Decware - any substance here?

I used to own a Decware phono stage. Never had any problem with it. In fact it was better than a certain solid state phono stage at the time that was garnering rave reviews and cost 3 times as much as the Decware unit.

I'd love to try a set of their speakers some day. Steve knows what he is doing and his business model is quite refreshing. Great sound does not have to cost a lot. Looks and price seldom equate to better sound. A well designed circuit using good parts with outstanding build quality and thorough testing should be good enough enough for anyone.

I had to learn that the hard ($$$$) way.

I own the CSP2 Pre-amp, and it is a workhorse in my system

CSP2-->20ft DH Labs BL-1 RCA--->Wyred4sound SX-500 mono amps
into Magnepan MMG's

I have to put my ears to the MMG's to hear any noise,hiss, or hum

and the headphone output (Sennheiser HD-650) gets a lot of use

and they are nice looking pieces of equipment, well made

great product, at a fair price

I have a Zen Select. I love it. I wish I had more Decware gear. I wish I bought Decware first. I would have saved thousands of dollars.

The four Decware amps I metioned in my first post are not the only Decware products I have purchased. I also have the phono stage, ZT preamp, HDT's and the RL3 speakers.

All of Decware's offerings are bargins in todays audiophile pricing structure. I still own all of them except the "blue torii".

My "not dead quiet" comment needs more description. I am using the Torri mkII to amplify the mid range (560hz-3350hz) into a 118 db efficient compression driver.Any tube amp will hiss a little when used this way. Power from the Decware amps is low. What do you expect from SET amps. Even the push pull Torrii can not be considered hi power.

Having owned many powerful amps, which were not really musical, I have become fond of the saying " if the first watt s*uks why continue?". So if you have an exciting musical amp and it happens to be lo power- go get some more efficient speakers if it won't play loud enough.

I have voted with my pocket book, DECWARE is a winner!

I'm new here, only because the Decware site is pretty quiet these days, so I started looking around and found Audiogon.

I just had to voice my opinion. I own two Decware amps at the moment, Steve's new DAC and the CSP2 pre-amp. Plus two pairs of his speakers. I have no desire to go looking for anything else. They just plain satisfy. I lusted for years over the high priced gear out there, until I realized they just plain looked better than they sounded.

I first meet Steve at a VASC show in the Seattle area in 2001, after seeing all the rest of the gear at that show, I made my first Decware purchase, and haven't looked back. I've been to his Zenfest a few years and it is simple, laid back, and a lot of fun. I have plans to attend this years fest in just a few weeks.

What I like the most is, you can get Steve Deckert on the phone and talk to the man that built your amp, thats something you can't do with the big boys.