Hi Everyone

A couple of weeks ago I received my SE84UFO25 and firstly, I’d like to thank everyone on the boards for their help and patience with my various questions over the years.

To be totally honest, as my name crept closer to the top of the build list, I was seriously considering cancelling the order.  Over the past few years I’ve built up a nice system and have a few different power and tube amps and I was wondering whether something so simple looking could compare with what I already have.  Or if all the reviews were just hype and it would just sit on the shelf with some of my other stuff.

Upon receipt I set quickly set it up in my main system for a quick pre-burn listen, without any expectation and…. Wow…. Ok…. That’s actually quite nice.  

So I put 300 hours of music on it and am listening to my test track playlist back on the main system, just with the stock tubes for now.  And for a lot of music it is really actually quite beautiful.  And I think that’s probably the right word for it, Beautiful.  Is it as detailed as some of my other gear?  No.  Sound stage not as wide or accurate.  Not as much presence or control in the mids as my solid state amp.  And obviously not the bass.  A little coloured but in a really nice way.  When the music get’s complex and/or dynamic the UFO finds it a little hard.  But for a lot of music, especially acoustic music and vocals, which is probably my favourite genre to listen to, it is absolutely magical.  It has an air and grace in the treble and upper mids which, as I said before is just beautiful.  

Is the UFO25 overall as good as my main amplifier?  Overall no, but not my huge margins in most areas though.  And for some songs potentially maybe even better!  I can definitely see myself chilling listening to it with a bit of vocal jazz and a glass of whisky.  Thanks Steve and the team for an absolutely beautiful amplifier.  It makes me think which piece of Decware gear I want to buy next.

Now onto some tube rolling .  Special thanks to CAJames for tube advice, I’ve got some stuff coming.

Oh the rest of the system:
Sources: Antipodes Oladra, Kuzma Stabi R with Kuzma 4 Point 11 tonearm Lyra Kleos, Technics SL1200G with power and XLR mods Phasemotion PP2000 and a Chinese cartridge
DAC: T+A DAC200
Pre-amp: Chinese pre-amp, Prima Luna EVO 400 Mullard GZ34, Phillips E80CCs.
Modwright Line Stage, Mullard GZ34 fat base, Siemen’s CCas, Melz 6N8S 1578s
Main amps: Chinese made monoblocks (about 3 times the price of the Decware and based on amps 10 times that price), Triode Junone 845s Western Electric 300b, Linlai E845, Telefunken ECC801s, Mazda Belvu 12AX7s
Other stuff: PSI active bass traps, Isotek power conditioners, Stack audio and Isoacoustic isolation feet, Ethernet filters, fibre optics, room treatments, fuses and other stuff.

Oh and speakers: over the top custom made open baffles.  Also a pair of Paradigm Persona 5fs but the open baffles are much better
Two REL T9x subs

Haha cool!

Looking forward to it Lon

Welcome to Team UFO25 Morph! It looks like you've got quite a system (or two, or three) there. I got my amps without any tubes, so I don't have any direct experience with the Decware tube set, but for me, it was a journey to get the optimum tubes in both my (non-Decware) preamp and the 25s and get the best possible sound out of my system. A journey that honestly continues to this day. So, as others have said, things will keep getting better.

And please continue to share your experience .

Nice update Morph. Your experience with the Siemens CCa is similar to mine with other 6922/E88CC types. Loved them in other amps, couldn't make them shine in the '25s. And I think most posters would agree changing the rectifier has more impact on the sound than anything else.

One thing to consider, if you haven't already, is the front VR tube and bias switch. Both affect input tubes, and differently for each tube. I've settled on the 0D3 for my system, but I'd encourage you to try at least the D and C and both positions for the bias switch with a few different input tubes to get a feeling for what is possible. Note also changing the bias switch will change the volume so it is important to adjust it to make a fair comparison. Otherwise louder with usually sound better.