Hey everyone, Im new here and new to hifi. I recently just picked up a pro-ject debut carbon phono setup and phono solutions ps1 phono pre amp.

anyways, i have been in touch with someone on the local classifieds about the Decware SE34-I for $700 (canadian) for my first high end set up.

I might be picking it up this sunday. Is this a reasonable price? Is this a good amp for someone just getting into hifi?

I listen to mostly old and new rock, jazz, funk, and to my understanding this is a pretty versatile amp.

My next question is, what would be a good pair of speakers to get the best out of it? i was told to look at something with at least 93db sensitivity so im looking at the klipsch f-10's

thank you

yea, im skeptical about the klipsch. i spotted them at best buy for 199 a side.

is it possible to find a decent entry level high efficiency speaker for under 700 a pair?

The SE34I is a very good piece,versatile, and well built, of course !
700 bucks is a good price, if in good shape. I'd recommend the "Hazen
Grid Mod" which makes a very good integrated even more transparent.
If you're into DIY, there's some killer speaker options for peanuts.
Happy Hunting !

If I recall, this amp is about 6 watts. The more efficient speakers you have, the better. I would try to stick around 90db or better.

I'm a visual person so I describe it this way -

Let's assume 90db speakers. Remember, you have to double the wattage to add only 3db of sound.

1 watt  = 90db
2 watt  = 93db
4 watt  = 96db
4-6 watts is extra headroom

Now, assuming you have a smart phone, download a free sound meter app and fire it up. Take your current stereo or loud TV or whatever, and crank it up till your sound meter app hovers around that 96db and see if that's loud enough for you. It probably is fine unless you're throwing a party.

These apps arent super accurate, but we're just giving you a ballpark idea of what you'll be getting with a 90db setup and that amp.

It's a great amp by the way!

I run some 89db speakers with my SE34I and its OK, but I do find myself wanting more volume.  The Omegas recommended or some used Decware DM945s would probably be better.  I think the Omegas come up for sale more often that the Decware.

I think Tekton Lores or lower end Zu speakers might be worth looking for used as well.  Zu has these cubes that I've seen from time to time that are something like 98db and might be a good match.

Hopefully with bulls#it like that from a "salesman" you ran like the wind in the other direction !
You'll be surprised at the range of speakers the SE34i will drive.
Don't go by numbers alone. We should buy with our ears, not our eyes.

Get the SE34I for $700. You can't go wrong. Is it the original metal dark brown hammertone finish chassis??? I have one that has been updated with the Decware "Hazen grid mod" and both sets of outputs running in "Zen" triode. it is essentially a 4 channel power amp.

As a "newbie" toobnoob you may not understand all I am saying however if what your looking to buy is a first generation SE34I as I've described then just get it. I run mine with the two power outputs per side strapped in parallel and everyone agrees it is THE MOST robust 7 watts single ended ever heard.

It is what is known as a "Rachel" originally Dennis Hazen at Decware made his SE34I as I describe above. Get it and send it to Decware and pay for them to make it into the same amp as mine or Dennis' original "Rachel".
Make sure the chassis is not damaged or any bad cosmetic blemishes.
If so it is still a good deal at $700. Offer less if you like. If it is the brown metal chassis.

If after all that you absolutely hate it I'll buy it from you.  ;)

Thanks everyone!

I found these zus omens for sale. At 12oms? Will those work?

Here is the listing for the amp.
http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/649073433-decware_se34i/

Looked again that is it. Run don't walk and pick this up.

As for the speakers. Is 12ohm too much for this amp?

12 ohm speakers might enjoy strapping the double binding posts in series instead of parallel but try it first in parallel. also you can run the amp on one set of power tubes that would be either the inboard set or the outboard set. That corresponds to the inboard or outboard posts. There are asterisks screen printed on the chassis at the tube base and the speakers posts if you run it in this mode DO NOT leave the tubes in place for the unused set of posts on and running since you can kill the output transformers with no speaker load. Reason you want to maybe hear the amp with one set of tubes is that would be the purest signal you can hear from the amp yet 3.5 wpc.

Your very welcome. I just really like this particular amp a whole bunch.

Amazing, I literally didn't sleep last night cause I'm so excited. I also found some speakers locally and for a great price too so I should be up and running today.

The speakers are a pair of fonken  4" single drivers. They look like they might need a sub though.

Is there a way to connect a sub to this amp? I noticed that there weren't any rca outputs?

