Hello all, I have become interested in building my own tube amp and have been drawn to the simplicity and reputation of Decware's Zkits. My situation is this. I have a very large set of JBL's that I have owned for 40 years as well as a powerful 170wpc Kenwood SS amp which is showing signs of needing a rebuild. I can no longer listen to these speakers at higher volume levels like I once did for any length of time due to the resulting ringing in my ears so having a 350 watt amp doesn't make sense any longer. I have heard that tube amps work well with efficient speakers and these I believe would qualify. The rating is 84db at 15 feet with one watt. Not sure how that would be for one meter but I know that 1.7 watts will run me out of the room!

My question is which kit would be best suited for me, the Zkit 1 stereo or the Zkit 2 with two boards? I would like to try 2 watts per channel and see if that is enough for most of my listening but also to have the option to later reconfigure what I have and add another to double the power to each channel.
Thank you!

Thanks Steve for the quick reply and welcome. That is just what I needed to know, that the Zkit 1 can be reconfigured to mono and another Zkit 1 added to it if need be for more power in stereo. Will be placing an order sometime this fall. So this I got a feeling will be a fun project and after it's done a real pleasure to listen to!

Hi Arktikos,

Long before I had efficient speakers I built a ZKIT1, and even another ZKIT1 and ran them as monoblocks.  I loved their sound and their ability to pull more music out of any amplifier I'd heard- but I didn't have the right speakers for them.  

Not to be deterred, I bought a Torii MKIV.  It was decadent, It is decadent.  It is an incredible amplifier and I love it to death. So much so that I started searching more and more efficient speakers and JBL certainly fits that bill.  

To cut to the chase, I have a pair of JBL L36 speakers that I have done the entire Troels Gravesen crossover rework to.  They sound impeccable with my ZKit1's.  I also have a pair of JBL Sovereigns that have had the crossovers completely redone and they are breathtaking with the Torii.  

I am not going to lie to you.  I will still gladly forgo heightened volume and (what I call) perceived dynamics of multi driver speaker systems for the delicacy of point source/single driver speakers.  (caveat being a helper tweeter if needed)  

The right chain of equipment- following the correct source (usually vinyl in my case)- feeding the right (wideband) driver seems to surpass every other equation.  At least for me.  

Please don't be afraid of jumping into a ZKIT feet first.  It is a lovely path to splendor

Dam