DATE: Feb 24,1999

Steve,

I received your SE84b, #128, the second week of February. It was packed very well with no damage. Now I'm getting excited. Everything was set-up, tubes inserted, and warmed up for 2 hours. Then, I listened.......... believe me, I tried not to like it. I tried to find fault. Tubes were sub'd. Telefunken 12ax7, GE, Amperex, RCA..... Then I would go back to the origionals. Bias was changed with the switch. ( I prefer the back position). Damn, I still liked this amp!!! Pre-amps were changed, ARsp14 w6dj8's, Superphon Revelation II with dual volume. Still liked it! Direct CD with digital volume.... still good. Vinyl is unbelievable on this amp. Disc sounds better than ever. I do prefer a pre-amp for gain though, solid state pre-amps sounds better with this detail machine in my opinon. A fully discrete pure class A w/ no complemetary stages. Jfet in the phono and mosfet in line stage. It truly is magical. The only down side is..... I want another for dual mono operation. (later hopefully).

The associated equipment used with the SE84b is as follows: PRE-AMP Superphon Revelation II dual mono (thank you Stan Warren) I have 2 for sale audio research sp14 with 6dj8 tubes (occassionally) DIGITAL Sony ES339 single player. ( a very well kept secret, (over-achiever) by the audio gurus.) ANALOG Thorens 165c with SME arm (table and arm modified) Grado Platinum Signature CABLES Audioquest RUBY interconnects Audioquest Type 4 speaker cable SPEAKERS JBL L300 Summits, 93db.

These are rare and very good. 15" driver, horn mid and slot or lens tweeter. Believe me, there is no better speaker to match to this amp! If you manage to find a pair, GRAB'EM!!!!

In closing, I am an extremely happy owner of the SE84b.

Thanks Steve Deckert for allowing me the opportunity to own one, AND IT IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOLKS!

Professionally,

Joseph G. Sadler / Bowling Green, KY