Another happy customer who recently purchased a pair of the SE84C+ amps and ran them as monoblocks:


Hello Steve-

I got your message, thanks for calling back.  No real questions, everything is hooked up and working perfectly.

You may want to add the Def Techs to your speakers that work list...maybe not the end-all, but possessing imaging finesse along with perfectly integrated, tight, deep bass that plumbs down into the 20's, it's a compromise I can live with.  They seem to offer a different balance of qualities than most of the high-efficiency single driver designs, particularly the ability to rumble the rafters in the lower registers with effortless grace (the model I own has 6 8-inch drivers, 3 per speaker, w/ 600 watts total pushing them; they seem quick enough to hang with the Zens, musical and powerful).  Plus, from your business' point of view, I'm sure Ultimate Electronics has sold Def Techs to a ton of folks who would benefit from augmenting them with a Zen or two!  

The Zen's are just adequate enough for achieving the listening levels I was hoping to get (going with two was definitely the right choice), and holy crap they rock!  The 3-D thing never ceases to amaze me.  Here's the correspondence I've had w/ a Def Tech rep for your amusement, thought you might like it...enjoy.

Best Regards,
Dave

----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Stonecipher
To: Chet Pelkowski
Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 12:19 PM
Subject: Re: need data on BP7006


Hello again-

Thought I would drop a line and let you know how the 7006's fare when driven by the Zen amps.

My worries regarding compatibility were unfounded.  The Decware amps provide a huge dose of bona fide audiophile-grade hard drugs.  Their only, and I mean only, limitation is absolute output (which is why I am using two of them, bridged as monoblocks).  I am still getting 96-98db hits out in the room, which only lacks for volume after I've had a few malty beverages.  Under normal circumstances, these amps are just powerful enough; one is simply not enough to attain the volumes I like.  Such is life, the 7006's are only 92db, the Zens are inexpensive enough to get two, and the results are just right; the amps start to clip right about where my desire to not increase the volume intersect.  

Within their envelopes, the Zens simply crush the other amps I have used with the 7006s, which up to now have been ss gear from cheap to way more expensive than the Zens.  

The Zen/7006 combo is really quite fantastic.  I'm getting crazy-kooky-almost supernatural 3-D sounstaging, where the image is not only not contained where you would expect, but envelops the entire room.  The Zen/7006 combo actually does provide that experience where your walls seem to vanish and you are suddenly live, in concert, with whoever you're listening to.  Truly amazing.  Localization of individual instruments and voices is pinpoint accurate, with tremendous separation and dynamic contrasts.  It's difficult to describe unless you're familiar, but fidelity that is hyper-realistic and absolutely engrossing.  My ss amps could never do this, not by a long shot.  The 7006's, when driven with ss amps, certainly do provide a more expansive and deep image than most conventional speakers and are certainly very respectable in that regard; the toobs just allow them to be erased from the soundscape, where you are surrounded by almost disturbingly life-like images of musicians playing right there.  Freakishly good.

The Zen/7006 combo may be missing out on some of the micro-dynamic detail you only seem to get with hyper-efficient and/or full range, single driver, crossover-less designs, but I've never heard such speakers in my own home so I can't really say.  The 7006s, however, seem pretty cohesive to my ears, and they do provide the effortless, deep bass that those other designs simply cannot replicate (unless they are huge, room filling horn monstrosities, and who wants that?).  The Zens have no problem pushing low impedances, unlike most SET amps, and are a good match even if the 7006's impedance drops into the 3 ohm range.  Perhaps not purist, in the view of the typical SET hermit, but the DT's just thrive when driven by the Zens; the match is most certainly highly complementary.

So if anyone else inquires about tube amps powering their DT Supertowers, tell them that with Zens driving, they will be simply blown away, and to do it without hesitation.  (This of course only applies to the Decware Zen SE84C+...haven't tried any others, and given how phenomenal these are I have no strong inclination to.)  The Zen's are under $700, too, if you can believe that.  I'm having a hard time believing my ears right now...think extendo euphonic ephiphany.  Wow!  How is this even possible?

Regards,

DS