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OLDER DECWARE GEAR SUPPORT >> SE34I.2 >> SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
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Message started by Lon on 03/17/09 at 10:55:35

Title: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 03/17/09 at 10:55:35

I'll soon be joining the ranks of the SE34.I2 owners. I'd love it if current owners would contribute their impressions, tips, and thoughts. Thanks!

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 03/19/09 at 23:15:46

Wow, the silence is deafening!

Sarah let me know mine was shipped today!

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 03/24/09 at 22:14:57

Well, I got my Integrated today.

Got more, or different from what I bargained for. . . I ordered a four input/one volume control version, I got the one input/two volume control version. . . .

So I still have to use my ZBox and my CSP2 to have three inputs. . . not what I had planned!

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Doorman on 03/24/09 at 23:09:07

I'd be sending it back!!
Good Luck with it, Lon, really looking forward to your impressions.
Don

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 03/25/09 at 02:29:50

I've got an email in to Steve. I had him add the treble cut circuit he debuted on the new SE Torii . . . maybe that meant no further inputs were possible? Doesn't appear so to me but maybe. Still I think he would have told me that.

Anyway, I'm bummed because I wanted to just use the Integrated by itself, not the Integrated, ZBox and CSP2.

It's way early, but the sound is good. I used the tube complement out of my SE34 EL Monoblocks as they're well broken in, as opposed to the new tubes (of course, I used the rectifiers sent as the Monoblocks are solid state rectified). The sound is very much like what I had with those in the system currently, though I do sense a differnece the extra drive stage and the tube rectification.

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 03/25/09 at 14:30:48

Now listening to the Integrated fed directly by the SACD player. . . sound is very good. Dynamic!

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 03/28/09 at 16:38:38

Sound has done some fluctuating, but it's very good. I've now got the ZBox so I can at least switch between two of the three sources (I had Steve add an extra input to the ZBox) and I've discovered through further experimentation that the bad hum in my system was not coming from the ZBox.

The main differences in the sound in the system in comparison to the former system with the CSP2 and the SE34 Monoblocks are: more dynamics; more "open" sound; less rich and layered a sound.

It's still "early." :D

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 03/31/09 at 00:34:25

I've removed the ZBox. . . and I think the sound is better. More bass, more dynamics, a good simple signal path. Just a pain to switch between sources, which I do a few times a day.

Haven't heard anything from Steve. . . I'd rather not call and disrupt his work day, so I'll sit tight. I can live with the amp this way (especially since I just bought Bob's Torii Mark II and this is likely to become my main amp) but it's odd to not get what you expect.

Good sound; I'm right now listening to the PBS News Hour and it's a trip to hear such great sound.

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 04/20/09 at 11:30:24

I'm back in town and listening to the Integrated. . . . This is so far my favorite Decware amp of all the four I've had. So "integrated" in sonic parameters. So nice and euphonious with the 6N2Ps and the cryo'd "Modern Mullard" EL34s. So glad I could afford this.

Soon enough I'll have Bob's Torii II to hear!

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 04/23/09 at 14:14:10

I need to add that this amp was ordered with the "treble cut" circuit.

Wow. Very versatile. Just what a lot of my recordings need. So glad I did order it that way.

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Doorman on 04/23/09 at 15:43:38

Lon: Can you say a bit more about the above feature?
Thanks, Don

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 04/23/09 at 17:24:58

Not much more to say really. It cuts the treble, it's got two little knobs in the back, one for each channel, and it pretty muc goes from full treble to about one-quarter treble I think, maybe it kills all the treble, hard to say with the RL2s. So you can adjust the treble for each channel. I believe that this circuit is outside the signal path; I know that it is in the Torii Mark II and i would guess that it is in this application as well.

Steve charged me 85 dollars for it.

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by michkhol on 04/30/09 at 22:15:36

Lon,

try 6N23P drivers. The sensitivity will drop, but the sound will stop being "plastic" :)

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 04/30/09 at 23:11:43

Well, aren't they a Russian 6DJ8 variant? I've tried lots of 6DJ8s. . . .

I'm very happy with the 6N2Ps. . . . but I'll probably seek out the 6N23Ps. (But at the moment I am so so so very tired of tube rolling). Thanks.

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by michkhol on 05/01/09 at 21:29:02

These ones worked for me:
http://www.upscaleaudio.com/Russian-6H236922-Type-3_p_49.html

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 05/01/09 at 22:32:57

Thanks. I'll think about it. I'll probably be putting my Integrated into the bedroom system when I get the Torii Mark II that I bought from Bob . . . . I may get these then for that machine when I get a handle on how it sounds.

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 05/08/09 at 15:18:17

This amp sounds better day by day now!

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 05/28/09 at 14:07:50

Still sounding better day by day!

Can't wait for the Torii to arrive so I can see how this Integrated sparks up my bedroom system!

Title: Re: SE34I.2 owners: Talk to me!
Post by Lon on 06/07/09 at 14:32:37

Well I must say that I have the best sound that I've ever had in the bedroom system now.

I'm using the Integrated as the amp, driving the Peachtree Audio sepeakers and driven by the preamp out of the Peachtree Audio Decco.

These speakers mate up really well with the Integrated, and provide depth and a rich sound. It's not the loudest system, but the useable volume is all there and all very sweet. The DAC in the Decco really is fine and the sound from my Blu-Ray player, digital out from the iPod via the Wadia iTransport, and from my TV is wonderful, probably in part because the output of the preamp is through a 6922 tube.

My gal and I are very happy with the sound!

The Integrated is such a wonderful amp. It seems very flexible and capable of slipping into any musical situation. When broken in it really delivers.