Post by Randy in Caintuck on 08/07/07 at 16:16:47
This thread should probably be in the "Decware Reviews" forum, but I'm sure Steve will move it if he feels the need ..... :-/
A few years ago, I purchased a pair of highly modified Heath W-5 monoblocks that were rebuilt by a long time vacuum tube guru who lives in the Dayton, Ohio area. The stock KT66 power tubes were replaced by some insanely built military spec 6L6GC derivative called the Bendix JAN CEA 6384. These amps have some massive iron and put out about 30 watts per channel. I had sold them to a friend whose wife resisted having "ugly" audio equipment in her "living space" ..... so I recently ended up buying them back to keep them from wasting away in his closet ..... :(
After taking possession of them, I had a local tube equipment repairman check them out. He replaced a couple of underspec'ed resistors and I replaced the Sprague Vitamin Q coupling caps with some Hovland caps of the same value ..... since one of the Spragues was "drooling" a little ..... :P
The amps have 4 ohm taps, so I couldn't resist trying them out in the big rig to see how they would work with the Parker Audio Behemoths. As one might imagine, the CSP2 will drive these amps to some healthy levels with the 95 or so db efficient Parkers. Power is addicting ..... and this combo puts out a BIG sound without working very hard at all. Since my new listening position is about 16' from the speakers, the effect was pretty interesting and not hard to listen to. With a healthy 30 watts per side, the bass is especially impressive ..... even without the SO Imperials or a subwoofer.
After living with this setup for a couple of weeks, I decided it was time to switch back to the modified Decware Select. Truthfully, I was a little apprehensive ..... going from 30 watts to 1 1/2. I had gotten used to the extra power and headroom and was afraid that I would quickly push the "little" Select into audible clipping and/or miss the "ease" and muscular bass of the bigger amplifiers.
After making the switch and sitting through the initial 4 hour listening session, to say the least I was stunned. Not only was I able to get more than adequate volume, but the bass was much better than I had remembered it. I adjusted the volume until the vocalists and instruments were "life sized" and the bass could be felt as well as heard. The Heath W-5s are by no means slouches sonically, but the Select has an air and three dimensionality that the bigger amps cannot match. I am still amazed at the focus and presence of lead vocalists on the vast majority of the disks that I have been playing.
More than anything, I am still surprised at the amount of bass produced by the Select/CSP2 combo ..... even without the SO Imperials hooked up ..... as well as the ability to produce some very satisfying SPLs with no audible clipping or compression. The Select and CSP2 are a team ..... and I feel pretty strongly that owners of the Select have not really heard what this little monster is capable of until they hear it with the CSP2. It took Steve several years to convince me to try one of his preamps and I finally did ..... to my great pleasure.
I love this hobby ..... 8-)
Randy