tm Select Zen Triode Stereo Amplifier Model SE84CS DECWARE / High Fidelity Engineering Co. 1202 N.E. Adams Street Peoria IL 61603 USA 309-671-2428 Fax 309-672-1060 e-mail: fidelity@decware.com www.decware.
tm Owner’s Manual GETTING STARTED Save your shipping carton. It has been designed to withstand the abuse of UPS. We tested it by dropping amps off the roof of our facility onto the parking lot. The fact that your amp is perfect condition is testimony that shipping carton works. Should you ever need to send your amp back for warranty repairs, or trade it in on something else, you will NEED the original shipping carton. TUBES Your amp comes with premium tubes.
tm Owner’s Manual Be sure that you always have speakers connected to this or any tube amp before turning it on. Tube amps are typically the opposite of solid state in that you can short the speaker wires together and nothing bad will happen. With your speakers and line level source connected, you can turn the amplifier on by flipping the switch on the rear. The switch on the front is not the power switch, but rather a bias adjustment for the input tube.
tm Owner’s Manual Specifically it is the exotic capacitors that actually require the burn-in to sound right. The fastest way to achieve a burn-in is to play the amplifier for 5 hours and then turn it off and let it rest for at least 5 hours. Once you have repeated this process 5 times your soundstage will bloom and the focus will lock into a crystal clear image.
tm Owner’s Manual CIRCUIT DESIGN The Zen amp is a combination of simple yet unique circuit design, high quality parts selected for their signature, intense quality control, and layout. The small size makes possible the art of hand soldering the entire circuit with only parts leads and no hook-up wire. The ground buss is silver and so are the cathode leads. The power supply is significantly over sized and breaths naturally with the music while holding steady to less than a 0.
tm Owner’s Manual There are no user serviceable parts inside. There is 400 volts of DC living in here that can linger even after the amplifier is turned off. MODEL SE84CS INSIDE VIEW DECWARE / High Fidelity Engineering Co. 1202 N.E. Adams Street Peoria IL 61603 USA 309-671-2428 Fax 309-672-1060 e-mail: fidelity@decware.com www.decware.
tm Owner’s Manual INPUT OPTIONS This amplifier features input jacks on the rear with a rear mounted ALPs volume control so that you can use it without a preamp. Using a good pair of interconnects directly from the outputs of your CD player or DAC will clearly demonstrate how bad most preamps really are. The front jacks on this amplifier are for the purist who wants the most direct connection possible.
tm Owner’s Manual BIASING CONT. The output tubes are self biasing and self balancing making reliable performance possible even with un-matched tubes. You will never have to bias your amp, even after tube changes. LISTENING There is no doubt you will find the fidelity of this amplifier superior to almost anything within its power range, however many people do not experience the full potential of its spell casting abilities due to weak links in their set-up. Usually speakers and room.
To bridge a Zen amp, you simply either parallel or series the outputs of the amplifier. We tm recommend series, which means take a positive from one channel and connect it to the negative of the other channel with a short piece of wire. The remaining two unused posts will serve your speaker. Owner’s Manual USING YOUR AMP AS A MONO BLOCK CONT. To bridge a Zen amp, you simply either parallel or series the outputs of the amplifier.
tm Owner’s Manual HELP WITH CHOOSING SPEAKERS What the Zen amp likes is simple speakers with simple crossovers. Complex speakers with lots of components require complex crossovers that will waist much of the first watt as heat before it gets to the drivers. Zobel impedance balancing networks also complicate things causing the Zen to clip at the zobel frequency before anywhere else. The Zen amp likes 4 ohm speakers better than 8 ohm. 16 ohm speakers are NOT recommended.
to 47K plate to 47K plate B+ B+ yel/blk YEL RED 6 RED 4, 5 NOTE: We recommend wiring the primary for 240 volts even if your voltage is 220 or 230. Use a 3 amp fuse. 40 uf 450 volt 2 ~ 20 uf 250 volt 8 SV83 GRN GRN/YEL GRN 40 uf 450 volt 2 4 5U4 RED/YEL 3 amp fuse 6.8 K 1 watt 3.3uf 400v 3.
