Any Octave Owners out there?

That sounds great.. I am busy with work and a 3 year old, but it could be fun.. by the way, who is the dealer that you are working with?

The Q3s are also 4 ohm and sealed sealed box design... The octave seems to control the bass very very well. If they have the V80se you might want to take it home and give it a shot. I’m not one of those more is always better but it might be a better option if it’s within your budget. If not you might consider V S 80 now and add the super black box or at least a black box later...

Audiosaurusrx,

I have the V80se with a SBB and I like it very much. I am using it with Magico Q3s which are about 90db efficient and i think the combination sounds great. I have no direct experience with the V40 se, but I assume the difference is predominately in the output power. Pending on the efficiency of your speakers I think it might work quite well. Very impressed with the German build quality and the reliability has been absolutely flawless. I previously drove the system with Boulder 2000 stuff and I must admit it might have been a bit better but I am extremely pleased with the current combination. I do think that the octave stuff at least the stuff I have is extremely natural sounding and doesn’t feel excessively bloomy or “tubey”to my ear.

as I said I have no direct comparison but I would assume that the V80se would just be more of the same which in our world is always a good thing,

Regarding tube rolling, while I am certain many here will disagree with me, I tend to believe that quality manufacturers are very are very conscientious when it comes to choosing parts for their products. Fact is I am quite pleased with the performance of the amplifier and its current state I see no reason to change it,  

  I am not sure where you are located, but I am just outside of Boston and you are more than welcome to come by for a listen. I do have the luxury of a purpose built room for my system. It is very well treated and has almost no parallel walls. It’s about 28’x18’ with at least 9” ceilings. 

  Most of my listening is done via a Basis 2800 with vacuum hold down and a MySonic labs Ultra Eminent Ultra EX cartridge. I use the MSL step up transformer and the battery powered Nagra phono preamp. Digital playback I have an EMM labs transport and Dac 6SE. 
 I think having a good relationship with a dealer is paramount to success in this hobby. I too have an excellent dealer right near me and been dealing with them for decades. They excellent set up specialists and I have had them over a couple of times to help dial the room in using instrumentation and properly calibrated microphones. Originally they did it when I had the Boulder and the Magico combination. I had them back when I installed the Octave stuff for fine-tuning. Needless to say, I am very pleased with the performance of the system.