Just received my Superzen on Friday and I know it's still breaking in - but the way it handles less efficient speakers is impressive. I bought used radial 1.5s for it, but in fact I am not a fan of their imaging though they are a better match on paper.

Switched over to my gallo 3.1s (88db) and was quite surprised how well they were driven (albeit with volume at 3pm). I listen to jazz instrumental and vocals and there was no clipping at that volume (bias switch to the front mostly). Very nice. I have the CSP2 as well but have not yet tried that with the Zen because the sound is so engaging as-is.

For fun I removed my Snell EIIIs (1991!) from my HT rig. They are 91DB and also sound pretty phenomenal with the zen, better than I've heard them in years. Both the Gallo and Snell are 8 ohm for the most part, so that is one reason I was surprised as my Zen has the 4 ohm transformer, and with those speakers' lower sensitivity I was expecting something anemic (with a 2W amp!).

For context, on the other end of the spectrum I have a Spectron musician III SE (600w!) to drive the gallos at volumes I like when I have the house to myself.

In a few hours I will be picking up nearly-new Parker sig95 mkIIs (4 ohm, 95db), specifically made with the Zen in mind apparently. I'll report back on those once I've had a listen.

All this and the zen isn't even close to being broken in. Bodes well!

Would love to hear others' impressions of supposed "mismatches" sounding good.

Ron

Aren't your Gallos sans passive networks?  I've always been curious how a zen amp would do with those for that very reason.  Thanks for sharing your impressions.

Here are some "mismatches" I know of first hand...select Sandy Gross creations: Def Tech super towers and Golden Ear Triton IIs.  Complex LR4 networks with power-robbing zobels?  Check.  Multiple drivers?  Check.  Doesn't matter.  They work fantastically well with the little 2 watt zens.



     

 

I find the essential character of Decware amps is apparent on every speaker I've tried them with.  The only possible issue is the lack of headroom when using speakers like Gallos, and in that case the little zen amps are just the gateway drugs to something like a Torii.  Steve intentionally designed the "entry level" zens to work with a wide variety of mainstream 4-8 ohm type speakers.  Pretty good business plan.  I'm hooked, dammit!  I don't typically prefer using a pre, but in your case I think the CSP2 will pay real dividends for your ear's pleasure.

The DTs I'm most familiar with have a very zen friendly impedance, 4-6 ohms from the mid bass across the critical midrange, and the built in powered woofers help tremendously.  I get as much spl from them in a larger room as a pair of more sensitive Klipsch in a smaller room.  Pretty neat trick.  

Listening to Herbie Hancock's The River, wonderfully intimate through the Parkers at relatively low volume, a real treat with great imaging, these monitors really disappear with a well defined center image. This is my late night listening setup!

Tried the csp2 with the zen and Gallos, decided I was forcing the issue - more gain but still clipping, and it doesn't seem right to use the preamp in that way, juicing the gain so much... so your "gateway drug" observation is fitting - if I want to use decware with the gallos I need to go up the chain to do them both justice. I went with the zen to try Steve's SET in it's purest, base form to see what the SET fuss is about. If it's true that the sonic character carries through to all models, then it's a no-brainer to go higher.

Is it too much to ask to have it all in one system? I love the zen and parkers for some stuff, the spectron and gallos for other situations... I shouldn't complain I guess, spoiled for choice!

FYI to make amp comparisons easier I am using a niteshade audio passive preamp to feed the sources (metrum octave DAC and rega p3-24 through simaudio moon lp3) into the zen and spectron- handy and doesn't add any color itself.

I can confirm that sentiment through my experience.  See: the 1st post in https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1318641551/0#0.   The se84 zens do some things better than the Torii, and the other way around.