. As just one example, there are very sound economic reasons why many cars are manufactured in Mexico rather than here or in Europe. Trump appears to be looking back to the era of President McKinley’s use of tariffs but seems to fail to realize that this is a far more globally-oriented economic world than it was back then, so while their goals may have been similar and well-meaning in fostering US business interests the unanticipated and far-reaching negative consequences of employing broad-based tariffs today will be considerable and very painful especially to us as consumers. Please know I’m not saying these things from a political perspective at all but as a finance person and purely from an economic perspective. What Don has said above will ripple through countless other industries and products we buy here, and I sincerely hope this tariff thing gets reconsidered and/or renegotiated before it does some real and considerable damage to both our economy and our personal bank accounts.