Decware Super Zen Triode amp has arrived: First of Its Kind?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by rischa, Jun 25, 2013.

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  1. rischa

    rischa Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Mt. Horeb, WI
    Thanks!--I am enjoying it a lot. I'm listening to Derek and the Dominoes right now, and it sounds the best I've ever heard it, though I've only ever heard it in my system.

    I was going to wait until the amp was broken in (which I understand takes a while) to really talk about the sound, but what the heck--break-in is an audiophile myth anyway, right? So, I'll compare the sound of the Zen to my Khartago, as that's the only other amp I've had in my system with this exact front-end and speakers. Compared to the Khartago, which I really like by the way, the Zen's imaging is more holographic, and the music more detailed. The biggest surprise, however, is the bass, which is notably deeper through the Zen. I wouldn't have thought 2wpc could give better bass than 120wpc, but it does.

    As for the Speakers, they seem to mate well with the Zen. I haven't really had a chance to crank it, but getting to my definition of loud doesn't appear to present any problems for the system. If the amp is straining at louder volumes, I can't tell.

    I'll report back on the sound when the amps bee
     
  2. rischa

    rischa Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Mt. Horeb, WI
    I just realized what the meters are for. They're not to set bias, they're to monitor tube function, and indicate failure. Almost like having a tube tester built in to the amp. Seems plausible at least, no?
     
  3. MonkeyMan

    MonkeyMan A man who dreams he is a butterfly?

    Does Steve know what they're for?
     
  4. raferx

    raferx Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    That amp looks dope. I bet Bill Evans sounds sick on your set up!
     
  5. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    I wonder how they work.
     
  6. rischa

    rischa Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Mt. Horeb, WI
    Think I meant to say "when the amp breaks-in" there at the end.
     
  7. rischa

    rischa Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Mt. Horeb, WI
    Just in case anyone is interested...
    I was still trying to nail down the exact purpose of the meters on my amp, so I checked the user manual for a different Decware amp, the SE34I.3 or "Rachel," which also has meters. The "Rachel" manual is up to date because it has been out in its current iteration with meters since last year, whereas my amp, the "Select" technically isn't supposed to have meters (yet), so the manual doesn't include any info about them.

    Anyway, I was essentially correct that they monitor tube function, but looks like they also indicate clipping. Here is the info from the "Rachel" manual, which I downloaded in pdf form from the Decware website:

    BIASING and METERS
    The SE34I.3 is a self biasing, self balancing design meaning there is never a need to adjust the bias of the output tubes. The amp does it for you. It also insures that you get matched output power from each channel even if the tubes are not matched. And most importantly, when compared to the common “fixed bias” approach where you adjust the bias with a bias control, this way sounds better. The reason everyone doesn’t do it this way is because it sacrifices power. So it’s an issue of better sound or more power. We choose better sound.

    If you have perfectly matched tubes, your bias meters of which there is one for each of the two output tubes, will read the same. This is typically around 38 millivolts per side. Of course different brands of tubes may read as much as 10 millivolts higher or lower than that figure.

    These bias meters will tell you at a glance if your output tubes are healthy and if they’re matched. As a completely analog device, they can tell you other things as well. For example, you can watch how long it takes the tubes to warm up and come to full bias by watching the meters when you first turn the amplifier on. If one tube takes a lot longer to arrive at it’s bias point than the other tube it can be an early warning that there are differences developing between either your two output tubes are the input tubes. Yes, the input tubes can effect the bias reading on the meter as well since they are coupled to the output tubes.

    The bias meters also show what happens when the amp is at full power by dropping to a lower figure. For example, when the amplifier is at it’s maximum clean power (just before clipping) you will see the meters move in response to the music. They will dance between the bias point and 1/2 the bias point which is typically between 40 mills and 20 mills. It’s a nice visual indicator that lets you know if your amp is clipping. Decware amplifiers clip so gracefully it can be sometimes hard to notice when you have it turned up too loud. Seeing the meters plunge down below 20 mills is a certain indication that your amp is clipping or near clipping.

    Bias meters set up like this can also tell you at a glance if a tube has shorted or failed unexpectedly by suddenly reading abnormally high or low on one channel relative to the other channel. They can also reveal faults in a tube that may not show up until several minutes or hours after the amp has warmed up. In this case you would notice one channel consistently clips sooner than the other. This condition can not be discovered by the vast majority of tube testers, as the faulty tube will test perfectly fine, so the meters are the only way to discover this problem - which of course you would also hear - but if you ONLY heard it and did not have the meters, you would have no idea what is causing the problem.
     
  8. markjv

    markjv Forum Resident

    On the Decware site for the ZS it states:

    NOTE: This is an alternate version of our SE84CKC SuperZen amplifier, pictured left. The main difference is the chassis and the slightly more purist approach by eliminating the input selector switch and making the amp work with a single source only. One set of input jacks goes through the volume control, one set is direct. Additionally the bias switch that typically adjusts the sound from laid back to punchy has also been deleted in favor of a simpler signal path. The sound of this amp was voiced in between the two settings.

    So I'm curious as to what the toggle switch is for on your amp? Based on what Decware says, you only have one input and the bias switch should be removed. Curious.
     
  9. rischa

    rischa Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Mt. Horeb, WI
    My Select is different than the Select on the Decware website. On my amp, the volume knob works for both sets of inputs, so the toggle switch is to select sources. I'm pretty sure that the only difference between my Select and the standard Super Zen is the figured base and bias meters. At least this is my understanding.

    Here is my loose grasp of what is going on with my amp: Decware is gradually switching all of their amps over to the Jupiter beeswax caps as their standard cap. When a model gets the cap upgrade, it also gets a chassis upgrade, from white aluminum to black crackle-finish steel. My model, the Select, hasn't officially been upgraded yet (Decware always sends out an email to announce when an amp is making the change and concurrently updates their website, neither of which has been done for the Select yet). However, because I paid extra to have my Select's current standard caps upgraded to the Jupiter beeswax caps, I think they just decided to push through all of the other upgrades the select will be getting in the future. I think.
     
    bruce2 likes this.
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