Fun!
Thanks for the report.
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Seems like āsoundā advice.
Cheers.
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Your descriptions reminds me of what I heard at my dealer a few months aga. I was planning on budgeting dollars for this purchase. You have now accelerated my purchase. Will buy grounding devices before I sample updated speaker and interconnect looms.
Have you thought of sampling an additional CAD grounding device so you can have your Preamp grounded the same time your digital is grounded? Scott is encouraging me to try that type of setup risk free. Normally when I get an offer like that I find I end up keeping the device.
Good question, though he may be tailoring his recommendations based on your gear list - Uber System = suggest more boxes.
I have done one of the two āinputsā to the unused SPDIF of the Matrix and one to an unused USB on the Auralic for digital playback, per Scottās rec. Iāve also taken the Matrix one and put it on an (analog) RCA on the ARC pre. I believe he also suggested trying that. In any case, Iād had it on the ARC when the other was connected to the SPP for vinyl playback (so both to analog connections for vinyl, and both connected to digital devices for digital playback). Leaving the RCA connected to analog on the pre for digital seemed to work as well as, or better than on the Matrix. YMMV. So - not enetirely sure that a separate device is necessary for source vs. preamp.
I canāt answer the question of whether two separate units would be better, as I havenāt heard it, and am not planning on getting a second one at the moment for monetary reasons. Frankly I went back and forth about returning the dang thing due to looking at my bank account and the other stuff Iāve bought lately for the stereos and Studio. Been getting a little nutty with the spending.
I was going to box it up for return and brought it down by the 2nd system where the packaging was. I reread the inserts in the package, one of which mentioned trying it on the chassis of Class D stuff. Generally there is an admonition against using it on power amplifiers, or at least taking care that it isnāt done in some way that might incur large voltages or some such.
So - hooked it up to the Transporter and the chassis of the dual nCore amp. Took it out. Put it back. Cursed a lot. Didnāt return the damn thingš¤·š»āāļø
This is the application I suggested earlier didnāt reflect a sane value equation. $2k could be put into this system in other ways that might result in greater bang for the buck. Indeed, have a $2.8k Decware amp on the way to replace the nCores.
Regardless, it consistently does the Voodoo it does, wherever I put it. Iāll likely end up with another one eventually, whether to have one on each system or two on the Main system.
In the meantime, it isnāt hard to move around or to swap between analog and digital, as long as you have the appropriate cables in place.
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Looking forward to hearing your impression of the Decware amplifier. Is that a Zen Torii jr. coming your way?
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Congrats on the Decware amp, I have the SE84UFO25 on order Delivery December timeframe
I also have a SEUFO25 on order with delivery somewhere north of Thanksgiving 2021. I understand they have 800 units in their backlog and have added a second shift. No hurry in my case. My challenge with the amp will be mating speakers. I did a dem at their Peroia facility and unfortunately have yet to land on speakers for various reasons. @magicknow and @badbeef what speakers are you considering? On my short list are the new Zu Soul, Devore Orangutan series, Lii Reference, or Decware Zen Master Series-ZC10M. I kicked around the idea of Klipsch Heritage series, but hesitate as the last audition was not to my liking. I admit that was some time ago, as in 20 + years.
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I got a quote to build the baffles in hardwood for about $800, I didnāt have the funds so I decided to hack a pair out of $75 4X8 sheet of plywood. Not ideal but using bass boost with Roon DSP these things sound amazing.
As funds permit I will have the hardwood versions built because they provide good solid bass all on there own. Personally the open baffles are Superior to any box speaker I have owned ( the best being the DynAudio Confidence C4 (25K). The F-15 LiiAudio full range ($450) all on their own are sufficient. The F6 LiiAudio can add some richness to the mid range and highs. O did I mention 100 db efficiency so they should be able to rock and roll with the S25ā¦
Cheers
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You might what to order the dwg for the Zen Master and take it to a local furniture maker to build you can save a ton
Yeah, except I got it with the black cove molding 
Still in Q.C., but hey - itās built!
