Totally Tubular: The Tube Thread

AnthonyI said:

I don't know how I missed all this, but gratz my friend!! I'm a little jealous, still socking away funds for speakers, and I'm so glad you mentioned the finish because while I wait, that's the one thing I keep going back and forth on, lol.

Did you have to adjust the bottom clearance at all being on carpet?

If marketed just right, that audio rack could be a big seller

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wooha said:

Okay, part 2. Sorry for the delay. Holidays and moving into a new home have been taking up all my time lately.

So after the Parasound vs MP experience, I knew I wanted to continue down the path of tube amps. I had PrimaLuna at the top of my list due to the chatter on this forum, but they were a little more $ than I wanted to spend. As you can imagine, there are plenty of options out there, especially with the efficiency of the Souls. I won’t go through everything I looked at but let me tell you, that rabbit hole is massive and deep as can be.

The more research I did, the more I felt pointed towards Decware:

• Fully SET design, zero negative feedback, with only 2 resistors and 1 capacitor in the signal path. Felt that goes along with the minimalist design philosophy of the no-crossover Souls.
• Self-biasing and self-balancing, so no maintenance or adjustment needed other than changing tubes as needed.
• Like Zu, Decware is handmade in the US and sold direct, thus no middleman markup, so in theory you’re maximizing value per dollar spent.
• An absolute legion of fans that swear life and limb to the quality of their amps. I believe @Tanqueray referred to them as cult like at one point. Seems pretty accurate from what I’ve seen. Definitely helped my decision to read heaps of testimonials on listening experiences being transformed to greatness.
• Reading the pages of musings on the Decware forums of Steve Deckert himself on the trials and tribulations he goes through in designing these things. It’s very clear these amps are a labor of love for the guy, and every component and design decision is chosen with the highest level of confidence that it’ll result in the best sounding experience possible.

Those are the main reasons at least. So the Decware amp selection process is mostly based on how efficient your speakers are – other than maybe the 25th Anniversary Zen amp which seems to be a whole different beast – you supposedly aren’t gaining a higher level of sonic quality by getting a more expensive amp. Just more wattage. Having the Souls, all I need is an absolute minimum of power, so I went with the SE84UFO2 Zen Triode, and its menacing 2.3 watts of output. I chose both available performance upgrades – type II beeswax coupling caps and the beeswax bypass mod – and I’m a sucker for aesthetics so I also got the custom wood base option and, months later after a conversation with their wood base guy, went with a really sweet looking tiger/curly maple.

I say “months later” because the waiting list for Decware amps is not for the impatient. It took around 4 and a half months to get mine. I was prepared for that though as you can see the real time waiting list and figure out about how long it is at any given time. Also kind of fun to see your name move up the list as the weeks go by and anticipation grows. Anyway, I had plenty of time with the MP-301 while waiting for my amp to arrive, so I really got to let that sound settle in.

Once the Zen amp arrived – holy shit. This is the single biggest upgrade I’ve ever experienced… Even bigger than moving up to the Sutherland Insight and going from $400 bookshelf speakers to the Polk LSiMs. The detail is incredible. Throw every cliché audiophile word out there, this has got it. Music is just more real. You're in the room. It floats and envelops you. What really keeps getting me is the low volume detail. I’ve never had a system where the small details in recordings come out at lower volume levels, but they are there with the Zen. I’m not sure how to explain it other than you have to hear it to believe it.

Is 2.3W of power enough? With the Souls, I don't have to turn the amp up past 25-30% for my usual listening level volume with most recordings. Once I get up to 40% and higher I start worrying about complaints from the neighbors.

And to say the Zu Souls suit this amp is an understatement. Gerrit at Zu confirmed there were a number of Zu customers who were running Decware amps so it would likely be a good match, and it sure is. You can add me to that list.

Unfortunately these photos don’t do the tiger maple any justice whatsoever, but you can sort of see the figuring.

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Splunders said:

What styles of music do you generally listen to? I'm seeing a lot of reviews calling out how great these amps are in the mid range, esp jazz and female vocals, etc.. You commented on the bass, which sounds like it's great, but curious if you play more modern rock or electronic music and how that has sounded so far.

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wooha said:

A little of everything, but yes mainly alternative/indie rock, classic rock, electronic. Some classical, jazz, soul, etc. I haven’t found a genre which I could generally say plays unfavorably. As said above, these probably aren’t the speakers to choose if one wants bone rattling bass, but if a balanced and smooth sound is desired they are magic.

Mid range is absolutely a sweet spot for these.

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wooha said:

Sorry, meant to reply to your question: I've been simulating adjustments to the bottom gap by sticking flat cardboard pieces cut to size underneath. I haven't spent much time testing though - I want to get the overall placement and toe-in set first before I mess with the gap.

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HiFi Guy said:

@AnthonyI if I were putting Souls on carpet, I’d put a 1 foot square piece of tile under each speaker.

