Oliver Sayes Amplifier Owners Club

alas, i live in santa fe; you might look for woodworkers; ny mag has a best of list every year and there might be a listing for a woodworker/cabinet maker; even a good handyman might do.

just to get in the game and try it out you can use foam insulation board to make a temporary baffle:
this is what i tried when i first got into OBs (fyi: there is a great OB thread over on AK)
I got Fast-8 setup in the OBs. Very interesting sound and good match to Oliver's 45 amp. There is a bit of that shout going on and bass is shallow, but resolution on mids and imaging is very nice. These also work well with my Class A Push-pull pentode 6L6 integrated.

1715891490384.png
 
I got Fast-8 setup in the OBs. Very interesting sound and good match to Oliver's 45 amp. There is a bit of that shout going on and bass is shallow, but resolution on mids and imaging is very nice. These also work well with my Class A Push-pull pentode 6L6 integrated.

View attachment 79070
Nice early Gallo’s!!!! I love my Reference’s. I would be happy to take those off your hands.
 
Nice early Gallo’s!!!! I love my Reference’s. I would be happy to take those off your hands.
Yes, these are OG Gallo Reference 1. I really like these speakers I had them for like 20 years now. I bought and sold a lot of other speakers from Stax, Focal, Symdex, Klipsch, Apogees and etc. I even had newer metal ball Gallo speaks that I sold, but these I really like.
 
@jaipre
Nice looking Poeta! There aren’t many of us Emotive Audio owners here it seems so all photos are welcome.

I started with an Erato preamp and now have a custom version of the Epifania, plus a custom version of Vita amps.
 
@kray
Finemet OPT and Power Transformers, Oil power supply capacitors, choke input power supply, Duelund silver/copper cast capacitors, Film bypass capacitors, choke input filament supplies.
 
Decided to have Oliver custom build me a preamp to match my 71a.

I previously had a 37/76 based pre that Oliver built (he already had it so no personal upgrades) and kinda regret selling it. My current preamp is a McIntosh C22 MKIV. Amazing preamp with high end phono built in. But thought it might be overkill for me.

So reached out to Oliver to start a new one. He recommended the 37/76 as a great match with the 71a so I said let’s put the best of what you can in it.
- Luhndal Sweden chokes
- Finement OPT’s
- Slagle 15 step autoformers
- balanced input.

IMG_0818.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0817.jpeg
    IMG_0817.jpeg
    607.1 KB · Views: 76
  • IMG_0812.jpeg
    IMG_0812.jpeg
    702.6 KB · Views: 78
Decided to have Oliver custom build me a preamp to match my 71a.

I previously had a 37/76 based pre that Oliver built (he already had it so no personal upgrades) and kinda regret selling it. My current preamp is a McIntosh C22 MKIV. Amazing preamp with high end phono built in. But thought it might be overkill for me.

So reached out to Oliver to start a new one. He recommended the 37/76 as a great match with the 71a so I said let’s put the best of what you can in it.
- Luhndal Sweden chokes
- Finement OPT’s
- Slagle 15 step autoformers
- balanced input.

View attachment 83701
Never heard any of Oliver’s stuff but dude sure can do a layout.
 
Decided to have Oliver custom build me a preamp to match my 71a.

I previously had a 37/76 based pre that Oliver built (he already had it so no personal upgrades) and kinda regret selling it. My current preamp is a McIntosh C22 MKIV. Amazing preamp with high end phono built in. But thought it might be overkill for me.

So reached out to Oliver to start a new one. He recommended the 37/76 as a great match with the 71a so I said let’s put the best of what you can in it.
- Luhndal Sweden chokes
- Finement OPT’s
- Slagle 15 step autoformers
- balanced input.

View attachment 83701

Very nice Kray. Will wait for your description and impressions of the sound of this combination or if possible, if you maybe could share some audio recordings of this combination that would be great.

I have driven my Oliver Sayes 71A Finemet amp with my Oliver Sayes DHT 01A linestage with great results. The 01A provides the clarity, detail, and drive that nicely complements the 71A amp. Another good candidate preamp that I will try with my 71A amp when I get some time is my all silver Thomas Mayer 10Y preamp as it also has the clarity, detail and refinement to drive and complement the musicality and tonality of the 71A amp.

My other favorite DHT’s, the 26 and 45, might not be as good of a match but will need to tryout when I get a chance.
 
Last edited:
Hello all,
I used to own an OS amp. It was the one featured here: Oliver Sayes TOTL 45 DHT set amp (Korneff)

I owned it for about a year, but it just did not have enough power for me on intense orchestral recordings. It seemed to pair best with full range drivers, like the Altec 755A or the 755C that I had at the time, but did not like my modded JBL C34 with H-1000 horns.

Anyway, if anyone is looking for this unit, I traded it to haven user hifitown this summer. He still has it and I am sure would make someone a killer deal on it if they are local to the Richmond, VA area.
 
Hi to all current and future Oliver's amplifier owners.

Really want and starting to think about adding flea-watt amplifier into my system.
My main amplifier is 300B driven by C3M tubes, with Tango OPT. My speakers are DIY back loaded horns with 10" full-range drivers. Sensitivity is ~97-98dB. I got plenty of power, dynamics and sound pressure from 300B. Listening mostly jazz, blues and classical on vinyl.

However, I would love to have flea-watt integrated. From reading here and Glow in the Dark Audio--Tube Amps I'm interested in 421a, 46 or 71a tube based amplifier.
I'm pretty sure 421a would have enough power. 46 or 71a tubes - not so sure, but I'm brave man, and willing to risk :D
My biggest concern or what I'm mostly looking in next amplifier - I love warm, romantic, lush and vintage sound from my 300b. Generally speaking - which one of 421a / 46 / 71a theoretically should or could have the most warm sound (considering that other components such as driver tubes, rectifiers, transformers etc. would be selected to match this need)?
Sorry for such vague question, but I'm pretty sure that we have here audiophiles who heard more amplifiers than me, and more specific somebody who have experience with different Oliver's creations.
 
Hi to all current and future Oliver's amplifier owners.

Really want and starting to think about adding flea-watt amplifier into my system.
My main amplifier is 300B driven by C3M tubes, with Tango OPT. My speakers are DIY back loaded horns with 10" full-range drivers. Sensitivity is ~97-98dB. I got plenty of power, dynamics and sound pressure from 300B. Listening mostly jazz, blues and classical on vinyl.

However, I would love to have flea-watt integrated. From reading here and Glow in the Dark Audio--Tube Amps I'm interested in 421a, 46 or 71a tube based amplifier.
I'm pretty sure 421a would have enough power. 46 or 71a tubes - not so sure, but I'm brave man, and willing to risk :D
My biggest concern or what I'm mostly looking in next amplifier - I love warm, romantic, lush and vintage sound from my 300b. Generally speaking - which one of 421a / 46 / 71a theoretically should or could have the most warm sound (considering that other components such as driver tubes, rectifiers, transformers etc. would be selected to match this need)?
Sorry for such vague question, but I'm pretty sure that we have here audiophiles who heard more amplifiers than me, and more specific somebody who have experience with different Oliver's creations.

The 46 is a warm sounding tube. It’s also my favorite directly-heated output tube. The big question though is whether 1.25 watts is enough for your speakers, and that’s hard to predict. In my system, the 46 isn’t quite powerful enough yet in my son’s system with similar speakers I never find it lacking. So it’s hard to generalize but the 46 can sound so good I think it’s worth a try.
 
Back
Top