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Decware Zen Amp


Beverly

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mr. soo, I loved your original article but have always wondered about a section: "I toed them out until each K-horns midrange was firing at the listening position. Then I tilted the speakers slightly downward to have the midrange fire straight at me." did you use false corners while toeing out and tipping them or did they float in the air in the back? If floating I imagine you lost quite a bit of midbass response. p.s. I could not find the newer article. can you post the url? thanks for the clarification, tony

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Hi, Beverly:

I enjoyed reading your post. The mention of Lowthers always catches my attention since they are not very common -- 'specially on a Klipsch speaker forum!1.gif

I also have a pair of Lowther-based speakers, that I use almost as often as our Klipschorns. My cabinet is like your Acousta, but a sort of a modern version of the Design (I'm assuming you are referring to the big, horn loaded Acousts...). The drivers I'm using are PM2As.

There was mention of the Lowthers, being dynamic drivers, as probably needing lots of power to get adequate SPLs and dynamic contrasts. You know how incredibly efficient Lowther drivers are, though! They are very close, actually to La Scalas and K-horns, and the paper cones are like lightening! Incredibly fast, which is what they are known for. In the picture, you can see my Medallion II cabinets next to the La Scalas. I was going to possibly use the La Scala bass bins as part of an Oris Horn system, until I heard the Klipschorns.

Anyway, the Zen would probably work quite well with your Lowthers, but you might want to also consider some other options. 2A3 SET amplifiers sound great with Lowthers, and that's what I use with mine.

Lots of options are out there.

Good luck with your search,

edit! Oh, my god..........I need the summer really bad. LOL, what a ditz, dodo, goofball, and all that stuff. This post is years old!6.gif I could just delete it, but maybe it'll be good for a laugh!16.gif

post-10533-1381924534405_thumb.jpg

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I own a pair of Zen Se84C Selects bridged.

They have been used to power a pair of Von Schweikert VR4.5s, a pair of Conrwall IIs, and now a pair of Decware HDTs (High Definition Towers) using a modified Fostex 206E full-range drivers.

I can tell you having had many different high-end SS and tube amps over the years, the Zens are by far the cleanest amps I've ever used. The purity of sound, detail, imaging, timbre are all amazing in my rather small listening room (12'X 13')

If you are looking for that SET/Full range magic, this combo is addictive.

For lower effeicient speakers(under 93-94db) the Zen signature momos, integrated, or push-pull is required.

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Hi Rob!

Folks, seems to me that this thread is serving a purpose, so it was okay to bring it up. If not, then why doesn't the forum delete old posts?

Anyway, I'm enjoying my Decware amp(s) every day and I loaned my Revision A to a friend of mine who seemingly won't give it back and has told me he is selling his Cary 300b Integrated because it doesn't sound quite as good. . . .!

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----------------

On 5/6/2004 10:20:33 AM Lon Armstrong wrote:

I think he just DID.

----------------

My first tube amp with my Cornwalls was a Zen ©. It DID sound very, very good. However, it was not enough power to do more than casual listening of certain types of music. The Zen had problems (power and clarity issues) with many kinds of more complex music at anything more than very moderate levels. My next amp was a Cary 300SEI (I believe the same amp as the "Cary 300b Integrated" you speak of in an earlier post.). For me, in my system and room, the Cary outperformed the Zen in almost every way. Of course, please take into consideration that the Cary retails for $5,000 and the Zen was, I believe, $600 at the time. I have since sold the Cary and am now using a NOS Valves Scott 299B while I ponder the pursuit of MORE POWER. Options under consideration include 845 based SET monoblocs, vintage Mac, a KT100 based integrated or monoblocs built by Cy Brenneman and a couple of others. I'm in brain-lock.

Chris

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I've heard both the Cary and the Zen in his system, and in important ways he prefers the Zen and I think I do too. It was clearer and less euphonic than the Cary, and there was no clipping with the Zen at the listening levels he enjoys.

So res gustibus non disputandae sunt I guess.

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I hear the term "euphonic" bandied about by audio types quite a bit. I looked it up at www.thesaurus.com and came up with the following -

"Synonyms: accordant, agreeable, assonant, canorous, clear, concordant, dulcet, euphonic, euphonious, harmonic, in tune, mellifluous, mellow, melodic, musical, pleasing, resonant, silvery, soft, songful, sweet, sweet-sounding, symphonic, symphonious, tuned, tuneful, well tuned"

If that's what a Cary excells at, maybe I shouldn't have sold it.9.gif

Chris

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The little zen select was the first tube amp I tried with my Cornwalls.

I still have it....very sweet sounding mid-range. The bass has been called

polite which translated means not all will be satisfied. Two selects

bridged may be much better and the bigger decware mono blocks better yet.

Later I picked up a pair of Bottlehead Paramours and the bass was no longer

polite. It was big, tuneful and organic.

Lastly a pair of Moondogs with a few tricks arrived. The search has ended for now.

Liquid mids, bass with authority and much more silent than the Bottleheads.

The Moondogs get most of the play, the Paramours will be sold but the Decware will

remain to await a comrade.

RB

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