That amps always intrigued me. It`s like a pair of the newer SE34`s on one chassis. You can bridge 2 SE34`s as I have so I can see where Chris is coming from though like toobnoob I`d need a walkthrough.  :)

OK so your looking at the back of the amp right?
You said like your 5  
So on each side (thats left and right) of the back of the unit there are two pair of speaker posts got that? so the "outboard" set that is the pair that are closest to the sides of the amp have a red post on top and black post on the bottom yes? So the "inboard" sets of speaker posts are those that are next to and inward of the "outboard" sets those are vertically arranged having the black post on top and red post on the bottom. Unscrew the red and black binders all the way out so you can see the holes that run through the gold plated posts. See that? Cut four pieces of copper wire that has a covering on it such as electrical wire or quality speaker wire about 3-4 inches long. Strip off 1/2 inch of the insulation to expose both ends of each of the four pieces of wire. If you are using stranded wire hand twist the bare ends so the strands twist together. Stick one end of each of the four pieces into the outboard posts and tighten the binders (the red and black things) down on the 1/2 inch bare ends such that all four wires point outward sticking past the sides of the amp. Now as best you can bend the insulated portions of the wires around the outside of the posts such that you can put the remaining bare wire ends into the inboard speaker posts "black to black" and "red to red". Tighten inboard binding posts down on the bare wire ends and there you have "strapped" the two power tubes (the two big ones on each side) in parallel. at this point use banana plug equipped speaker wires by plugging each wire into the hole in the center of the binder red and black on each side (see the hole in the back of each post?). It does not matter which red or black post you use for the speaker since electrically they are strapped together.

I took my SE34I out this evening also. A picture would be easier but the above description is exactly how I did mine.

FYI for a series connection you just connect the top two posts together (thats black to red) and hook the speakers to the bottom or remaining two black and red posts. That is per side.

Gotta love that you took the time to really spell it out for me haha. Thank you! I suppose this would be easier with banana connectors? My speakers came with some, and out of frustration I cut them off. They wouldn't seem to stay attached. So I'll he getting some nice quality cables tomorrow.

Also, what should I NOT DO. I know you mentioned taking tubes out,  but I'm thinking I'll just leave them in to get full power.

Thanks again Chris, I appreciate your guidance on this journey of mine

Oh also it would never in my opinion be ok or more rightly it would be WRONG to short the black and red of any vertical "set" of posts. Steve Deckert claims Zen amps will drive a dead short like that but I see not one reason to torture the amp this way. At least I would not do it. If the amp is idle with no music signal on and speakers are unhooked momentarily while the amp is on I've seen people short the leads but it is unnecessary. You will notice that there are two switches on top of the amp which light up when depressed. This applies high voltage to the tubes it is a standby switch to turn off the tubes but leave the rear power switch on so the filaments keep glowing and the tubes kept warmed up. The amp will not produce sound if the standby switches are off. You can turn them off to swap speakers and turn them off if you walk away form the amp for a few hours and the tube filaments will remain hot. Then to listen again just turn on the switches.

Yikes. I hope I didn't damage anything. I had the inner set of binding posts hooked up to the speakers and hadn't pulled any tubes. I noted the amp made a brief shriek when I had it hooked up this way.
Only tried playing music for a few minutes like this though

chris, they run at 50% volume and sometimes I wish the bass player would ease up on some recordings (not really, I love it). But thats all down to the signal in being what it is. They are a great window for whats being fed into them... SET all the way. I have cranked them up but in a dedicated medium sized room the headroom  is too much, like being at a gig front row where the sound is aimed at people 10yds away. ....and they`re driving 89db.
toobnoob will enjoy the sweet SET  and as you say he`s got a versatile amp there.

noob, dont swap out  EL34`s for 5U4`s. 5U4`s are rectifiers, they turn AC volts to DC. Best wait for chris for the strapping.

Your diagram is correct for strapping in parallel noob.

So then just to understand. The amp you have is rectified by a set of bridged diodes. Those are solid small state devices and are inside the chassis.

The SE34I.2 opted to use only one set of power tubes and since the "octal" sockets for the inner power tubes are the same sockets as tube rectifiers of several types and the newer amp is running with tube rectification. So no it is not just a swapping of anything.

Noob we definitely got to get you fed with enough info to be "dangerous". Because some of the assumptions your are making could be really dangerous!!! A set of rectifiers in the power tube circuit. HMMM Lord only know the fireworks that could ensue from that mistake.

So this "hums and screech" thing. That's not right. Unhook everything from the amp but the speakers and put the volume at 12o'clock turn on the amp and the standby switches. SO NOTHING on the inputs, speakers connected, posts strapped red to red black to black.
Any humming and screeching? Something is wrong. Next step is to remove the small middle tube and turn the amp on again. Did it remove the bad sound? If not then remove the left and right small tubes. Any change? If it still acts up then maybe a bad power tube (the EL34's) have extras swap them in one at a time and see what happens. If none of that works then you need to have Decware give it a check up.

Didn't the guy who sold it to you play it for you? Did he give you any tips on operation of any quirks he experienced with it? I turn mine on and it works perfect. So should yours. If it is a grounding issue with another piece of equipment that is another story. I hate searching for ground problems. You'll need the advice of someone with a little more patience and knowledge in that area.

As for operation of the amp we've pretty much covered it in this thread. So just turn it on and enjoy. Get a cheap USB DAC and hook it to your computer. Or if not just the output of the computer to one of the four inputs on the amp. Not the highest of FI but hey you should be enjoying this thing. Ever heard of Spotify?