ANNIVERSARY UPDATE

Well, it has finally happened... I was forced to put a different amplifier in for the first time since building the anniversary prototype.

It is a moment I've been putting off for good reasons. One of which is that I've been enjoying it too much to want to change anything. But the real reason was fear.  

Once I actually do start comparing the amps I think I already know what would happen, but no matter what actually happens I'm screwed.

Scenario A: I put in another Decware amplifier which I have always loved and it fails to impress by comparison thus sounding bad to me for the first time ever.  That's of course going to be stressful.

Scenario B: I put in another Decware amplifier which I have always loved and it sounds better than the Anniversary amp. That's of course going to be even more stressful.

As predicted it was scenario A. It wasn't pretty. Then to add insult to injury later in the same evening I decided to put the corner horns on and similarly to the amp comparison, they now sounded broken compared to the DNA2's. I have never heard them sound bad before.

Sound Quality is a journey of context. The best thing you can do to ensure what you have sounds it's best is to be sure not to listen to anything better.

So it is a bittersweet experience that will no doubt repeat itself several more times before it's over.  

Also I have to say, that the DNA2's have been extraordinary on every level to the point where you believe they could never sound bad. When the amplifiers were changed, the speakers dropped from a 10+++ to about a 6.  As a speaker designer I have to tell you that this is a highly disturbing thing to witness.

I think this amplifier and speaker combination is so outrageous that to me it's in the same league for Decware as putting a car in space was to Elon Musks' Space Ex.  Hey, you don't see any other cars in space do you?  

For years I've been wanting to shoot a Zen Amp out of a cannon right through a concrete block wall and then re-tube it, plug it in and listen to it to demonstrate just one reason why an amplifier without circuit boards is better.

Now I'm thinking we need a Zen Triode Amplifier, 25th edition in space.... Actually in orbit.  We already have amps in space thanks to the abductions over the years... see video:  https://decware.wistia.com/medias/roqnquwf13


Steve

P.S.  If you enjoyed the video, here is part II.  https://decware.wistia.com/medias/puv6rk8rue

I must concur with Steve! He seemed, even visually, a bit shaken at the amp switching scenario! "There is just not as much there!", was the comment.
And Lon, nice turn of phrase!!

UFO 325 versus Tori MK 3
Okay I had to do it my Mark 3 amp is running New Old Stock Golden Lion kt77 tubes unfortunately I do not have the UFO output Transformers yet but I had to do a comparison the Tori Push Pull amp has the hit that Steve talks about it also has more power of course I noticed that the instruments are in place in the sound field separated from themselves which sounds really good but with the Manos the soundstage is continuous there is more information between the instruments especially with recordings that are naturally miked mixed recordings may be less noticeable but still sound very good the Tories have a richest sound more harmonics more distortions but even order distortions can sound really good hey when you split the signal and put it back together it can't be as pure as single ended the Manos are simply seamless there is just more information and they show no signs of stress with the right speakers I'm running open baffles homemade with vintage drivers I would say approximately 95 + efficiency show my impressions are that the Tory 3 is very enjoyable maybe especially on rock music but the Manos blow them away I kind of like both of them they both have different flavors but with the mono's and good recordings you are just about there in the dark both amps look really cool especially when lit up together I don't want to part with either I guess I'm still a polygamist either amp can take you away from reality into a world of sound



Greado epoch  Sota star  audio quest  pt9  zmc1  zp3  cp2 audio quest quartz
Se84 UFO 325 Dnc1 Zstysg

Interesting comparisons Poor Guy. Yes, I too have a Torii Mk III and love it, but there is something about the Taboo Mk IV that for my needs now (and with the killer gain I can drop into it from ZTPRE, ZBOX and ZROCK2) is just more satisfying. Similar to the Monos you have there's more information in the soundstage and it's enveloping and the sound is great for jazz and classical and even rock and video material. I can't wait to hear the 25th Anniversary Monoblocks, I think I'll have the next pair after yours.

I love good mono as well. A lot of the music I love to listen to was recorded before stereo, what you gonna do? I find when I have the system tailored to mono--strong center image, frequency balance even across both channels, etc.--stereo sounds phenomenal.

I'll definitely share my impressions of the Monoblocks when I get them!

Still trying to wrap my head around that one... it is handling that differently as well. Bad sounding recordings now have a complexity that would have Spock from StarTrek doing the one eyebrow thing.  

Steve

In keeping with the question about how the anniversary amp does with average or bad recordings I decided to listen to my dry Sansui FM tuner on today's syndicated classic MP3 rock music because that is truly the worst source/recordings I know.

The result is that I've lasted just past an hour and have only thought about putting it out of its misery a couple times a minute for the last 1/2 hour.  So for what it's worth, the anniversary amp will help with bad recordings on a good source, but not with MP3 recordings on a bad source.  

I have used this tuner in the past to test the ZROCK2 and I found that pretty much fixed it for what it's worth.

Steve

Trust the Master!  

RE: Anniversary amps

Will an even larger power transformer make a positive difference? Have you tried a boutique IEC fused inlet from Furutech or an upgraded fuse?

