Adding to the stable of one. With 25 A-mods. KT66 tubes.

Now ready for that 6 month wait.

Small room, big sound.

Sometime back, I thought I wanted a SE84UFO. But I already have one of Steve's lowest powered amps. I'm going the other way and see where the Torii takes me with the Omegas.

Thanks Scott, tik-tok is right LOL

I'll not forget the painful wait when I ordered the Taboo......4 mos. with no system because I put the amp and speakers on the open market and sold them much too fast [Rogue Chronus Magnum, Martin Logan Theos].

After much fumbling about, I'll very reluctantly but probably will sell the Taboo. Someone is going to get a pristine, barely broken in, full 25th A- modded Taboo MK 4 with no waiting!

Thanks Tommy. You were one of the first to welcome me when I first joined the forum.

I really dont have to sell my much beloved Taboo. In 6 mos. once I receive the Torii, I'll likely change my mind. What a wonderful backup amp it would be. I know, Im all over the place on the decision.....the nice thing about it is that its a decision thats not pressing at all.

Out of curiosity, what do you like about the Torii over the Rachael?

I've also owned an SE34I.2+ (predecessor to the Rachael) and a Torii MK IV (beeswax but not 25thA) and I agree with Tommy completely - the Torii would be the keeper. I thought the SE34 was really good but I think the EL34 family works better in a push-pull config than it does in SET mode. 25 watts and all the adjustments of the Torii give it the capability to handle so many more speakers and tailor the sound. Prior to the SE34 I also used an Almarro A205 for a while and preferred the tone of the EL84 to the EL34, so while I've never owned an SE84 or Taboo I'm guessing I'd also prefer them to the SE34.

All these amps were driving Zu Druids, which in spite of their stated 101 dB efficiency loved the extra power of the Torii. Since many speaker manufacturers are optimistic, more power is almost always better.  

That's exciting! I love my Torii MK4. If you listen at night with the lights off you're in for a surprise, Between the 4 VR tubes and 8 other tubes it puts off a lot of light, I love it! I'm going to get to start the burn in process all over again as I sent it in for the Miflex caps and a voltage change to 120v.

Thanks guys.....all. Your input is very helpful!

I really do want to hold on to both amps at this point.

The Taboo is truly exquisite in my small room, a tapestry of delicateness with some balls, EXTREMELY revealing & transparent.....especially with the Omegas and their single 6.5" ALNICO driver. What a combination. I never heard the SE84UFO, but I have to think its relatively close in terms of overall character, given its 3-4w rating, and that it was originally created with a nod to the SE84. So I would imagine the Taboo MK 4 and the SE84UFO are very close cousins.

I'm planning on the Torii MK 4 to be the main event, so going into another direction this time. Indeed, I am hoping for the rendering of an even more rich and complex playback which should be really good with 95db efficient speakers. The Torii shares much of the same basic tube configuration as the Taboo, so that's great....with the added feature of the VR tube dept......so the more that can be tweaked, the better! Another facet I think I'll really like is the idea of a variable treble cut circuit. And of course the power....though I have a small room, I WANT MORE POWER, and the headroom it affords. I find myself having to fire up the CSP3 and the Taboo nearly all the way wide open -- with the ZBIT cranked ALL the way up on a good chunk of recordings. My goals are a BOLD and powerful presentation, yet silky detailed, highly nuanced, with the right air and space. The Taboo is dead nuts on for a part of that ride.....now I'm looking for something that will take me on for the rest of the ride.

One of the main reasons I went with the Taboo in the beginning was the headphones aspect.....I went into this thinking 50%/50% headphones vs. speaker duty. But I end up more like 95% speakers and 5% headphones. So, I will ask Steve to machine up one of his adapters so I can use headphones on the more rare occasions [the CSP3 25th Anniv. doesn't have a headphone jack].

Quote:


And you know this how?  

Brad,

I can tell you that even after only owning the Torii for the past two weeks, I really enjoy the adjustability of the bass and treble cut switches on the unit. I am running a pair of 90 DB efficient speakers in my great room, with only using the ZSTAGE as a preamp and I have yet to go more than halfway up for normal listening.  With your speakers I don’t see you having a problem whatsoever.  

Dom

Dominick, thank you for that info. I read your posts on your new Torii......fascinating and really exciting!

Yes, I definitely expect some enviable changes to the positive. I love the Omegas, and with their relatively high efficiency the Torii should really make them sing.