I'm expecting delivery on a set of same-brand tubes for my Wave 8s but I'll give my take on these amps anyway. The thing is that one of them has a Svetlana tube in there instead of the Ei and consequently that amp is much louder than the other. (I think the Svetlana is 10 watts instead of 8 or something.) Right now I'm compensating with the crossover's gain pots.
The first thing that's quite obvious is that the SE-9 has a much better build quality than the Wave 8s. It's considerably heavier (much larger transformers) and more solid whereas the Wave 8 has a very no-frills feel, the case is quite hollow. If you are into that whole vibration control stuff the Wav 8s sure could use some. The SE-9 has mirror-finished stainless steel, very stiff switches and a smooth volume knob. As well it should, as it is about twice the price, has two inputs instead of one, and is an integrated amp, not a monoblock.
So even though they are different animals I can say that each has a somewhat warm, forgiving tone to them. In a general sense I prefer the sound of tubes to my NAD 3225 integrated. Both amps worked well on my nearfield computer speaker setup using the Norh 3.0 wood drums.
I will try to compare the two sonically when I get the new tubes, but my gut feeling is that they are on an even keel as far as sound goes, but the SE-9 offers more features and is much better looking IMO. The Wave 8s look like a 'project box' kinda thing, but that's not necessarily an insult. The black chassis is a bit flimsier than I imagined. It's funny, but they look exactly like the little brothers of my MB-100 monoblocks! I should take a picture, it's cute. The silver front panels are practically identical!
