45 is indeed very very nice sounding.
Cost has gone up quite a bit though. $2k will be barely enough these days for a high quality 45SET DIY project, assuming no fancy enclosures and not using big name irons like ISO or Hashimoto.
300b lovers
I have been an owner of Don Sachs gear since he began, and he modified all my HK Citation gear before he came out with his own creations. I bought a Willsenton 300b integrated amp and was smitten with the sound of it, inexpensive as it is. Don told me that he was designing a 300b amp with the legendary Lynn Olson and lo and behold, I got one of his early pair of pre-production mono-blocks recently, driving Spatial Audio M5 Triode Masters.
Now with a week on the amp, I am eager to say that these 300b amps are simply sensational, creating a sound that brings the musicians right into my listening room with a palpable presence. They create the most open vidid presentation to the music -- they are neither warm nor cool, just uncannily true to the source of the music. They replace his excellent Kootai KT88 which I was dubious about being bettered by anything, but these amps are just outstanding. Don is nearing production of a successor to his highly regard DS2 preamp, which also will have a unique circuitry to mate with his 300b monos via XLR connections. Don explained the sonic benefits of this design and it went over my head, but clearly these designs are well though out.. my ears confirm it.
I have been an audiophile for nearly 50 years having had a boatload of electronics during that time, but I personally have never heard such a realistic presentation to my music as I am hearing with these 300b monos in my system. 300b tubes lend themselves to realistic music reproduction as my Willsenton 300b integrated amps informed me, but Don's 300b amps are in a entirely different realm. Of course, 300b amps favor efficient speakers so carefully component matching is paramount.
Don is working out a business arrangement to have his electronics built by an American audio firm so they will soon be more widely available to the public. Don will be attending the Seattle Audio Show in June in the Spatial Audio room where the speakers will be driven by his 300b monos and his preamp, with digital conversion with the outstanding Lampizator Pacific tube DAC. I will be there to hear what I expect to be an outstanding sonic presentation.
To allay any questions about the cost of Don's 300b mono, I do not have an answer.
- ...
- 874 posts total
Not going anywhere near an 833 or those Eimac transmitter tubes. No thank you. Those things light up a room with a dazzling white light and get serious, room-heater hot. They are designed for transmitter use, with forced-air cooling that ducts to the outside. And if somebody chooses speakers that are 0.2% efficient, well, what did you expect? Class D or Class AB for you, as well as a dedicated AC power outlet that goes straight to the circuit-breaker box. |
@wig Where do you live? I live in Tucson so I'm guessing Phoenix area? |
I agree with Lynn in that I won’t work with power supplies over 550-600V. The teflon mil spec wire is all rated at 600-630V so you would have to source 1200V wire for headroom. All normal parts are rated at 630V so you would have to source special caps, resistors, etc... You don’t mess around with 1000V or you will have a fire. Also the transformer set in these mono amps including the custom interstage transformers and choke would eat up most of your budget. I like some Lundahl iron, but I found that their IT started ringing above 15KHz in my circuit, so you would most likely have to get custom iron to do your project as I did. So yes, you could certainly build the project you discuss, but it isn’t simple, there are lots of issues and sourcing of custom parts rated for 1kV and if you use Edcor or Hammond iron you or something else of that ilk you will get medium grade amp, not one that has incredible detail and sounds alive. So if you build that amp with $2000 worth of parts you may be able to do it, but if you spend a lot more you will get a much better amplifier. You will still have a fire risk if you don’t make sure every single part in there that sees high voltage is running at no more that 70-75% of its rating. Easy to do at 500V, but a lot harder at 1000V. |
- 874 posts total