I believe the preamp is $5500. Search for spatial audio lab, find the site and look at the revelation series and preamp and you will find it. On the preamp, it is fully balanced and transformer coupled to output. Pin 1 is shield and grounded to chassis, pin 2 is XLR + phase and pin 3 is XLR - phase. It will drive any power amp with XLR connections, and will happily drive a 10K amp input impedance.
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.
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I fully defer to Don, who is part of the loop of the Spatial team, who manufacture the preamp and power amp. I’m more like the system architect, guiding the project in a certain direction, and I’m not as aware of the manufacturing and production side of things. One benefit of the output transformer in the preamp is it does accurate phase spitting, even if there is a small gain mismatch in the 6SN7 tube. Other balanced designs tend to rely on feedback for output balancing ... the Raven is zero feedback, either global or local, so transformers do the balancing and unbalancing conversions. The input transformers are bypassed for the special case of XLR (balanced) sources. For example, many DACs have XLR outputs, since many converters inside the DAC have balanced outputs. On the other hand, tube phono preamps are often single-ended, so have RCA outputs. The Raven caters to both, with a source selector on the remote control. The Khozmo volume control is fully balanced, and so is the 6SN7 that follows it. |
OK thanks @donsachs and @lynn_olson I missed that price when I looked at it the first time online. A significant point you made Don is the fact that it will "happily drive a 10K amp impedance" I have a new Coda amp on order and the XLR input is exactly that! I sent some questions to Spacial Audio regarding deposits and time it will take to get one. I want to keep a tube preamp in the drive train. My old one was 25 years old! Thanks! |
@charles1dad Yes, it was a very tough decision but I cannot lift the damn thing anymore and re tubing it is nearly $2000. I want to simplify my retired life a bit. I just picked it up from VAC and it is fresh as a daisy for the new owner. New tubes with about 100 hours on them. |
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