Welcome

Welcome to my redesigned website

Sept 3, 2023: I have partnered with Spatial Audio Lab in Salt Lake City to build the new Raven preamp and Blackbird 300b mono amps.  These have been a two year collaboration with Lynn Olson.  The rough prototypes were shown at the Pacific Audio Fest in Seattle in June.  If you heard them there I can assure you the current and final versions are FAR better in every way.   I would expect the first ones to be available in early to mid- November.   There is more info at the Spatial Audio Lab site:  https://www.spatialaudiolab.com/news/august-2023-updates Photos will be posted on my 300b project page as it develops.  Spatial will change the look slightly in the production version, but the overall size and layout will remain the same.  We are now using custom wound Monolith Magnetics power and output transformers. I will build a few more things for sale and if no one is waiting I will post them for sale on the site in my for sale section.  Currently there is nothing for sale as I am focusing on getting the 300b project into production. LATEST:  I have decided to close the build queue.  I now maintain a wait list for every product I build.  There are no deposits.  I will continue to produce tube equipment.  I am NOT retiring, but doing things on my schedule at my pace.   This allows me to perfect designs.  The current version of the preamp, the phono stage, the Kootenay 120 KT88 amp, and the Valhalla integrated amp are the best I have ever built.   I have turned the Valhalla integrated amp production over the Cloud in Salt Lake City.  They are now available again.  See the Valhalla page.  If you are interested in a product send me an email and I will tell you about how long the wait will be.  I work more in the fall and winter and less in the summer. NOTE:  After many years of rebuilding vintage tube gear I have stopped taking on any new repair and restoration jobs to focus entirely on production of custom tube line stages, phono stages and my KT88 power amp.  I may do some more vintage work in the future, but for now I am only building custom pieces.  The good news is that Jim McShane has found a new tech to take on the restoration of the citation tube equipment.  Email Jim and he can provide contact info for you. Review of my new Spatial Audio X5 speakers. These are just wonderful.  See my review here. Latest project: I have just finished the first production version of the 6L6 based integrated amp.  It has the same caps and power supply (scaled down slightly for the lower power version) as the big Kootenay 120 KT88 amp.  Fully regulated independent supplies for each channel.  Same beautiful toroid transformer set, just a slightly smaller power transformer and the output transformers are optimized for the 6L6/EL34 tube types.   I am getting about 32-35 watts/ch on the bench depending on the output tube type.  We will call it a 30 watt/ch integrated amp and it will easily meet that spec to below 20 Hz.  The amp is holographic and is quite stunning.   I have 96 dB speakers and it sounds like a 60 watt/ch amp.  Bass is astounding.   Oh, and it is so quiet you really cannot tell it is on when idling away.  You can put your ear to the 96 dB speaker and barely hear anything at idle.  It will come with the excellent Russian 6P3S-E tubes and three Shuguang WE6SN7 tubes up front.  It will run EL34/KT77/KT66 tubes as well.   One XLR input and 3 RCA inputs and the 64 step remote Khozmo attenuator with relay input switching.   It will sell for $3995.  I think the production one is sold already, but I can produce another.  Lead time is about 8-12 weeks in the virus times.  Will create a page for it as soon as I can take better photos. I am Don Sachs, and for over seven years I have been Jim McShane’ s authorized tech/installer.  During this time I have restored close to 80 Citation II amplifiers, about 50 Citation I preamps, 6 Citation V amplifiers, 3 Citation IV preamps, several Citation IIIx tuners, and numerous Award Series integrated amps and receivers.  I have also restored numerous tube integrated amps, power amps, preamps, and receivers by Fisher, Scott, Sherwood, McIntosh, Eico, Lafayette, Sansui, Heathkit, Knight, Bogen, and others.  Too many to count.  All restorations of Citation gear are done exclusively with Jim's parts and kits. You may read about all the McShane upgrades to the Citation gear on his website. On this site you can read about some of the services I offer and the associated costs.  These are guidelines.  Every piece is different and the price can vary a bit depending on the level of restoration or additional options or customer preferences.  The services page contains links to the gear I specialize in.  I now produce new custom tube line stages, phono stages, and power amps.  Quite frankly, in all my years of restoring vintage gear, these are among the best I have ever heard!  Check out the for sale page for any gear that I might have available for purchase.  The gallery has some photos of pieces I have worked on in the past few years.

Repair and rebuilding of vintage tube audio equipment by Harman Kardon, Sherwood, Scott, McIntosh, Fisher, Marantz, Eico, Heathkit, Lafayette and many others