Decware: a worthwhile option?


On the surface, Decware seems like an amazing company: American made products, lifetime warranty, dedicated fan base—albeit one that doesn’t seem to leave the Decware forums—and beautiful looking gear.

Upon slightly closer inspection, people seem to buy into or have to buy into the Decware ecosystem. Amp doesn’t output enough? Buy our $600 booster. Or our gain stage, EQ stage, Bass restoration stage. Phono stage. How about a preamp? Spend, spend, Etc., etc. 

So are Decware amps in the 2W-6W range actually useable in the real world with speakers of, say, 94dB-96dB efficiency and above? Or do you have to buy all kinds of extra gear from them to actually get up and running and boost your input voltages high enough to get the amp to really sing?
larshepping
So are Decware amps in the 2W-6W range actually useable in the real world with speakers of, say, 94dB-96dB efficiency and above?
Yes. Omega and Decware are a common pairing among those in this camp. I use an SE84UFO with Omega's entry level Super 3i Monitors (94.5 dB) and a DeepHemp 8 Subwoofer (high-level connection). Sounds sublime. Plenty of volume and dynamics with or without a preamp/gain stage/etc. in the mix. As long as your source puts out at least 2 volts, which the SE84UFO requires to achieve full power, you don't need another gain stage. My DAC, no problem. My turntable with on-board phono amp, not so much. I use a preamp with the turntable.
I had a pair of his EARLY TorII 60 watt per channel MB..   No lack of power just a load issue on Strathearn Ribbons. For some reason that amp got a little wiggy.. Those Ribbons dropped to 1.4 ohms at 150 200 hz or so.. Did not sound good.. A push pull valve amp worked fine...High current SS worked good.. Not the single ended stuff..

Now I would have just upped the XO point to 250 or 300.. Long time ago.. I sold them for more than I paid for them..

I'm looking at his Phono pre and waiting.. Tuning up a Thoren and a R2R to give it a workout. I like the way they are built.. look inside, ART... We use to call it straight wire Point to Point.. No turret boards though.. Common ground and hot rails.. SHORT paths.. good layouts. QUIET..

They take a long time Amego... they kinda slow.. like oh so slow, ho ho ho...

HEAVY.. I like um..
Your speaker choices will be relatively limited with any flea watt amp. But if that is the way one chooses to go then I think Decware offers very good value.  Definitely products I would consider buying. 
I purchased a Decware ZLC, haven’t received it yet, but I’m eagerly anticipating. Very nice looking products for sure, overall they seem to be well received too. We’ll see...
Decware gear is well constructed, nice looking and reasonably priced.  Whether it is nice sounding would be a matter of personal taste and system matching.

In the systems I've heard two of their amps, it  was not for me--a bit too anemic and lifeless sounding for my taste. But, I am more accustomed to more expensive tube gear so my points of reference to similarly priced gear is limited.  For reasonably priced tube gear, I prefer the Italian Synthesis brand.  I would also look for properly reconditioned vintage tube gear.