SE84UFO25, or the SE84UFO3 25th Anniversary?. If I understand correctly the mono-blocks are available with the 25 Anniversary option. Congrats, BTW.
Almost any of the amplifiers and preamplifers are available with 25th Anniversary mods, options are selectable in the shopping cart.
The only one really called “the 25th Anniversary Ampllifier” is the SE84UFO25. I think that is what Ron ordered. I would have ordered that but needed the extra little umph the monoblocks offer, and really didn’t want meters, green top, etc.
How old is Steve? For some reason the thought has crossed my mind to buy before he passes.
As old as me, and younger than others. 
Guess that makes him 38?
MOL, mostly more. 
This brings up an interesting question. Are those of us who have lower efficiency speakers with powerful amps pursuing the wrong path?
Let’s assume this is the best amp in the world when paired with a high efficiency speaker. Would pairing this amp with a high-end high efficiency speaker out perform similarly priced systems that use lower efficiency speakers and high powered amps? Can you still get the same bass slam and impact along with better highs and mids with the lowered powered SET amp and high efficiency speakers?
I’ve never explored this path before, and I’m curious to hear feedback from those who have.
@Gary_M: I like to think of it in terms of ice cream. Some may prefer vanilla, some may prefer chocolate, some may prefer strawberry. I happen to enjoy Neopolitan, and spumoni on occasion. What ice cream do you prefer?
Pretty sure he’s 65. Thereabouts.
@SpeedRacer: I am curious as to what speakers you listened to with the Decware SE84UFO25 at your friend’s place as well as yours. Speaker matching to the amp IMO is critical. No fanbay here just trying to get a feel for the collective experience with the amplifier.
wdw, how was your visit?
@lonson
I was drafting a write up today and got side tracked. Should have something posted in a day or two.
Grrrrrreat!
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.
Wonderful report, I really enjoyed it. Thank you!
Thanks for the report! Sounds as if you had a very promising visit.
I think if you had been able to hear the Monoblocks you would have found them to have a near identical sound overall with just a bit more power. With the right speaker selection that little bit of power will probably not be needed. In my case the power is welcome.
As a drummer and bass player in the past I want heft and weight to my music perhaps more than others. My biggest complaint with the Zen amps was how they got every thing, every thing right. . . except for that last bit of lower frequency presence. My speakers (with front firing and omni-directional speakers, passive radiator and ribbon tweeters) give me most of what I need with the Monoblocks, and the ZROCK2 allows me to tailor in the rest. I lived for years without the ZROCK2 but it was the cream in the coffee for me. Heavy cream. It took away my one complaint about the amps. I want to mention also that tube-rolling (especially rectifier and regulation tubes) can bring in a measure of the lower frequency body as can different cabling choices than Steve’s cables which I find contribute to that bit of lightness. They are not actually silver-plated copper, but silver ribbon coated with beeswax . . . interesting design that I used for years but ultimately moved away from. I too use the lower setting on the bias of the input tubes, and at the speaker the lower setting as well. Gives overall a more natural sound in my system.
And a word about the output tubes: I bought tubes over the internet and finally concluded that those that Steve offers were never equalled. He meticulously chooses, tests and matches these and though I have about 20 pairs in a tackle box . . . I always buy fresh pairs from him once a year. . . I can trust them and they sound superior to the others.
Speaker selection will be your big task. One PS Audio owner that I know who moved to Decware is in love with Steve’s DNA2 speakers with his SE84UFO25. I’d certainly demo those if I were looking for different speakers. (Steve’s hand is resting on a DNA2). Did you get to demo any of those monstrous open baffles? Those intrigue me. . .but my wife would never let them into any of our spaces.
I’m very tickled you ordered an SE84UFO25!
@weedeewop Great review! Thank you. I’ve noticed that Stereophile and The Absolute Sound reviews follow a pattern of mostly superfluous anecdotes with a few meaningful observations mixed in. Your reviews was chock full of great insight, I hear the Stereophile headhunters knocking on your door 
As my father used to say, “you sound like a broken record”…
Almost any Zu Audio or DeVore speaker will be a wonderful match with the Decware amps.
If there is interest my impression of the speakers will follow. Regarding the speaker cables and interconnects my description is straight from the horse’s mouth. Things Decware have changed. When I asked about Beeswax caps he discounted them and showed me a new cap he is using. I also found it somewhat frustrating that the SE84UFO3 was not available to audition as I had inquired in advance. On the bright side that saved me some coin in 25th anniversary dress. Had I heard and liked the mono blocks I would not have hesitated to purchase them. when I inquired prior to leaving he discounted their performance in comparison to what I purchased. Honestly, he surprised me with that.
The cable he is now offering, and claimed he purchased in bulk and that it was for microwave installations. How it was applied at microwave facilities I have no idea as it is not suited for microwave frequencies.
So there were some peculiarities at the audition. Not unusual in my experience at any salon audition either.