opinions on decware zen kit

[paulfk]

Hi all, as the title really. I have a pair of lowther fidelio's with EX3 drivers and am currently using a 25w valve hybrid amp, problem is I can only just turn the volume control off zero or its far too loud for my current listening room. I am toying with the idea of building a decware SE84 kit.

[Glowbug]

The pre-built version was my first tube amp, the SE84CS Select...great amp

If you just want more range in the volume, you could always put some inline attenuators in.

[paulfk]

Originally Posted by Glowbug

The pre-built version was my first tube amp, the SE84CS Select...great amp

If you just want more range in the volume, you could always put some inline attenuators in.

thanks for the reply, I would prefer to have as little in the path from source to speakers, to keep it as pure as possible so to speak.

[crappyjones123]

anything to help with an issue with the other way round? i have a pair of fostex 127e drivers rated 90db. i just finished building the amp and am working around a few issues but the volume pot needs to be turned about 85% of the way to get any reasonable volume. amp not powerful enough to drive the drivers?

[planet10]

Our journey that ended up with RH84 varient monobloks, started with a pair of Zen amps. The Zen are quite good, if you are ready to tackle something a bit more from scratch you can do better (and for less money -- for the same money probably way better because you'll be able to afford better iron).

dave

[kevinkr]

Originally Posted by crappyjones123

anything to help with an issue with the other way round? i have a pair of fostex 127e drivers rated 90db. i just finished building the amp and am working around a few issues but the volume pot needs to be turned about 85% of the way to get any reasonable volume. amp not powerful enough to drive the drivers?

You haven't mentioned what you are using to drive the Zen amplifier, perhaps its output is too low to drive the Zen to full output.

The other possibility (as you mentioned above) particularly in a large room and if you like it loud is that the amplifier is not quite powerful enough to do the job.

[planet10]

Originally Posted by crappyjones123

anything to help with an issue with the other way round? i have a pair of fostex 127e drivers rated 90db. i just finished building the amp and am working around a few issues but the volume pot needs to be turned about 85% of the way to get any reasonable volume. amp not powerful enough to drive the drivers?

Paul needs less gain, you need more gain. For this you'll need to add another gain stage somewhere, something like one of the 12B4 line stages, or maybe Gregg-the-Geek's new MooseFET (he just gifted me one for an early Christmas, i'll be starting a thread on it shortly -- i'm sure there is already some info at the GeekZone)

dave

[Gordy]

Originally Posted by paulfk

thanks for the reply, I would prefer to have as little in the path from source to speakers, to keep it as pure as possible so to speak.

So you want to spend time, money and effort on building a kit amplifier instead of just soldering a couple of resistors into your existing amp?

Oh well...

[crappyjones123]

Originally Posted by planet10

Our journey that ended up with RH84 varient monobloks, started with a pair of Zen amps. The Zen are quite good, if you are ready to tackle something a bit more from scratch you can do better (and for less money -- for the same money probably way better because you'll be able to afford better iron).

dave

any suggestions for something beyond the zen? would a preamp + zen be better or should i just perhaps look at a new amp?

[Eli Duttman]

Originally Posted by crappyjones123

anything to help with an issue with the other way round? i have a pair of fostex 127e drivers rated 90db. i just finished building the amp and am working around a few issues but the volume pot needs to be turned about 85% of the way to get any reasonable volume. amp not powerful enough to drive the drivers?

Apply Joppa's Rule to the problem. The rule tells us, in an "average" sized listening space, that an amp/speaker combo should be capable of 102 dB. SPL peaks at a 1 M. distance. Applying the rule to your 90 dB. sensitive drivers suggests an amp of at least 30 WPC.

IF you are going to use a DECWARE SE84, you need high efficiency speakers. New speakers or a different amp are the choices available to resolve the situation.