I was just talking with Steve about a different issue but we discussed the anniversary amp a bit.   My takeaway is that you really ought to have the proper room and speakers to really take advantage of this amp.  For example, with my huge room and 92.5db HR1s, I'd only get a "taste" of what the amp is capable of.

I have had three of the 2 watt Zen amps, the 6 watt integrated, Toriis Mk II and Mk III and Taboo Mk III and Mk IV.

I have ZERO experience with Zu nor have I lived ling with any high efficiency speakers. Reading this forum there are those who think that the 2 watt amps (whether Anniversary or not) don't have enough "Oomph" with Zus. But my personal experience is that the 3 watt Taboo amps sound really good with the HR-1s which are not high efficiency. . . (albeit when given a ton of gain at the input via the ZTPRE and ZROCK2). . . . So my guess is that unless you want to try to reproduce symphonic crescendos or stadium rock vibration these may well be fine with the Zus.

My take on the amplification is . . .the Zens and Taboo are direct and honest amps, they'll show you what you have in your system and what is on the recordings and sometimes. . . it's not pleasant. If you have a lot of mediocre material to listen to and want to just listen without being really critical. . . they may not be the best fit. The Rachel is a bit more forgiving, and the Toriis are a bit less forgiving than the Rachel but a bit more than the Zens and Taboos. And all of this can be influenced, altered, and perhaps even flipped in any of the amps with tube and cabling and power and isolation choices . . . .

So I hope I'm indicating that it's not an easy question to answer and many of us have taken leaps of faith and then taken smaller steps towards "the ideal sound" they have as a goal. (And that ideal sound can be very different for each of us!)

So I would do one's best to determine that you have a speaker and amp match. . . . Steve may be the best one to help determine that, certainly other Zu owners here will have some wisdom. After that, decide if you want "ruthless honesty" or "a bit of forgiveness". . . .

Hi MMac,

I asked same question for my ZUs couple weeks ago... got very good feedback from many on this thread.

My conclusion is to start with something secondhand to get the feet in the door of Decware. If you like something that can rockout once in a while or have a large room 2w might not be enough.

I am in market for used ufo2 or tori or jr in good condition to start slow and get familiar with tube before going new route...

Thanks,
RF

Hi Lon,

Yes I saw that. I am hoping lot of people will be upgrading to 25th anniversary and in process some may sell torii jr or toriimk3/4..

I am hoping to find a good one second hand.

Thanks,
RF

Hi MMac,

I am almost positive that even the lowest-output Decware amp would work quite fine with your Omen's unless you are looking for crazy levels of volume.  I am driving 91dB B&W's with my SE84UFO.  The B&W's I have are a 2.5-way system with a crossover that must be soaking most of the signal and still sound satisfactory in terms of volume.  I am not sure, though, if mine are the 4-ohm or the 8-ohm version.  

Also, please note that there is so much detail you will hear from the Decware/Zu combination that you might not even need high volumes; i.e. your listening habits might even change...

If I were in your position, I would start with a version of the SE84UFO.  These have amazing second-hand value actually, so if you are not satisfied you can always sell them at a great price anyway.  I would not go for any passive or active sub at this time either.  Just buy the SE84, feed it with a high-output source; I would say at least with 4-5 volts (by the way, this is not based on any actual measuring, but rather my experience with low-wattage Decware amps in general).  If the bass is not satisfactory, you can look into some mechanical coupling through the placement of your speakers.  You might end up with some boomy bass, but again, there is no recipe for this that I know of; it is just trial and error.

If you cannot get decent bass from your Omen's this way, I do not think it is the amp, but rather the speakers; and increasing the power of the amp would help just a bit, but not a lot.  This is based on my experience with my Omega Hoyt-Bedfords with moving from an SE34I.2+ to a TORII mkII (from 4-5 watts/ch into 25-26 watts).

With any Decware amp, I believe you won't be disappointed.  It is more the other components in your system that might give you headache, but at least Decware has amazing second-hand value, so I believe it is a safe investment.  

If the above does not satisfy you, then you should start considering passive subs, etc...  But one step at a time...  IMO and IME...  :)

Best,

Alper

alper_yilmaz

what do you mean when you say feed the SE84 with a high output source.  Do you mean a preamp with lots of gain?  

Out of curiosity, will you get a sound that is more full if you use the SE84 with a decware preamp or if you just use an amp with more watts like the Torii Jr or the Torii Mk4?

Thanks!

Alper, are the UFO transformers only on the SET amps?  Is there a reason why the Torii doesn't use the UFO transformers (or maybe it does, I'm confused)?

Are there any plans for the Torii mk 4 to get the UFO transformers?  I don't see that as an option in the amp page description...

Can you elaborate a bit about this SE84 "charm"? Really want to know what distinguishes a UFO'ed Zen from, say, a Taboo 2.
I am using some crossover-less 96dB speakers.
The line on the Taboo was that that it shared a similar character of the Zen, maybe minus some of the Zen's imaging.

I think Lon's description of the SE84 amps vs the others is spot on.  

I would add that a Zbit in conjunction with a variable XLR output DAC adds enough gain for the Zen Amps.  I have this combo running into my Rachael and ~94db speakers and it is louder than I need (12.5 X 16.5 room).

Xmas time was the last "sale" I think and that and Decfest time are the traditional discount times. Wouldn't hurt to call and ask. . . why not? You never know. It's not worth waiting that long if not. . . you want to get on the build list!