Pre-Decware I had both Pass and Luxman amps, and IMO either would be an excellent choice if you’re #SSCurious. But Decware runs up the score on them.

As a backup I have a DALAudio chip amp that actually sounds very good.

Right now I am testing the amplifier with no tubes in the signal path.  The preamp/source is solid state.  This is a worse case scenario where if you can like it, you know it's good.  'Like' is defined by spending an entire evening in discovery mode without fatigue or boredom.  

I am finding that when you pair it with our more efficient single-driver crossoverless stuff it becomes a bit too much of a good thing.  Probably in this scenario a tube preamp would make a massive difference.  When I pair it with hi-fi speakers in the high 80's / low 90's with crossovers it sounds much closer to right.

For me this is easy to understand but harder to explain.  It's a voicing thing inherent in transistors vs. tubes.  What is interesting is that a Decware tube amp will sound fantastic on either type of speaker, and does.

The solid state amp needs the filter of higher moving mass bass drivers combined with crossover losses to get deep into the musical zone.  

This is just an experiment to see how much of the Decware sound is the point-to-point way we build things.  Would a solid state amp designed and built by us sound like it was built by us?  It has no purpose other than that.  It would take us the same amount of time to build something like this without a circuit board as it does our tube amps so there is no point in offering one unless it was outsourced.

As for power, I already know that is not in the cards.  Paralleled devices to increase power and lower impedance will kill it.  The circuit we have is capable of 120 watts, however that doesn't mean it's going to sound the same at high power as it does at low power.  I gradually adjusted this circuit down to 30 watts where it transformed into something pretty damn nice until it clips.

My only real interest in this is to see what can happen with reasonably efficient speakers, because power hungry speakers are filters, and paralleled output devices are like stacking windows without cleaning the glass.  That world is best left those who have already mastered it.  

Steve  :)

Since purchasing one of the last available First Watt J2 amps from Reno HiFi nearly a year and a half ago, my 300B amp has has seen little action.  The J2 sounds so good fronted by a maxed out ZROCK2 and a CSP3-25th that the 300B spends only a few days at a time in the system before the J2 demands to be put back in for months at a time.  In addition to the two Decware pieces playing so well with the J2, the Lii Song Fast 15 drivers also pair up very nicely with the J2.

Because the J2 was so impressive right out of the box the first week I had it, I wrote a quick note to Mark at Reno Hi Fi to let him know how much I liked it.  He then forwarded my note to Nelson Pass, who then sent a short note to me.  In his note, Nelson said that he always smiles when people compare his amps to single ended triode amps.  He went on to explain that the comparison is fitting because the J2 amp is single ended and emphasizes 2nd order harmonics.  It has very little negative feedback, and is laid out with not much in the signal path except the really great sounding SemiSouth Jfets.  

He also said that the J2 is his most popular First Watt amp and due to high demand he broke his own rule of a maximum production run of 100 units, and he continued to build more until his supply of SemiSouth Jfets ran low.  He did keep enough Jfets on the shelf to handle any repair issues that might arise, although I'm still reading claims that no First Watt product has ever been returned for servicing.

I'm probably way off base, but I'm thinking that a full blown Deckert designed solid state amp would sound very much like a First Watt J2.

I wish I had one of Steve's 300B amps.  Had he been four or five months earlier in announcing his 300B project, I would have been one of the first owners of one. Unfortunately, the 300B itch was more than I could tolerate and I broke down and ordered a Cary 300B integrated, having been without a 300B amp for several years.  It's a very fine amplifier, and one of my all time favorites, but I still wish I had a Decware 300B. I am convinced that a Decware amp would be a perfect fit in my system today. We'll see what the future holds.

Back to the topic of this thread, I've had my First Watt J2 for seventeen months now but never talked about it here. Seeing that this "Solid State Curious" thread popped up, I thought it would be ok to say a little about my experience with it.  To my ears, the J2 is a tremendously musical amp that sounds very much like a well designed SET power amp, and the fact that it is driven so well by the 30-volt-output-capable CSP3 makes me a very happy listener.  

Those that are SS curious, and already own a Decware preamp, can't go too far wrong with a J2.  Prices seem to be fairly steady in the $3,000 range, plus or minus a few hundred dollars, and they do sell quickly.