Tube amp decision?


I bought a Decware Zen Select recently, and the amp is simply amazing!! Although the SL3's are not really efficient enough for it, it provides more volume than expected. Although there is not nearly the bass output of my Odyssey Stratus, the sound is so much more involving. After listening to it for about a month and switching back to the Stratus, the difference is even more noticable. I can no longer listen to the Stratus. It's a great amp, but no comparison to the sound transparancy of the Zen.

So, my next question is, do I get another Zen Select to run mono's or, do I opt for the BAT VK-60? Although, I love the sound, I definately want more bass extension and volume than a single Zen provides. I tried horizontally bridging (or would that be bi-amp?)the Stratus to run the woofers, it did not work well, the gain's were no way near close enough. There was too much bass output. Either a more efficient speaker or more power by bridging the Zen mono's should give me that. With BAT VK-60's selling used for under $2K, that route also seems tempting. It is quite possible that running mono Zen's or VK-60 would have enough gain to use the Stratus to horizontally bi-amp the woofers at the appropriate level.

Associated equipment:

Adcom GCD-750, Melos MA-333.

thanks for the advice,
Paul Woodward
pmwoodward
Your Adcom preamp has 2 outputs.Hook each amp seperatly into each one and use balance control to set gain to each amp.I am thinking about trying this when i get tube amp for top.Let me know your results?
Pm- Although your idea of running the Stratos on the bass has merit, you would need a passive volume control on the input to the Stratos in order to attenuate the bass output to match the Decware amps. This can be accomplished with either a commercial product or a DIY kit. This might be sufficient for you to have your cake and eat it too without jumping into completely different amps (and sonics). You won't know until you try it. Good luck.
i doubt the vk-60 would raise the electricity bill. i run 400 watt triode tube monos 24-7 with hardly any increase in the bill. oh i guess if you live in california i retract my statement. the bat is a good little amp, i think it would be a good choice.
Hi,
I share your view of the decware amps as amazingly involving. Even though the dynamics are constrained, especially with a speaker like the sl-3, it is addicting! Steve is also selling a 91-92 sensitive speaker called the RL-2 ( I own the RL-1) that sounds very good with the zen. So if you like the amp, I would move towards more sensitive speakers. The VK-60s are huge and take lots of juice, they're kind of a pain in that regard, zen is much more domestically appealing/won't increase your electricity bill.
Check out other sensitive speakers, like the interesting designs on www.diycable.com.
No interest in any of these firms, just tossing out some recommendations! Cheers!
Tom
VK60 is a good choice but the best one is to get a pair of VK60 monos (120W/ch).