Another productive week as the more of the first 25 Anniversary amplifiers start to ship!  I thought this would be a good place to post your impressions, pics etc., of your new SE84UFO25s!

-Steve

That's awesome! I'm not surprised the amp sounds great off the bat (Jupiters!) and it will have a few fuzzy periods I bet and then sound jaw-droppingly good.

I spent an hour tweaking the sound of my second system which has a Taboo Mk IV driving Trapezium speakers at the moment. I'm going to have to start saving up. .. . I think eventually Steve will get around to "25th Anniversarying" the Taboo Mk IV and I know it will be an amazing amp and I'll want one! That system could benefit from a ZROCK2 as well. Man, it never ends.

I was going to try to swing a pair of DNA2 speakers. But further experimenting with gain adjustments with the ZTPRE/ZBIT/ZROCK2/CSP3-25/25th Monoblocks has me really satisfied with the way the HR-1s are acting and not encountering distortion--and my wife seems to have all the volume she needs as well. Wow. . . I can't believe the sound I'm getting.

I was up until 1:30 am.  Woke up at 5:30 am.  Mixed some Blowmeum in my coffee so that I could make it through the day.  Tonight is another listening session, not a good time to be doing higher math...

Joman,  Happy listening to you! Don't worry about the math as I have no idea how you'd factor in the "Wow!!!-factor".

Tell us a little about your system. What is your source? Do you have a CSP3 in the chain? My amp is well down the list to be built so I'm just trying to decide if I need to buy a CSP3 or not. I do already own a ZR2.

Thanks, Joman. I appreciate your comments. I currently have a UFO2 and the ZR2 playing through Randy's Betsy's. I have ordered a UFO25 that I should receive in August. I thought the CSP3-25 might be my next addition but that will have to wait until next year. I might add speaker cables this year though.

Thank you, Will. I'm amazed and your ability to be able to understand and then make the changes dictated to your equipment. Pretty awesome ability.
Thanks for your input. I will talk to Steve when the time comes.

When I "bite" for the CPS-3 it will be for the 25th version. Might has well go big or go home.

I could not agree more!

Great news chengdigger! Impressive indeed!

From Showme: "Thank you, Will. I'm amazed and your ability to be able to understand and then make the changes dictated to your equipment. Pretty awesome ability."

You are welcome Showme. I have to say though, my amp knowledge and abilities seem fairly rudimentary, persistence and creative need  gradually driving what learning I have! I had dabbled in DIY for quite a while, but openning my precious Decware MKIII Torii and MG944s for cap changes, I was reticent. So I talked with Steve and Bob, and read more on different caps, resistors, solders, and solder method. Finally it was fun, with nice solder joints, and I heard real improvements. Also, from studying the amp interior, I realized I could learn and work with what Steve had created, not making the wheel, but refining it. Meanwhile, ongoing cable making was quite encouraging for deeper learning and practice.

For my pre-production HR-1s I asked Bob to put the caps and resistors outside so I could easily experiment. Upgrading the primary cap, I got a number of faster, small value bypass caps seeking a more exciting and complete sound, but also to learn the character of different caps relatively inexpensively. Exploring audio resistors too, I realized how powerful bypass caps and different resistors can be.

Then vyokhong's thread on modifying the ZMA! Jazzed, health challenges made going in my amps hard for several years. Occasional research and collecting parts was fun and useful though. Recovering, I went in, trying one thing at a time... Copper coupling caps in my Torii MKIV, volume pots in the CSP3 and MKIV, both with notable sonic benefits....and my 1st power supply bypass foray (using caps I had from HR-1 experiments) just blew me away...all revealed great potential for refinements within Steve's excellent designs. This was the summer/fall of 2016, and the stimulus for many, many ongoing experiments that continue today.

It is challenging though....tight places, technique, finding synergistic parts... But probably most critical is relatively complete discernment of the sound complex, hopefully clarifying what works and what does not, while avoiding inadvertently falling off balance. Loads of fun for me, but compared to what Steve's mods cost, lots of hours and parts later the sound is amazing, but the cost benefit from my DIY??? That is hard to say!

I bet your CSP3-25 will be amazing!

Every now and then you make an amplifier that when you hear it you're convinced something special must have happened to it, and you want to keep it for yourself, and build the customer another one...yes, that is the urge.  I have never done it, but the point is that you are so compelled by the sound that you become scared that it is a fluke, and can not be repeated.  This is the feeling I get when I listen to these amps, and tonight an hour later, the feeling is overwhelming.

That means, Jeff, that the transparent glass resistors sound no better than the opaque glass resistors that went out in the first 25 amps.  In fact if I were held at gunpoint with 2 seconds to decide before the trigger is pulled, I would have to say the opaque were the better sounding.  This amplifier is sooo sick.... it takes you so deep into the sound during evening listening sessions, that you begin to warp time, perception and reality...  A true space ship.