(And it is the v2ā¦whatever that means. Interested to see if the 20wpc has the torque for the relatively inefficient Metas)
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Thatās a purdy sumbeach. I am still thinking about joining the club but havenāt ordered yet.
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Thanks. Dipping in my toes without having to go the whole flea-watt ecosystem route.
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The TOR monoās are on my short list. The way my stereo is setup I need two power amps. Yeah, no low power experiments for me either. No replacement for displacement 
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Well, I had the 25 watt Torri for years, and much prefer the sound quality of my 2 watt Monoblocks. . . . and that with the same speakers, 92 db Decware HR-1 speakers. Itās been my education of the last decade that the lower powered amps sound considerably better. But different strokes! Excited that there are more joining the Decware club.
Sweet. @aangen and I made a trip to north of Peoria to listen at the Decware meca. Steve D is a great dude and has mastered helping people setting up flee watt systems. You are going to enjoy his powerful model. I tried his Zen open baffle medium sized speakers with the base amp he makes. Great pure sound but couldnāt match my Maggieās. Coming full circle my guess is the CAD ground control would help a flee watt system also.
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My-tee fine, I do say. The LS50 Metas may be a stretch, should know soon.
My concern with single driver open baffles, at least when I heard them, was the significant bass attenuation due to the wrap-around bass cancellation. Increasing the baffle size significantly, and or providing significant bass boost from 120hz (depending on driver size) on down is necessary for a balanced sound. At least that was what I heard at the demo. The Decware Zrock addresses it to a degree, but my thought going into this was to have a simple signal path thus maintaining coherence and continuousness through the midrange. This is where the Decware amp and partnering single driver speakers shine. At the frequency extremes I heard, to my ears, problems. Which is one reason why I have not posted my impressions of the the available speakers I auditioned at Decware at the time. Ultimately I left wanting regarding speaker pairing. As it stands at the moment I am being optimistic that I will identify suitable partnering speakers. If not, then a Decware Zen SE84UFO25 will be available following the New Year.
I am still experimenting with the open baffles. I disconnected the F6 drivers and listened again with just the F 15 and WOW in my space with my room treatment it is incredible the slam I get with these not to mention what I think is balance sound. I have a ZROCK on my order just in case and I have parts coming to build a simple crossover so I will try again to integrate the F6 to see if things improve. These definitely are more sensitive to room placement and treatments, but the rewards are there.
One thing that is so attractive with these speakers beside the great slam and balance is the openness of the sound. I really understand now when people say they feel the sound of a traditional speaker is constricted. When I listen to these I just relax and giggle.
Realize I am talking about a material cost of less than $600 for these speakers including a Jigsaw, granted they are not pretty but remarkably high value. Before these I had a $3000 pair of KEF R3 which I really liked but value wise the F15 are much better. When I decided to try the Roon equalization I was concerned because of our years of conditioning that ātone controlā was taboo. So far I donāt detect any big negative with this. My best test of this is that I can sit for hours and listen at high volume and be fascinated. AS they say in this hobby ignorance is bliss.
In my current setup I have an interim DAC using the SGC . My amp is the 2250e Krell. I expressed to Steve that I was concerned that moving from 250W to 2W that I would lose some volume and slam, he does not think that will be an issue. Time will tell maybe if you are not pleased with 2 W I will buy your S25 and triple my output to 6W :slight_smile. Obviously, I expect my budget to increase by December.
The other thing I really like about the F15 is that is does sound like what I heard before speakers got much less efficient. Once that open sound.
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Hi @badbeef,
reading your impression about GC1 connecting to SPP Iām wondering if you connected it with spade to ground post TOGETHER with a turntable spade terminated cable, usually already plugged to it. So did you have two cables with spade, one from TT and one from GC1, simultaneously plugged to SPP ground?
After all this time are you still using GC1? In the same configuration, analog/preamp/amp?
Iām interested in this item or few of them to put in my all PS Audio system (M1200s/BHK Preamp, SPP/DS DACSr/PST and P12). Is it worth at the end in your opinion?
Thank you
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