Decware and SET Low Power Tube Amps with Hi Efficency Speakers

I would echo seikosha.  Not every room and hi-eff speaker combo will behave the same.  Short answer to your question is that fleawatt SET can be magical.  I run a $140 Chinese 3 watt SET with my Zus in my bedroom and couldn't be happier with that system.  

I did try a Zen once and sent it back.  The first set of tubes distorted terribly.  A new set helped but I swear I could still hear distortion at full listening volume and given the amp's obvious limitations I didn't want to spend a bunch of time with Decware troubleshooting.  

That said, there are a number of Zu owners who swear by Decware.  And I do have a Decware ZRock that I pair with my vintage Sansui integrated and the two make absolute magic together, so I am not anti-Decware.

I also agree with seikosha that I often prefer solid state with my Zus, especially in a bigger room.

I went down this path after years of curiosity. I started with the speakers and purchased the Omega Super 3i. I paired them with several amps before finally purchasing a Decware SE84UFO. The reported synergy between these two manufacturers is indeed the real deal. While this approach isn't for everybody, it's everything I hoped for. There is a rightness to the sound that is just captivating. Good luck.

I heard two Decware amps that were at a local dealership (trade-ins).  I don't recall the models.  I was curious about how they sound (they looked good and the build quality was excellent), so I heard them hooked up to a pair of ProAc and Harbeth speakers.  This was a quick demonstration so there was no attempt to optimize the performance (no tube swapping, although the tubes in the amps tested strong).  The sound was quite disappointing--sweet sounding, but dull and lifeless and a little muddy.  I am hardly an expert on low-priced tube gear, but, I've heard much better from other reasonably priced brands, such as Synthesis, AudioSpace, and Quicksilver.  I hope they would do better with other speakers and perhaps with other tubes in them.  I don't have enough experience with them to pass any judgment, so I am only cautioning that they may not be the miracle bargain that some tout them to be.

@larryi .. as I understand it the efficiency is too low with both ProAc's and Harbeth's, thus a bad match for Decware's line. Harbeth, for example, state in their FAQ:

We have a social responsibility to our neighbours (and to our own ears) and we'd recommend 100W per channel or so for those occasions when the neighbours are out. But for normal use in a small room listening relatively closely to low-dynamic music, 20 or 30W can sound loud enough. A practical compromise would be an amplifier rated at around 50W/channel/8 ohms.

Perhaps this is the reason for the dull and lifeless sound you heard. The efficiency of my Omega's is 94.5, which is on the low side for a 2 wpc amp. For me, the SE84UFO is anything but lifeless.

wtf,

Yes, that might be the case.  However, other similarly low-powered tube amps, such as the Audio Note Oto and a tiny Synthesis amp sounded MUCH better with the same speakers.  I am merely cautioning a prospective buyer to not automatically accept rave endorsement of this particular brand (or any brand).  It is not that the raves are dishonest, it is often the case that the person is encountering tubes for the first time and is so captured by the sound that shortcomings are overlooked or the person is unaware that other tube gear will deliver that same kind of sound, but with even better performance.

Harbeth claims that its speakers must be used with high-powered amps, ideally solid state amps, but, I've heard them used with quite low-powered amps and they sound really good as long as they are not required to play at extremely high volume levels.  I heard the 40.2s played with a fantastic 10-12 watt amp and the sound was fantastic.