Steve  

I have to retract a statement I made in one of my earlier posts regarding coming up with new math to try to quantify the UFO25 experience.

At that time I thought that I would need “a couple of doses of Blowmeum” to assist in the process.  After having the UFO25 for close to two weeks I can categorically state that Blowmeum is no longer needed.  To the chagrin of the suppliers of Blowmeum I will predict that with the introduction of the UFO25 the market for Blowmeum is dead!

Got my 25th amp now. Like others said, what a beauty! Not only does it look amazing it sounds like that as well. It only has 10hrs on it now, but it already sounds way better than my nice Torii IV! I hope Steve will have some zen moments in the future to get that one closer to the level of the SE84UFO25.... It has a great soundstage, is very neutral, the highs are already better than the Torii, base is not quite at the level of the Torii yet, but close and it still needs to burn in. Thank you Steve for producing such a master piece and selling it for a price that is still somewhat affordable!

I've bought Tannoy Cheviot speakers for this new amp, and they are amazing. They are a bit pricey, but they sound fantastic, you can put them close to the wall (what I needed to do in my room), you can change the cut over frequency and the high level in the front panel, have great build quality and come even with their own wax for the wood! The little ufo25 can power them to levels way beyond my normal listening level. They have a great soundstage and are very life like and for me a perfect fit with the ufo25.

Thanks Rich,
yes, if you would have me guess the Watt of the ufo25 after listening to the Tannoy with the Torii and the ufo25 I would have guessed it has 10-15W. Maybe Steve seriously underrates the power output of it with 2.3 W

That says a lot Stefan you are getting such good performance from the Tannoys. (The Tannoys, whch seem to be impossible to find/demo in New England)

Are you running a preamp?

Hi all!  New here, been lurking (and enjoying) the forums for a coupla months since receiving The Letter (announcing the SE84UFO25).  Now that mine (#006) is beginning to sound broken-in I wanted to announce that my mind is utterly blown. After 40-plus years of divergent audio experimentation I am in a very happy place indeed.

JUMP!!!   The longer you wait the more you will kick yourself for the procrastination!!!!!!!!!!!

An email I got recently:

Quote:

Robert, the Holy Grail path is greatly simplified by proceeding along the Decware route!

Ace... get a bib, the frothing turns into salivating once you get over the shock.

20+ hours on the UFO25. I am using my own tubes.
60' GZ32 Mullard, Reflecktor 6P15P-EB 70's,  0A3 RCA 50's,  OD3a 60's Mullard,  7DJ8  60's Lorenz.

Amp is coming along nicely since first listen Aug 23 -thurs.
Bass is deep, clear and very easy to pick out the individual notes in the mix. Much bigger and better than my SE84-CKC. Drums sometimes startle me when they kick in hard. I find that I do not have to turn up the Zrock2 quite as much as before. All instruments well separated in the mix with great width, or depth, depending on the recording. Overall my whole room sounds fuller...sound fills the air nicely side to side and top to bottom...in a word - Energized! Wow! Peter Gabriel - "shock the monkey LP" has never sounded so immense, so deep...beautiful and powerful. Musical ambiance, reverb decays etc are nice, very nice...making me smile. I know the amp has a way to go to season properly but right now it has far surpassed my CKC Zen! OK enough rambling. I need to tear myself away and go to the gym.

Ace, glad to hear (no pun intended) that your enjoying your UFO25, I’m thrilled with mine.

I noticed that you are using a Lorenz PCC88.  I’m using a Valvo D getter Hamburg mfg., from from the 50’s in conjunction with a Sylvania USM OC3.  One has to be careful with Valvo tubes as not many are from the Hamburg plant and the D getters are getting to be crazy expensive and very hard to get.  I have three... a couple of spares.  

I’ve tried a variety of tubes in the driver position and always ended up with German mfg., tubes.  Usually Valvo or Seimens because the Tele’s are also crazy expensive.  What I like about them is that with the right tube complement they give a good balance of everything, tone, texture, detail, dynamics, sound stage and the 3-d effect.  I don’t like to compromise in any of those aspects.

I was thinking of trying a Lorenz PCC88 as well but I’m now so reluctant to change anything in the UFO25 set up.  Can you give some additional input on the Lorenz?

Thanks Ace.  Do they have a nice 3-d effect?

Thanks, I’ll have to give then a try

Got it warm for 4hrs.. at the moment I would not conclude any yet.
Sacd and vinly communicated.. and both seem to like each other..
Im still smilling and waiting for it..

How do I attach photo here.?