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HiFi Guy said:

This is interesting. I had to get the gap right first. They were so tonally odd otherwise that I couldn’t stand it.

@AnthonyI if I were putting Souls on carpet, I’d put a 1 foot square piece of tile under each speaker.

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AnthonyI said:

A little PL update of sorts, I've had the amp for 9 months now, still think it's one of the best investments I made. As things have simmered in over that time I've noticed some LPs have been a little brighter than I personally like, spoke to @HiFi Guy about it and he pointed me in the direction of replacing the 2 input tubes.

I made the minimal investment and just recently replaced the stock input tubes with a matched pair of Genalex Gold Lion 12AU7. Out of the box they made a difference, and once they warm up a bit they hit this "buttery" goodness. I'm sure they need a little burn in, but really happy with the results.

This was one of the reasons I really wanted to go with tubes, while I don't think I'll turn into a tube rolling demon, it is nice to be able to tweak the sound to your liking without replacing an entire amp.......small tweaks, big results

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kvetcha said:

I loved the Genelex on my Rogue Sphinx, but found that for whatever reason they’re a bit too recessed on the JoLida. Ended up going with a JJ 12ax7 there.

Good tube! And it’s weird what a difference it makes!

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kvetcha said:

I loved the Genelex on my Rogue Sphinx, but found that for whatever reason they’re a bit too recessed on the JoLida. Ended up going with a JJ 12ax7 there.

Good tube! And it’s weird what a difference it makes!

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HiFi Guy said:

I’ve read that tubes actually have no “sound”- it’s actually how each one reacts to the circuit it’s in that makes the difference.

My favorite 12AX7 in JoLida gear is the Sovtek 12AX7LPS. I never tried JJs though as I tend to be partial to Russian tubes.

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HiFi Guy said:

Well I wanted to try a single ended amp, so this will arrive on Friday.

View attachment 31652

It’s an Icon Audio Stereo 30 SE integrated. I’ve got 60 days to see how I like it compared to the PrimaLuna, thanks to MD. Got $900 off a floor sample.

This is 18 watts triode or 28 watts ultralinear per channel. It has variable negative feedback and uses one Tung Sol KT150 per channel. Should be fun!

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HiFi Guy said:

Well I wanted to try a single ended amp, so this will arrive on Friday.

View attachment 31652

It’s an Icon Audio Stereo 30 SE integrated. I’ve got 60 days to see how I like it compared to the PrimaLuna, thanks to MD. Got $900 off a floor sample.

This is 18 watts triode or 28 watts ultralinear per channel. It has variable negative feedback and uses one Tung Sol KT150 per channel. Should be fun!

Click to expand...

HiFi Guy said:

Well I wanted to try a single ended amp, so this will arrive on Friday.

View attachment 31652

It’s an Icon Audio Stereo 30 SE integrated. I’ve got 60 days to see how I like it compared to the PrimaLuna, thanks to MD. Got $900 off a floor sample.

This is 18 watts triode or 28 watts ultralinear per channel. It has variable negative feedback and uses one Tung Sol KT150 per channel. Should be fun!

Click to expand...

Icon Audio MB30 Single Ended Mono Block Power Amplifiers

Icon Audio MB30SE Single Ended Mono Block Power Amplifiers The MB30SE is a versatile high quality very simple mono block amplifier for Full Range and medium sensitivity speakers. Using only 2 audio valves it has excellent bandwidth with the best qualities of SE* without the disadvantages of...

www.analogueseduction.net

Joe Mac said:

I’m really looking forward to your impressions. When I bought the quad the other option the dealer thought I should be looking at was the icon audio mb30! I got a markdown on the ex demo quad but I’ll be very interested to see what you make of the icon ones!

Icon Audio MB30 Single Ended Mono Block Power Amplifiers

Icon Audio MB30SE Single Ended Mono Block Power Amplifiers The MB30SE is a versatile high quality very simple mono block amplifier for Full Range and medium sensitivity speakers. Using only 2 audio valves it has excellent bandwidth with the best qualities of SE* without the disadvantages of...

www.analogueseduction.net

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HiFi Guy said:

I’m looking forward to it. As I understand it, Icon own a factory in China where they custom wind their own transformers and do chassis/sheet metal fabrication. Actual assembly (along with original design work) is in Leicester England.

Edit: From Icon’s website-


*SINGLE ENDED: is where only one output valve is used so the one valve has to “push and pull” on its own. Although this limits the power available, the lack of “phase splitter” stage required by “push pull” amps means that the mid-range and upper frequencies have less “processing” which gives a smoothness and charm to the sound not found in other designs.

100% Pure Class “A”: Because both the driver and output valves are drawing 50% of power even at zero volume, the valves never “switch off” or go into a “low” state. This thermal and power stability enhances the reproduction of macro dynamics and sound stage spaciousness.

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