Soundstage super wide!!!! Imaging, speed, clarity

Are not capable of bass slam, choke a little on some types of music

I became intrigued by tubes a few years ago and bought a Jolida SJ202. While that was okay and as good in many ways as my Classe 70 I thought what the heck and sold everthing to plunge into the SET world. I wandered across the Decware site and was impressed by the forum members thoughts and the price so I bought my first of 3 of the SE84C's.(one being the EX modded). I also built some speakers using Fostex 206E drivers because these little flea powered guys need high effeciency speakers. One will be amazed at the sound these little amps can make. Huge soundstage with precise imaging although with single driver speakers one is menaced by the small sweetspot. There is usable bass. No gangsta rap for these but the bass is presented very accurately. They absolutely float female vocals out in the air with no irritating sibilance at all. These are a very good value given their limitations and will make anyone who loves music very happy.
Having mentioned limitations it is fair to say that since we are dealing with 1.8 watts there are some things they will not do.
If your musical preference is HipHop, hard rock or full orchestra classical they will run out gas. They do clip gracefully but can become congested with complex passages.
If you like jazz, soft rock, etc. then don't be afraid on the Zen. Even with the recent price hikes they are still a solid value.

Customer Service

The folks at Decware are the best. Always take time for you.

Similar Products Used:

Jolida, Classe, Adcom, AES superamp

Imaging...ye gods! Amazing transparency/neutrality No detectable noise at all Cheap!!! Did I mention it's cheap? Volume control allows direct connect to source Able to "tube roll" Plenty of upgrades/tweak options Just a smidgen of tube magic Tiny! Does not look like you mortgaged the house to buy it...actualy rather amaturish in appearance.

Less taut bass than a monster SS amp Less sharp high treble than a SS rig Less tube magic than expected, more neutral Should have gone for the Select...sigh! included volume control (extra, if you have a pre amp in the chain) Looks cheaper than it is

Wow! This amp comes far closer to the hype than I would have expected. I prefer it to much more expensive equipment I have owned, including Counterpoint, Classe, McIntosh, Nikko, etc. For better or worse, I snagged a base Zen, not the Select, off Ebay for a very decent price as an experiment. Now I wish I had gotten the Select, because this amp is really, really good...but there are some noticable rough edges. I may try tube rolling, or selective parts upgrades. But, even as it came, it blows away anything I've tried irrespective of cost. No, it's not perfect. But what a bargain, and what a terrific value for an audio nut on a budget. Better be sure the rest of your rig lives up to this very transparent, very revealing, and somewhat critical amp; they're not kidding about that. Support is phenomenal, and there's a great and active user community that has already been helpful to me. This thing trounces the pants off my previous Classe CA-300/CP-50, and is utterly no contest to the Counterpoint gear I had for a brief time. Imaging is terrific; that was not previously my primary concern, but it does it soooo well! Wow. It is less tube-like, and more neutral, than I expected. Oh, and on my not outrageously efficient Von Schweikert VR-4/5's (which go against every recommendation for this amp) it sounds fabulous. I had no idea the VR's could image like this, and it is more than powerful enough for reasonable listening (it is capable of levels that would seriously annoy the neighbors, but I never play that loud). My rec to you; find a used one, preferablly a Select, and try it at little risk. You can always resell it! You may, like me, find it the best audio gamble in a while.

Similar Products Used:

Oh, tons o' stuff. It all was bested in $/happy, frankly, by the Decware Zen.

Speed, sonic neutrality, easy to maintain (for a tube amp), lifetime warranty by Steve Deckert

need high eff speakers (over 94 db) to enjoy this amp. Preamps kill it, in my experience...it works best direct out of the source.

Still my reference Tube amplifier. I use very high efficiency speakers (i pair over 96 db) and one at 104 db. The zen se84C is sonically neutral and awesome. Very very fast.

Similar Products Used:

other tube amps, some SETs.

Clarity, simplicity, linear fidelity,

Wattage rating, which effects which speakers you can use with it, and actually this amp is doing you a favor by limiting a person to the speakers that will work well.

This little amp never ceases to amaze me. Just when i think I have it figured out it then surprises me. For instance I thought because of it wattage rating that it bass was a bit shy. Then I matched up against a 2A3 amp, and found it had much stronger bass, with incredible texture comparatively. I am finding it hard to find another amplifier that is totally better. My only complaint, if I could have one is, it would be nice to have more wattage, but I would not sacrfice one ounce of what it gives me no matter what the wattage gain. When you get to this level of fidelity, it is the very small differences that make a big difference. The largest thing anyone has to worry about is impedence matching this amp to speakers, it like lower impedences with no crossovers. It is better to match it with a higher impedence and a less complicated crossover, than the opposite. I have been using this amplifier for over four years, and have not been able to find anything that I would replace it with. The speakers I am using it with are 105dbs 1w/1m, and have an impedence of less than six ohms. I plan on getting a Select version of this amp, and bi-amping with the two amps, the Select for the mids and highs, and my SE84C for the bass region. This amp clearly show it is not quanity that counts but clarity.

