Welcome
Welcome to my redesigned website
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.
© Don Sachs, 2015
Repair and rebuilding of
vintage tube audio equipment
by Harman Kardon, Sherwood,
Scott, McIntosh, Fisher,
Marantz, Eico, Heathkit,
Lafayette and many others