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.
Hi @charles1dad , I don't have practical experience. But theoretically 300B is winn-winn vs 845. 1. Output transformer has wider bandwidth. 2. Easy to drive. Driver tube and driver transformer. 3. Easy to build a high quality PS for 400v vs 1000v. The only one but significant advantage of 845 is more power. But it looks like a parallel 300B SET or 300B Push-pull can be a better solution if you need more power. |
@lynn_olson Back in the 1990s we built an experimental OTL that used four 6300bs (a graphite plate variant of the 300b) per channel. The plate voltage was only 150V since higher than that is impractical in an OTL. To get the tubes to conduct properly we biased the tubes at +15V as their operating point. We played that amp at CES that year. The only reason we didn't produce that amp was it was impractical- that's a lot of money to spend on power tubes for a 15 Watt amplifier! We could get slightly less than double the power using four 6AS7Gs which could be had for less than the cost of one of those 6300bs.
@charles1dad I've said it many times in the past. The greatest limitation SETs have is getting bandwidth as the design is scaled for more power. The OPT is the defining issue. |
@atmasphere So many paths to audio nirvana. So many tubes, so little time:) |
Yes you have and with clear explanation. I was specifically asking @alexberger because he was quite emphatic. A thread with this caliber of participants stimulates further inquiries from posters. Informed commentary is valued. 😀 Charles |