- SE Tube sound - Price - Quality - Inexpensive tube replacement - Small

- Need powered sub woofer

I love this little amp. For best results use sensitive, quality speakers of at least 90db and a powered sub woofer. I use the Triangle Titus (stereophile class B rated) at 91db with Analysis Plus, Clear Oval speaker cables, feeding the amp with a Parasound P/HP-850 preamp in direct mode with Analysis Plus, Oval One interconnects. The powered sub woofer is driven by the preamp in a bi-amped configuration using MIT Terminator II interconnects. My NAD C541 CD uses Kimber Hero interconnects to the preamp. I am not an audiophile reviewer so I'll do my best to describe the sound. The lower midrange to upper highs are crisp without being grainy, harsh, edgy, or bright. The soundstage has noticeable depth and the images are focused. The upper lows are precise while bottom end lacks the slam of solid state amps which is easily overcome with a powered sub woofer. After initial burn in and an hour of warm-up the speakers disappear with rising detail, image in a natural soundstage. On the re-mastered Rolling Stones hybrid SACD Mick Jagger’s voice is amazing. Sonny Rollins, Art Pepper, John Lee Hooker have me up for hours of late night listening. At 5 watts, this amp is perfect for low level listening and still manages to provide plenty of sound in my listening room. I have used this amp for 3 years and you will not find a better tube SE for the price or sound quality. If you are one of those who are ready to take the step from solid state to tube, this is the amp. Check out the site: www.decware.com and read some of the reviews as well as the design documents.

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- Antique USA, 30 watt, tube PP amp - HH Scott integrated amp

+delicate, euphonic sound +good build quality +excellent ergonomics +sounds good with Glenn Miller records +sounds like a 1940 Zenith floor model radio

-old SET design should be retired -needs particular equipment in the environment, e.g., fast pre-amp -need 91+ db speakers, such as Oris horns or Klipsch reference -no bass; a bassophobe's delight

I have wanted to purchase an SET amp for some time now, given all the reams of purple prose that has been generated extolling their virtues. My suspicion has always been that a good number of FET amp owners are first time tube purchasers; converts are always the most zealous proselytizers. Another problem that I’ve had is that the SET is an old design, dating back to the ‘30s and ‘40s. The Williamson Ultralinear circuit ( 1947), for example, was considered a major improvement in the old SET designs. Of course, in those days, speaker design was considerably less advanced also, so it’s doubtful whether an unequivocal evaluation could be made about SET designs. Despite my misgivings, I went ahead and purchased a Decware Zen amp, because of its reasonable price and well-conceived ergonomics. I purchased the Z-kit incarnation of the Decware. Here are my impressions: The Kit: I would not advise a novice builder to attempt the kit, despite it’s SET design. My kit came with two additional 1k ohm resistors and missing one 2.7k ohm resistor. The kit that arrives is the C Rev version and the pictures on the net are for the B Rev. There are quite a few differences. The schematics are excellent and provide the ultimate guide. It took me two nights, about eight hours, to finish the kit. I would suggest adding more insulation to some of the leads of the resistors and capacitors to avoid cross contacts. At any rate, I think the assembly charges ($100) is very reasonable. System env: VanAlstine OmegaStar pre-amp Transcendent GG pre-amp XLO Reference interconnects cables Better Cables Silver Serpents interconnects DH Labs T-14 Speaker cables Cambridge Audio CD DIY (Seas and Peerles) Speaker (91 db @ watt @ 1 M) The Sound: I did listening tests with two different pre-amps in my 10 x 10 listening room. With the Transcendent pre, the results were very disappointing. I felt that sound was too warm, almost glowing. The bass was non-existent. I added a Titan subwoofer and a Marchand external crossover with a 200 Hz crossover point to the system. Because of its limited output, I had to adjust a lot of the crossover and sub’s settings. The resulting system had a sound that I can only describe as, ‘Sarah Brightman perched on Paul Robeson’s shoulders.’ Finally, I switched out the sub and the pre and installed the VanAlstine. Now, I had a sound I really liked. As many people have stated the SPL that this little unit achieves is really impressive. This combination has tremendous detail and a little bloom. Overall, my impression is that the amp imparts an audio footprint that is pleasing to the ear, but does not retain the full fidelity of the music. I would characterize someone who would enjoy such a sound as 'bassophobe', since so much of the information in this region is lost.

Similar Products Used:

Berning EA-230, Dewald, Grommes, Eico HF-81, Monarchy SM-70. Any of these will provide you with more bang for the buck. The Monarch, which is SS, provides loads of bass.

NOTE: This is a new review space for this amp. There are over 40 reviews of it under the heading "Zen" Please read those, and add your review here. Thank you.