Decware - any substance here?


With such a nice and extensively detailed website, I've long been curious about Decware. But with little in the way of genuine reviews, and not much in the way of discussion here, I always wonder if they are nothing more than that, a great website. They clearly have a dedicated fanbase, but my problem with the fanbase is this: most of them (not all of course) seem to have limited experience with products besides Decware, as if they stumbled upon Decware and never bothered with other brands. Maybe this is positive, that once experienced they don't have the typical audiophile itch to try other amps. I'm specifically struck by the new Torii MKIII push-pull amp, which in description and looks is just beautiful. So does it interest anyone here? Has anyone actually heard it, or it's previous incarnations? If so how does it rate amongst the other quality tube amps, whether Blue Circle, Cary, Vac, Almarro, Atma-Sphere, etc...?
128x128jtnicolosi
Off topic, did anybody listen to the Zen speaker with the new driver? Specs on it look very promising.
Finsup,
I received the ERR's today, after some delay over the holiday/new year. This won't be a full review since they're freshly set-up, but I wanted to get back with some information about this loudspeakers since it's a little bit scarce here.

I ordered the plain cherry finish, and the fit & finish of the speakers is very very good. They were packaged well enough to survive a shuttle launch, and arrived in perfect shape. No documentation, but I called Steve at Decware and he was very kind with his time, answering my few questions clearly.

By way of confession, these speakers are about making the best of a marginal living room situation. The room is very bright, approximately 25Lx13Wx8H, and the space flows on both ends to much larger volumes. Speakers need to be close to the walls, and in practice people move throughout the space rather than sitting in a sweet spot. While it's not the room I do my critical listening in, I do want it to sound good...without looking like some kind of Temple of Audio.

The ERR's are fairly underserved with a Peachtree Decco containing a Cullen-modded Sonos playing lossless files. Cables are Rega SC42. So they're slumming a bit. They're replace some Rega RS5's, which were wonderful, if traditionally 'focused' in their design, and a single Gallo TR3 sub.

My initial set-up has the speakers nearly 18ft apart, toed-in, very near the wall, facing the room as well as the openings to the other volumes. Right now, the ERR's are simply sitting on hardwood floors on their integrated plinths - they're not spiked. Steve said this was entirely optional - they're threaded to accept spikes, the use of which he said may affect the bass (but nothing else).

Between their newness, my neophyte experience, and the fact that this iw significant across the board jump in performance from my previous (beloved) speakers, I think all I can really offer right now is that they are exceeding my expectations, which were good bass response, open not shrill highs, not fussy about placement, clean look that works with our modern furniture (hey, I don't live alone), and most importantly, throwing a large and (er) diffuse stage. That is, the stage is something between remarkably coherent and still quite good over an enormous portion of the rooms. While this isn't a particularly 'audiophile' observation, with the RS5's I had about 20SF of sweet spot, 150SF of OK sound, and 140SF of lousy sound in that room. Now I've got what sounds like 80SF of sweet spot, no bad spots anywhere, really, and damn good sound everywhere else...including the adjacent dining/kitchen room. It's just what I was looking for.

I'll continue to play with them, give them better amplification and sources, and post more newbie comments here, but for now it's clear that I got what I was looking for. Very pleased with the company, service, product finish, and design of the ERRs.

My apologies that this 'review' isn't better informed, nor more traditional in terms of what I'm looking for from my speakers.

Marty,
they're very sensitive, but not unworkably so with the Decco. Ten o'oclock gets it to mid 90db's. Loud, and ready for more.
Soundgasm,
Just a quick note as I only did a quick read-thorough on your post. First, congrats on your new speakers! And thanks for the follow-up.

Sounding good working close to the walls is really good to know.
I replaced the stock rectifier in my ZenSelect with an old Sylvania 5UR4GB and the results are amazing.

I've fooled around replacing tubes in pre amps and power amps with some positive results but none as profound as this tube swap.

It's made the amp sound like it grew some more watts.

Of course it hasn't, but those two watts now sound a whole lot more powerful and robust than with the stock rectifier.

A real improvement across the board in the sound of an already really good sounding amp.

So good infact, that I have decided to make it my main source of amplification and abandon my pre and power amp.

If only I had discovered this amp a couple of years ago, I could have saved some serious coin.