Any new news?

Hi Jeff,

They are going to be vibration canceling platforms designed for specific Decware amplifiers which is to say each platform will be tuned to the mass of and size of amplifier.  My plan is to release the first model for the smaller amps (like the SE84UFO25 for example) this summer.

Steve

That looks nice, Steve!

I agree with you, L R! I can almost see that in my rack!

lazb wrote on 03/17/18 at 14:12:42:

One day you WILL see that in your rack!

"I do like the Green patina."

I seem to remember a ZMA review that said if Decware were painted green (a la Shindo) there could easily be another zero in the price tag. I hope that's not the case here....

I too have isolation under everything, and what a difference it can make. Jeff, what did those look like when you were at Decfest? Will be interesting to see Decware's product in this field.

Thanks for the report Donnie. I guess that the prototype SE84UFO25 that is pictured with the red tinted top may be sitting on one of the isolation pieces then. . . .

The wait is going to be pretty tough I imagine! Are the monos going to have the same top plates as the stereo version or is he sticking with the same mono plates that he uses currently?

Edit : whoa wait ... that was actually pretty fast wasn't it?

Lon,

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward to your impressions of the new monoblocks. I could see those happily existing with my Linear Tube Audio OTL preamp. And I couldn't agree with you more about the black top plate. I like simple, understated, classic.

Keep us up to date, please.

Randy

Yeah, we're all different. .. I'll take what he gives me and like it, but the more they look like a regular pair of SE84UFO3 the better for me. I just love that simple unlettered look.

Beo,

I will agree with you on one aspect of the new tops: the thickness. I love that beefy, substantial look.

Randy

UPDATE:  Chassis hardware selection for the SE84UFO25...

I was originally intending on using silver wherever possible especially since that would theme it nicely being a 25th anniversary product.  After thinking about it for some time I realized this isn't a firkin wedding cake and the "theme crap" is getting in the way of what I'm being drawn to do which in this case is gold.

After dozens of combinations of different types of sockets and connectors this is where it's at so far.  The only thing left is the binding posts.  I have tested many boutique posts against our standard post shown in the picture and while several are prettier, none are actually better and several were not as good.  

I have another round of binding posts on the way to evaluate.  Stuff like the 245.00 a channel FURUTECH FT-806(G) High End Performance Carbon Fiber Binding Posts and all their other models as well.  Don't panic, I haven't lost my mind!  I went directly to the manufacture of the FT-806 post in China and have it made without the FURUTECH name for less than $30.00 a channel!

So with that, the binding posts in the picture are subject to change.  If I keep these, they will be 24K gold plated to match the rest of the hardware.

BTW, waiting for all these damn parts to arrive is getting suspenseful. The chassis itself is starting to create a vacuum because it wants to be built in the worst way!  If I wait much longer its just going to built itself!






-Steve

Here are more pics

See... it needs parts... wires...  wisdom!  Can you feel the vacuum?.  

This is how it happens... Basically you have a schematic, a box of parts of various sizes and this.  All you have to do is figure out the best way to connect it all and lay it out with the least number of solder nodes, the shortest amounts of wire, and spread it all out in such a way as to have the least amount of field interaction and everything has to take repeated 100 G impacts in the order of hundreds of times so lead length vs. lead diameter vs. part mass will make it difficult to lay things out the way you want to.  

Build it like it needs to survive a war and it will.  (on that note, my soldering gurus wire wrap the entire amp together so that it will work perfectly well before it's even soldered.  It's an awesome approach until you want to change something or take it apart.

Thankfully I've already done it once, so now I will have the massive advantage of seeing how it did it and copying what I like and changing what I don't like.

This is my gold watch for 25 years of loyal service coming to fruition.  OMG it's another sign!  I spelled a word right!

Happy listening  

Steve

OK,

Once again I had no intension on posting anything more tonight but I made the mistake of listening to the amplifier.  It has me.  I'm sorry.  I am listening to Crash Dance, Yello, Oliver Lieb and it's just so damn sick I can't handle it!  I had to leap out of the room in amazement because about half way through the track there was a sound featured well behind my right shoulder, I would have had to twist my neck around to look at it.  It felt so real and how I can I express this...  Picture an IMAX theater with 360 degree Omnivision only unlike that visual spectacular, the sound bleeds over into the visual and you not only see it but feel it. If I had a guest here tonight and told them it was only two speakers they would have known I was full of crap and left.

Perhaps the amp is activating the 3rd eye...?  it just doesn't seem possible to have this experience with only two ears.  It just doesn't.

Also as incredible as the sound I'm hearing is, ever since Randy left with his Betsy baffles that have the dual drivers, I have been waiting for the rear of the sound stage to map out in a perfect square like it did that night when he was here and it hasn't yet.  I'm just saying.  There is a sick irony in the fact that a 3K$ 2W amplifier and a $500 or so pair of speakers would set such a benchmark, when 20 years ago it was a $500 amplifier and a 30K pair of speakers that nearly accomplished the same thing.   Hmmm.


-Steve