Decware SE84UFO25
Well I made it to East Peoria and Steve Deckert’s Decware facility. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Steve and his gracious hospitality. I would summarize his approach as unassuming, low key but helpful. For the curious I whole heartedly recommend the experience. For what it is worth at present Decware auditions are limited to Wednesday afternoons.
Before continuing, I must also acknowledge PS Audio’s kind support of allowing posts of competing product reviews on the forum. I’ll let the cat out of the bag, after the audition a more traditional approach is off the table. I purchased a SE84UFO25 SET amplifier, with glass resistors, and stepped attenuators. My search is now focused on high efficiency speakers. Meaningful forum member suggestions regarding the speakers are most welcome.
Going into this my bias was two-fold, (1) the Decware SET sound was going to be euphonic, laidback, lacking drive or slam and (2) the amp was going to have a compromised build factor. Regarding a euphonic experience my thoughts were it would provide for a basically nice polite listen, but not a particularly engaging listening experience. Aesthetics are a matter of personal taste, but to my eye the SE84UFO25 looks cool in a retro or steam punk way. Build quality is solid. I also went into it with my eyes wide open, realizing matching an SET to a speaker is all important. While not limited to SETs the options to match a meaningful speaker are rather limited. I am finding the market to hi efficiency speakers to be rather quirky. Steve had sufficient speaker options to waylay my initial concerns regarding speaker matching in support of a meaningful amplifier audition. The demo also did bear out my concern regarding speaker matching. While unfamiliar with any of the speakers available for demo I did find the various options more than adequate for a meaningful demo. The demo lasted about 3-1/2 hours. On the downside, I was unable to demo a pair of SE84UFO3 mono blocks. I can only assume a pair were unavailable, having asked about them several times a pair were not offered up for demo.
The following is specific to the SE84UFO25 SET with an 80 series rectifier. The 80 series rectifier is not supplied with the unit, a Chinese 5AU4 is. Steve emphasized upgrading the rectifier to a 1940’s era 80 series or 1950s 5AU4. I happen to have a stash of the latter from previous projects, but no 80 rectifier. The input tube is a Chinese Psvane 7DJ8. This would not be my first choice due to reliability with Psvane tubes. I have a considerable stash of 6DJ8,&DJ8, 6922 tubes so swapping should not be a concern. The provided output tubes are matched gold grid 6N15P-EVs. These are wide bandwidth Russian military grade tubes. Matched pairs are available from Decware, and they seem to be readily available direct from Ukraine or Russia at rather low prices, under $10 for a quad set plus shipping.
Listening impressions:
Initial listening was with the Chinese Lii Silver 10 Reference speakers. The source was a 1980s era Denon CD player direct into the SE84UFO25. Interconnects and speaker cables were the house brand Silver Reference, basically silver plated copper. First up was a Hugh Ragin’s Revelation featuring Hugh (trumpet,) Assif Tsahar (sax, bass clarinet, musette), William Parker (bass), and Hamid Drake (drums). My first impression was wow! It was as if I was in a Jazz club with them playing. The sound of the trumpet was as close to being there as I have yet to hear. The breathiness and intonation was incredible. Saxophone, bass clarinet and musette were similar as in you are there. William Parker’s bass on this CD can be slightly ripe, not the case with this combination. Hamid’s drum kit was displayed as it should be all in the proper plane and location, without cymbals popping out to the foreground. Instrument placement and soundstage was realistic. Players shifting in space was readily noticeable. Trumpet and sax placement was believable with the players slightly forward of the speaker’s plane. Double bass placement was slightly behind the plane and drum kit deeper back and to the right. Downsides, well how much is a coloration I asked myself as the sound of the trumpet bell was prominent, and was Hugh’s breathiness. Bass may have been somewhat reticent, as I had expected a riper sound.
Next up was Keith Jarrett’s Standards Trio Changeless the track Endless. Initially the playback was too low, as this CD is quieter. I adjusted the SE84UFO85 gain up three clicks. Piano was spot on as if Keith and the piano were in the room, vocalizations and all. No piano notes popped out it was all of one piece, Jack Dejohnette’s drum kit was set back and slightly to the right. Kick drum impact lacked some weight, stick on membrane sound was slightly prominent as were cymbal strikes. Cymbal shimmer was excellent. Gary Peacock’s bass playing sounded very good with flesh on string sound, and the buzz of the strings into silence. The weight of the bass again was somewhat light. If reproduced properly this piece should pull the listener into the performance, which was my experience. The combination got the gestalt of this performance right.
I played an audiophile warhorse, Jennifer Warnes’ Famous Blue Raincoat, Joan of Arc. The combination nailed this one completely, Jennifer and Leonard sounded great, no obvious colorations. So it passed my vocals test.
Next up was Go Organic Orchestra’s In The Garden Little Tree. I play this for its musical density, complexity, sense of space, varied instrumentation and dynamics (as in quiet to loud). I about fell off the couch on this one! Recreation of a complex jazz orchestra performing in a long narrow space was perfectly delineated. Percussion, horns, were spot on, a little more bass would have been helpful for impact and slam.
Other CDs were played, one standout was Trevor Pinnock’s performance of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 1. Again, the weight of the piece, with performers playing in a real space was well conveyed. The steely sound of the original instruments was in abundance, something I do not particularly care for. That said, well done Mr Pinnock and Mr Deckert.
More CDs were played, more speakers were auditioned. As this piece is already rather lengthy I’ll stop at this point. If there is interest I will follow-up with my impressions of the speakers I heard with this amp. I do wish I could have heard the SE84UFO monoblocks, but based on what I heard I placed an order for the SE84UFO25. After hearing it I had no reason to listen to the Tori or Mystery Amp.
Summing up:
My impression is that the simplicity of the amplifier and speaker combination lets the musical experience flourish. No crossovers, no feedback, no equalizers. For me that may be the answer. My search for a speaker continues. My review has been delayed as I struggle with what I heard, the Lii Silver 10 Reference may be too prominent in the presence region for long term satisfaction as I do prefer a more laid back sound that draws me into the music, the sound of Hugh Ragin’s trumpet keeps pulling at me as colored with the Lii speakers. Overall the SE84UFO25 left me with the following descriptors, a sense of ease, inner detail on display, continuity and continuousness, temporal correctness, and ultimate midrange purity. This combination is not forgiving of poor recordings, is not warm sounding, nor etched or splashy. In general there was a sense of ease and drive for the selections played. Regarding switch settings on the amp, the transformer switches were set to high impedance, I assume 8 ohms. The bias switch was set to forward initially (towards the input tube). Setting it back and away from the input tube, a lower bias applied, was my preference. It drew me into the music versus a more in your face upper midrange and treble. Clearly personal preference.
I am not going to get into the best ever thing, as I find the notion of best or greatest as ridiculous. I did enjoy my time with the SE84UFO25, and find it to be a good value proposition.
Steve Deckert with the Lii Silver 10 Reference on his left.