Man you're slow. Once I got the mizzen mast done it was all down hill plus, now beat this, the new drapes are up.
Okay, let me clear something up. The speaker sound very good and I've compared them to Focal Chorus 726S and Totem speaker as well as some other brands and mine still sound very good.
I just want a little more bass, not much just a little more. And I think I could do with a bit of refinement.
So where do you start? The amp and CDP are 16 yrs old. The CDP is a Luzman DZ-03, which uses tubes that can't be changed. Here is a link to one just like mine:
Ocassionally, it will skip about 6 songs for some reason and when I compare it to my 10 year old Sony CDP-C345 it sounds only slightly better. They are very close in sound quality.
So with old CDs would there be much of a difference changing my CDP or should I just get the mono blocks instead?
You've probably already read this but just in case. http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue26/nuforce9se.htm
Personally, I think you should forget about the amp and player and get some different speakers. I doubt your hearing the full potential of your current amp and player. Correct me if I'm wrong, anybody. Wasn't the design goal of many dynamic speaker designers in those days to integrate the sound of multiple drivers. Since crossover technology was just beginning to be refined and very expensive, they simply moved the drivers closer and closer together? KEF sort of won the battle by developing a coaxial single driver UniQ system? With the tweeter buried in the woofer cone the system is very directional hampering imaging and the soundstageing. Not to be confused with some modern horn loaded highly sensitive single driver systems you see today being driven by SET's, KEF's Uni Q driver loaded in their Coupled Cavity produces a 92db 4ohm load. Excellent bass, for those day's, that falls of rapidly after 50Hz.
My suggestion would be to look for some used Hales, Vandersteen, Avalon, or Thiel's. Even their smaller two ways would be such an improvement you would then be able to more fully hear the fruits of your component upgrades.
Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
The dramatic improvement you seek could easily be provided by the NuForce products. I love my NuForce amps and their transparent sound. They replaced a 3K tube amp in my system. NuForce customer support is also a dream come true.
There may be no reason you have to wait to solve your CD playing solution:
Many of us are using the Squeezebox 3 from slimdevices instead of a CD player. It hooks up to the stereo and plays your CDs but with the help of a home computer (which I am assuming you already own). This $300 plug and play solution has a very readable display (volume is remote controled, of course) and it also has built in wireless and talks to my computer in the next room, where my entire CD collection now resides on a hard drive. Great sound, no wires, instant access to my entire library. This is the future, and it works!
No more CD's and those crappy jewel cases, hooray. To top it off, the sqeezebox sounds better than my fancy tube CD player which cost over 4x as much!
That's what I thought. The problem is I can't listen to the Jolida at my local stereo shop.
Sure I can go and listen to the Arcam 73T and maybe take my CDP with for comparison but then the dealer has different speakers, interconnects and amplifier.
Power output...200W x 2 (FTC, 8 Ohms, 0.03% Freq Response...10Hz-100kHz Signal to noise ratio...120dB T.H.D...0.02% Input Sensitivity/Impedance...1V/45kOhms Rated I.M... no more than 0.02%
The amp is 16 yrs old. What will have the most dramatic affect on my system, a new amp or CDP?
Ivor Tiefenbraun started this source first thing back when sources (turntables/arms/cartridges) differed wildly. The thinking persists even now, apparently, but is not so valid as it was in the bad old days.
If you have opaque speakers and amps, how are you going to judge the rest of the chain - or are you going to take a chance and buy something that "they" say is good and trust that when you finally get to the speakers and amp and can at last hear your front end you will like what you hear?
Taste does come in to this, so as I said yesterday how can you make meaningful judgements until you have a revealing back end (which, it bears repeating, includes the room)
Dealers have mentioned that you should start with a good source. My speakers are Kef 104/2 and 105/3, which I think are very good.
Every component in a system is important but I think the source plays a very important part.
For example I have Focal K2ps in my car up front and Focals in the rear with an Alpine deck. My friend has the same setup but has an Eclipse deck, which is known for its excellent sound and I have to admit it sounds better than my setup. Of course the cars are different but the deck makes all the difference.
The amp makes a diffence I will admit but wouldn't your source be the place to start. Lets say like the Jolida JD-100A?
For laughs I tried a pair of the Nuforce 8s. It turned out everyone was laughing but me. Yes the interference can be eliminated for FM by using a coax cable connected to your fm tuner.
How can you judge the source if you can't hear it? If you get the speaker/room/amplifier thing right, then you are in a good position to make judgement calls on the preamp, source, cables and other tweaks.
just my thoughts on source, get a first class analog front end and forget about the digital mixing, and then look for some ref 9s at the right price, and have them upgraded to SE, just my opinion, good luck on your system dazman, mike
I have been following the Nuforce threads with great interest, reading that they can slay amps costing up to $10K. Has anyone compared the 9.02 to the c-j Prem 350?
Besides the exceptional(best I've heard) low-end, the other big improvements over my McCormack DNA-1 were
1) The Nuforce did not get compressed/confused when the music got complex or loud. Everything stayed seperated and clean.
2) The Nuforce were more dynamic at lower volume. I'd have to turn the DNA-1 up louder before it would take control of my speakers. The Nuforce were in control at any volume.
i have not seen so many audiofiles who were going to let fm antennas stop them from enjoying one of the best amps around, for a price that is unreal for our passion of musical reproduction, vicdamone i like your responce to this thread, i dont know where milpitas is, boy i am glad jason and the nuforce crew settled here in the USA to share the nu technolgy of nuforce products, a breath of fresh air this musical hobby needs with so much over priced gear, mike
Heres a couple links if interested...Odyssey august 2006, also the new extremes use Vishay resistors, red boards and some fancier top plates for the 2006-2007 models, some other upgrades too from my understanding.
