2. amps-preamps
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Finally Settled on a Preamp—Don Sachs Model 2 Custom Linestage

I took delivery a couple months ago of Don Sachs’s Model 2 6SN7 custom line stage preamp. It’s his latest iteration with an OLED display and 64 step Khozmo attenuator with input relay switching. There are no channel level attenuators. I had Don put in WE6SN7 tubes, and a pair of Mindoro 2.2 uF silver oil capacitors on the second output for flexibility with a possible SS amp in the future. The pre is simply marvelous. I have tried quite a number of preamps in the last few years. Some of you might remember my original post on the topic: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tube-preamp-recommendations-3?page=2. Don’s pre beats everything I’ve tried. I’m not an audiophile reviewer by any means, but to my ear, it has an enormous soundstage, and is extremely detailed, extended, and dynamic. Sometimes I leave my living room and it just sounds like there are musicians playing in the other room. The level of detail at times can almost be startling. 

I paired it with Don’s Kootenay 120 KT88 power amplifier, which I purchased from another Audiogon member. The amp now has Don’s latest caps and WEKT88 tubes. Both pieces have a synergy that creates a very musical sound that I can listen to for hours without fatigue with my ProAc Response Two S speakers.

Some praise for the man is in order. Don is very responsive and has gone out of his way to help me with related and completely unrelated projects to get my system sounding the best it ever has. He’s a nice, genuine guy to boot.

I’d upload some photographs of my system and Don’s pre and amp, but it appears that I can’t do that on a forum post; someone please correct me if I’m wrong.

Cheers,

Rob


robert1234
smodtactical
967 posts
 
Have any of you compared dons linestage to production stuff like bhk pre, evo400 or arc ref6?
tinear123
240 posts
 
Funny you mention those two particular linestages for comparison. I have mentioned on another thread somewhere that I at one point this last year had all three (new Don Sachs pre, PSA-BHK, and the AR-ref-6SE) at the same time swapping them out just about weekly for a couple months. All three are very good but different is particular ways. The PSA-BHK is wonderfully flexible and lots of tube rolling possibilities since it can be configured for both 6v and 12v tubes. FYI the tubes that ship with the unit are in my opinion crap. A top notch pre with good tubes. The ref-6SE is well, fantastic but I found it sterile in my system. Very revealing which I like but seemed dynamically constrained compared to Don’s pre. Additionally the ref-6SE in my particular system (high efficiency horns) was a bit thin in the upper octaves. So after much back & forth swapping units and rolling tubes it became very apparent that the Don Sachs had the best synergy with the balance of my system and the other two were sold.

I purchased the Don Sachs on a whim just to see what it was like. FYI Don is quite a gentleman and is ready to customize the output impedance and cap for your particular amp or in my case amps.  Unusual in todays world for sure.  It’s the least expensive part of my audio chain but the synergy to the amplifiers is wow good. It’s what a 1/4th of the price of the ref-6SE and spanked it. Thats pretty good in my book.

- Pre (Don Sachs #2-custom)
- Main Amps (Coincident Frankenstein Mk-II 300B mono blocks)
- Base Amps (Block Audio mono blocks)
- Main Speakers (BD-Design Orphean Horns)
- Base Speakers (BD-Design Compact Reference)
- Sub (SVS-PB-16-Ultra) x2
- Interconnects, speaker cables, and power cables all (Grover Huffman Empress+)
mdrone
114 posts
 

I am searching for a preamplifier.  Looking for tonal richness and excellent timber.

Does Dons pre-amp fit that bill?

Also wonder if anyone compared it to Aric Audio, Linear tube amplfier, Audio Mirror, Backart  in their search.

Thanks

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