Hi all..
Don Sachs here. I saw a thread about the tube preamps I build on here so thought I should participate. Yes I am an OEM. Not here to hawk gear, just answer questions as I have time to get on here, and it will be sporadic. I build only tube gear, preamps, phono preamps, and a KT88 power amp.
I spent most of a decade as Jim McShane's authorized tech to rebuild all the HK citation tube gear. I must have rebuilt about 75-80 citation II amps, maybe 50-60 citation I preamps, and hundreds of other pieces of classic vintage tube gear. I got to hear many of the classic power amps like the citation II, Marantz 8B, many Macs, some rare Fisher flagship models, etc... All very good, and the citation II was the best of them. Then I started building my own tube preamps, then a phono stage, and finally a KT88 amp that had all of the things I loved about the citation II, but also added a number of other features that were not easy to do unless you start from scratch. Auto biasing, regulated power supplies, etc...
I have heard a ton of gear, and unlike the name of this forum, I don't have audiophilia nervosa. I don' t do hype. I just listen to things and use what sounds good to me at reasonable prices. Good luck to all!
cheers,
Don