Hey Bob,

I'm enjoying the sound with that top grille off, at least for now.  More "Radial" like.

As for the bass. . . well everything is a little different with the Mark III tonal wise. There are now four distinct signatures, because the ITs seem to fall more comfortably in the middle between the two positions on the speaker ohm switch, and there's the bias switch for the tubes as well.  

I still sometimes want a richer or a more delineated bass, but it's neither the fault of the amp nor the speakers, but the room.  I'm just not ready to address room treatment.  Maybe in the next house if there is one; this one is just too small, I need all the wall space for books and cds etc.

There is a fundamental difference between the two amps. The III seems to control the ITs with just a bit more of an iron glove. As a result the sound is slightly more "solid." As a friend of mine noted, with the grilles on there is a more defined two-channel presentation (that changes when the grille is off).  And a very balanced tonal palette top to bottom. There's real punch in several of the "signatures" too:  rock drums if recorded well can really drive, I notice on a lot of jazz recordings more body to the drum sound as well as more precise locations of the different elements of the kit. There's a bit more life in the sound. The differences between the two amps are not great, and may even be subtle. I'd say that unless one listens to a lot of jazz, classical or folk music the II is the cat's meow.  For electric and electronic music (blues, rock, hip-hop, pop, etc.) the II delivers AND HOW.  The III has just a bit more refinement for those recordings that are minimally produced or done with instrumental tone purity and accuracy. And the III may reveal just a tiny bit more dynamic shadings.

Well, come on over and listen to the amp in my room!  I would be willing to bet that every amp that says Torii on it stands proud and beams, because the soul and spirit of these amps are strong and confident.

This morning my Mark II blew me away playing some Ravel and Debussey.  And ten minutes ago the Mark III just rolled me over listening to some Porcupine Tree (Signify, in fact).

And your big blue Torii, man he's like Hercules from the mists of the historical age, performing his many labors, losing and gaining friends along the way.  That amp is an institution! It's shaken the hand and kicked the ass of more fantastic speakers than nearly any other amp in the world.

I'm enjoying the grille off Bob, I think my room just loves to be excited by the radial driver, there's a good bit of space to fill there.  I get a sort of wall of sound with a big back yard, tall and deep. There's more info when the grilles are off, and the ITs are really filling the room, performing both the traditional two channel directionality and the holographic swirl and depth. My friend Shawn has heard almost all my Decware systems in sequence and he just loves the IT Radials, he says it's the best that I've had and among the best he's heard.  That's no small noise either as he's a digital engineer and a computer audio person.

Even watching tv just barely worth watching, I can always find something in the audio to appreciate and even marvel at on occasion.

So I would bet big money that you'll love the Mark III with these speakers (and likely many others).

Lon,

Any news on the ERR's? I don't see your name on the list yet...

Neil

The Torii Mark III continues to amaze me. It amazes me how much this sounds like the Decware SET amps and yet has so much power reserve and so much body and depth.  And it just sounds so good, powering the Radials into performances none of the smaller amps had.

This is in my opinion so far the best amp I've ever gotten to know. I am so happy to have this driving my system.  Bring on the Zen DAC-1.

Mike I am not at all interested in getting music online. I have more cds than I ever need to have, but I know I'll buy more.  I have so much to listen to. 320 kps sounds okay but it does not sound like Redbook to me. I gave up listening to radio a few decades ago, litereally, don't do radio.   I'm sticking with cd, SACD, etc: discs.

I have an eMiusic account and download a few things a month to experiment.  If I burn a cdr from the MP3 and like it and play it more than a few times I buy the cd. I never feel I have "all that it could be" unless I do so.  My Sony SCD-XA5400ES and my ZCD and my NAD universal player and my Sony BCD-S2000ES Blu-Ray all read discs without error, and several will soon feed the Zen DAC-1.  I don't feel I need "exact audio copy" software for my software.

I have too many sources already to add online streaming etc.!  Plus . .  . I just don't like to have the computer and music too intertwined. They've been two separate entities to me for a few decades and I want it to stay that way.  I used to perform and record and that is behind me. When I do mix music and computers I somehow have feelings that are similar and it's not a great feeling to be honest. I don't want to reawaken that time or those practices. I was not happy then in my life.  It's going to be redbook and higher resolution for me via discs.

Mike, I've long not been buying many cds in brick and mortar stores, as I tend to want to get items that even when they are stocking lots of cds they don't stock.  Liking the older jazz and Brazilian material, I've been buying these online and mail order for about a decade plus with some supplementing from stores and record conventions.  Since Tower closed here six or seven years ago it's been pretty grim in the stores.  There are still quite a few cds to buy in town (this town is a university town known for tis music and as a result there are more music stores than some other towns, and certainly different than HI seems to be) but not that many that are on my "list."  I still buy lots of cds, mainly from amazon, cduniverse, half. com etc.

I want the DAC because I am hoping that it will improve my digital playback on all sources, but especially the TV.  I have pretty good digital playback for discs, but I want to see what Steve's design will produce.  My cable DVR' s analog out is not that great to be honest, it's clearly the weakest source I have, and I think that if I run the digital out into Steve's DAC it will be an improvement.  (I just use two channel, never felt the urge to go surround).  If so then a good percentage of the system's usage will be improved as my girlfriend and I watch quite a bit of TV.  And I suspect as a bonus that my cd and blu-ray playback may be improved a bit, if so that will be great.  This is the final leg of my system upgrading, and I wanted to support Steve's design and product in this arena. I have high hopes, and suspect that they come through.  The only Decware product I ultimately wasn't insanely happy about was the ZCD that I bought and still have. If the ZDAC-1 is as good as I suspect it is, I'm done buying system stuff quite some time, and can sit back and enjoy my system.

So I guess I'm getting this DAC to be the cherry on top of a great Decware banana split. While I still have the resources (a narrowing window) I wanted to make my Decware system be all it can be. We'll see, I have high hopes!

Mike, yeah as I'm now retired from state government and not yet at work at another job, I guess I can afford to stroll down memory lane.  Though I confess most of the older music I listen to I don't have a nostalgic connection to, as I listen to thousands of recordings recorded before I was born or before I became a music listener and collector; I really love thousands of recordings of jazz and blues from 1917 to the early sixties or so, and then enjoy a whole lot of other recordings, but it is this first fifty years or so of jazz that REALLY gets me going.

I actually do listen to more new music than in many years, having become intrigued by the work of Steven Wilson in his solo work and with Porcupine Tree, etc. and exploring the work of Opeth and a few other current bands. Very different and interesting.

Lon, I tend to agree on my system, though it is a hard call since the back impedance setting has more push and I like the more relaxed feeling from the switch forward. However, for my setup that "push" is really good at bringing clarification throughout the spectrum, and I like that. My tendency at this point with this setting is to use OB3's for the voltage regulator, chilling out the push a touch and opening the sound slightly (though that could change this afternoon!) But I am using cryo'd 6n23P's for the input and they are tighter and more powered up than the 6N1P, accenting this "push". I like the pronounced clarity from them but they can sound a little hard. To compensate for the less warmth, particularly in the bottom, I am currently using cryo'd Sovtek GZ34's for the rectifiers. To me they are too warm with the 6N1P's, but nicely balanced with the 6N23P's, and the combination contributes to a detailed, but friendly sound.

It amazes me how powerfully different tubes affect the sound of this amp, and how the interaction from them is a whole story in its self. If it wasn't fun, it could be a nightmare all the choices and their cumulative impact.

Will