I bought a pair of their SE's to add a splash of color to all the boring black and gray. They look marvelous! It just amazes me how something so stylish could come from people working in Milpitas (affectionately known as the armpit of the bay area). Bravo NuForce, bravo.
My yagi's on the roof (isn't that where an FM antenna is supposed to be?), no interference here.
If you have any glare or anything from odyssey, Its A- Due to you have to adjust the Bias to custom setting due to your voltage is not 120 volts in the house and klaus will infact do this on order, but I prefer to keep it at the standard 120 volt and adjust the house to be correct instead, Or B- due to you have either a strange speaker combo with them, or simply a preamp, source etc.. That is a bit forward, needing tubes or different impeadance match. I thought my midrange was a bit raw for the first 50 hours, and also after some break in found them to darken alot and this is due to my voltage was way off needing to fix my outlets and then they are pure liquid. Against one of the warmest solid state amps in the Forte and the Mcintosh's I had they blew them away with soundstage size and depth and at super levels never gave a single offensive sharp note, and never were midrange glaring even with 100 db horns and now on 101 db speakers with super tweeters.. It is all about the basics and getting good stable power to these amps or any amps for that matter without a lot of fluxuation in voltage, I found this out cause I had a monster power center that reads voltage on my other system in the house and at night the voltage would go up to 127 volt which would make any amp spike in the upper mids, even tubes that I had which were Cary's sounded thin and steril and were perfectly fine most days. You can not find a more balanced amp just like if you have a good room and speakers positioned correctly within it, via toe in etc.. is the same with feeding these amps or any with very good power, plus they are DEAD silent so any noise coming from them means some bad power in the house, cause mine don't click, hum or even Hiss on 101 db speakers and its scary cause sometimes you would not know the system is on. Not arguing with above points but you asked for some more feedback and that is mine, But if you do try them for 30 days I can absolutley say leave them on with a music signal running a loop feeding a speaker for 2 weeks and that will sweetn them up a ton, I did not believe it either !
If you prefer a boat anchor try out odyssey extremes.. About the same price and return policy you search, with traditional but very powerfull sound, No RFI issues, and put tube pre's in front of them and they easily compete and beat most stuff anywhere near the price. Also, just as many or more accolaids and Zero repair history issues in the reviews up in the hundreds, they are highly praised everywhere and have a long history now, as well as the SAME warranty as bryston with 20 years on all parts no questions.. They also retain good value, about the same as mcintosh gear losing about 1/3rd if used. They killed my bryston, Easily have more power and smoother than my Pass and thresholds from the 90's, have rock bottom bass and control, They also run like the digital amps and never Break room temperature even when driven hard, Brystons run very hot. Nuforce did not do it for me when I tried them, but then again it will be very speaker dependent.
hello all, i am using nuforce ref-9SEs, had the standard ref-9s and upgraded, the upgrade brought a already fine amp to a much better place, a more refined, detailed, and musical amp, this is the last excerpts from Edgar Kramer 6 moons, ''I've owned/auditioned/assessed/compared scores of excellent amplifiers using all manner of technology and circuitry. I consider the NuForce Reference 9 Special Edition amplifiers to be amongst a select small group of the very best amplifiers I've heard. In fact, the SEs better most of these elitists in the areas of resolution, dynamics, bass power and frequency-wide detail.
As the seasons turn and the old leaves wither away, the promise of imminent new life and rebirth swell in our universal consciousness. In a life-assimilating fashion, the NuForce Reference 9 Special Edition mono amplifiers have inspired a new cognition of what the future of amplification will be'' there are other reviews by pros not one was negative for musical performance of these fine amps, im not a pro and can hear it, yes its worth the extra money for SE, in my system which for me is as musical as any i have had the pleasure to hear, i am going to comment on the fm rf interference with nuforce, i dont have a tuner in my system and havent had one sense my marantz model 20 years ago, i do have my cable box as a input on my preamp, and when i am messing around the house, and not trying to get into the music, just listening in the back ground, the music channels on my cable box come in handy, when the time comes for sit down into the music time, fm or cable boxes just wont do, for me its a analog front end, you have to have your system synergy right on, to be able to listen for hours on end with out fatigue, and drifting from the music, with my nuforce equipment in concert with the rest of my system i have that, music realism almost like being there, if you can get a chance give the nuforce gear a listen, great musical days for all, mike
I am with Mlsstl. My Bel Canto M300s (the monoblock version of the S300) is superb in my system, driving VR-4 JRs. No radio interference, plenty of power, smooth, detailed. Can't compare to the other amps since I haven't auditioned them. And if it matters to you, the reviewers agree.
> is this RFI probelm limited to nuforce, or does occur to all other switching amp
Can't speak for any other brand, but as noted above I do not have any RFI problems with my Bel Canto S300. It is a switching amp and is located about 12" from my tuner. I get both AM & FM just fine.
A friend of mine while auditioning the Nuforce 9SE at home, could not hear radio through is Tivoli One because of RFI problems caused by the amp. Reception was better when the NuForce was connected to AC through a shielded Siltech power cord. RFI is a real issue with this amp. As to my opinion I enjoyed some aspects of the sound, but I would not buy the amp. NO.
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