[Wind Chaser]

My interest was piqued in the TorII amps, but I keep reading that they favor lower impedance speakers and with my 16ohm Superflys I am afraid to take the plunge.

I don't know if the word "favor" or "prefer" conveys the right idea?  My amp, the SE84C was "able" to drive a 2 ohm load and it did in fact sound better - more powerful - that's for sure.  You might want to put that question to Steve Deckert. 

A pair of these can raise or lower the load by a factor of four.

[Quiet Earth]

This thread has really piqued my curiosity. The Decware site is very interesting! 

All things being equal, and of course they never are,,,,,, what would some of you guys say the main difference in sound quality is between the TorII and mini Torii? Let's assume that you are only using a few watts to get a reasonable volume level in a small to medium sized room. Let's also say that you use two way speakers that are about 94dB efficient and nominally 6 to 8 ohms.

I realize that one amp is a push pull EL34 with the Hazen Grid mod, and the other is a single ended 6V6 with a little feedback, but the technical descriptions probably don't tell the whole story. Do they share a similar house sound  due to the voltage regulation concept and quality of parts and assembly? Does the mini Torii have still have that SET (SEP) magic even though there is some negative feedback employed?

Perhaps some of you have heard both of these amps and can comment. I hope I'm not hijacking the thread too much.   Just being curious.

[schw06]

I have heard both the Torii and the mini on my speakers and, although different topology, they share similiar sonic qualities. I would say that the mini Torii has a pinch more midrange presence aand 3 dimensionality than the big brother. For me, the difference is really slight and only noticeable when doing a head to head comparison. The other difference is bass. The Torii has a much firmer grip  than the mini on my system. To me, the difference in bass was much greater than the difference in midrange.
David

[Quiet Earth]

Thanks for the comparison. 

[Gopher]

David,

I was speaking to someone recently who told me that the Torii MKIII sounded amazingly good with Zu Def IIs on simpler pieces such as such as vocals, solo piano, acoustic guitar, etc, it came apart with more complex stuff in the system he auditioned it in. 

With bigger more complex stuff, however, it seemed to lose its composure a little and sound very thin.  He concedes there could have been other system issues at play, but I'm wondering if you find any merit to this?  I'm tempted to snag one of the ones on audiogon to experiment for myself and would have already if the seller took paypal (float it on the cc a month while I decide which amp to keep as opposed to writing a check).

Do you or anyone else have any further feedback?

[schw06]

Fred,
   I'm assuming there must be other gremlins at play in the system you are referring to.  They have never broken up, nor sounded thin with anything I throw at them. I'm wondering if he has impedance mismatching issues. All I can tell you is to read his claims on his website regarding the amp. I can't refute any of them. Honestly, you're overthinking this. This is seriously a statement amplifier. Quite honestly I am holding back superlatives about the amp because there are a lot of people who make ridiculous claims about budget gear and I'm sure people will think I am nuts, naive, or have cotton in my ears. I am usually very reluctant to recommend products to people because of the vast number of variables that differ between systems and listening preferences.The biggest problem you will have is finding a preamp that won't be a weak link in your system and I would definitely suggest running your source material directly into the amp for a while to understand just how good this thing is. If your Zu's are set up properly, this amp will allow you to suspend disbelief as the performers will be in the room with you.
David

[datman]

I have one of the first TORII III's and agree with everything schw06 said. If you can't make this amp sound the way you want (should you want to change the sound quality) then the sound you want may not be achievable. A terrific amp at a realistic price.