What amp are you using with your Zu Essences?

Bill is somewhat of a jerk. If you don't agree with him, well, you're just wrong. No room for any possibility that he might be the one who's wrong. Oh, and if you don't agree with him, you're almost certainly mis-informed.

Talked to Bill about a First Watt amplifier more than a year ago now. I said I would be happy to buy from him if I could have an in-home audition with return privileges, same as what Reno was offering. He suggested I should take Reno up on an in-home audition, return the amplifier, and purchase from him instead. I declined the offer.

Bill will likely say there's more to this story than that, but I'm happy to share the complete email exchange with anyone who wants to see it.

I am currently using a Rotel RA820 integrated to good effect.
Although I am looking at alternatives in the near future such a First Watt F5, Pass Labs INT30.5, Luxman L590A MkII.
Have a read through some of the 6 Moons reviews of the above amps and also the Yamamoto amps to get a flavour of what is out there as the reviewers have Zu Essence speakers.

Has anybody paired (or heard) a Viva (Solista or Solista LT) or one of the Mastersound amps with the Zu Essence?? I'm leaning towards one of these, and want to be in the 18-20 wpc SET family of amps.

My Art Audio PX-25, a superb amp in it's own right, sounded amazing on the Essence, but alas, it runs outta steam for my rather large room.

Thoughts?

Phil, the Zu guru highly recommends the Quad II's, Quad II-40's, and Quad II-80's. If I recall correctly, the all-out winner is supposed to be SET using 845 tubes.

I have also heard that EL-84 based amps do well.

I like my Manley's, but it would be nice to have the funds to compare.

PMB

I've heard Viva and Mastersound big SET on Zu speakers other than Essence. Have listened to Essence on Audion 845 monoblocks and Audion Golden Dream PSET monoblocks. Both of those amps are 25w. The Viva is euphonically old school. Not as illuminating as you should get at their price. The Mastersound 845 I've heard was more credible for being musically convincing. Audion handily elbows both aside.

A PX25 SET amp will generally sound quite clear but will run out of steam in a larger room, especially with the 4db less efficient Essence. 20w of SET is a clear dynamic improvement, all other things being equal. But just as my 300B PSET amps are not quite as dynamic as my 845s, despite the same power rating, remember it's the "drive" more than the steady state power that matters. Put a first class 845 SET on any Zu speaker and you're done. But that's not cheap, "first class" being the determinant. I do find the Quad II to be an excellent p-p step back from SET, for the 12+ ohms Zu speakers, with the more complex Quad II-80 and II-40 being highly credible at more power. Use the Shuguang Treasure power tubes. In this pool of amps there's bliss to be found.

Phil