Cube Audio Nenuphar Single Driver Speaker (10 inch) TQWT Enclosure

I'm excited too... now just wait for the trucking company to deliver... painful!  Will report back.

Thanks for the kind words and amp recommendations.  Will report back as the speaker breaks in

Received my Nenuphar..
https://photos.app.goo.gl/sWgZmZ8UhqSVTbgw5

You guys are right on the amp pairing, the best pairing is with the SIT-2, Srajan is spot on in his assessment. SIT-2 with its low damping factor brought life to the music, there’s deep bass, meat on the bones with vocals while the highs isn’t affected. Schiit Aegir monoblocks with >100 DF is behind SIT-2 but the jump to >150 DF of the BHK250 is night and day compare to the Schiit, with the BHK music got noticeably thinner, colder... wow I never knew DF have such huge impact, glad I got my hand on the SIT-2. I would of been happy with the Aegirs, but definitely would not be happy with the BHK, it’s that big a difference.  The BHK was very good with my Cornwall III, another instance of synergy is everything in hifi audio.

@david_ten 
In the photo I did have them with very little toe in, was trying them out.  Now I had them more toe in.. still playing around with placement.

Heads up fellow Nenuphar owners, there is a First Watt SIT-2 listing on USAM.

Joining the Nenuphar club soon... going to pair them with either PS Audio BHK 250 or Schiit Aegir Monoblocks... hoping one of these will work well with the Cube.

The BHK 250 has >150 DF, where as the mono block BHK 300 is >350.

Thanks, yup I realized non of my amps maybe the "best" match, but will report back on if I’m lucky :)

The suck thing is I sold my SIT3, preferring the BHK250 over it for my Klipsch Cornwall III.  So hoping my preferences will win at the end of the day

@cal3713 Thanks for the offer, unfortunately I’m in S. CA.
I am confident that my current amp will sound wonderful with the Nenuphar... may not be match made in heaven, but at probably heaven on earth none the less.

From Cube Audio website, there’s mention that most solid state amp will match well, so I’m going to go with that for now until I can listen for myself:

" The Nenuphars are dedicated for rooms of 20 - 40 square meters (my living room is 30 sq meters). They are a perfect match for a tube amp with at least 3 Watts per channel. Our personal preference is somewhere around 2A3, Px4, 45 tube-based amps. Nonetheless, most solid-state amps (especially those working in A-class) are also an amazing match for the Nenuphars. When it comes to placement, they can be placed both forward and placed right against the back wall. They like about 5-10 degrees of toe-in. "

Just as luck would have it.. there was a SIT-2 on sale, so I snatched it up. Now I can compare between 4 ohm output impedance with 0.5 damping factor and >100 damping factor.

@vinpic do you have both the V1 and V2 for back and forth comparisons?  Granted there's a long lag time, an hour? needed to swap the drivers.  Or is your assessment going by audio memory?

Thanks

I like to know the process too and have been contemplating upgrading, I would love to get a chance to listen and compare v1 and v2 before sending the v1 in, or decide to keep the v1 if v2 sound didn't work out.  I do enjoy the v1 now, although I do like the impressions of the v2 thus far.

I like to add that Jon at Refined Audio and Grzegorz have been very supporting when I reported to them one of my driver have a small dent in the phase plug that I didn't noticed until 6 months into ownership.  Grzegorz were quick to respond and worked with Jon to send a new pair of drivers out, at no cost to me.  I have no doubt that they will take care of their customers.

I'm running my Nenuphar with the Apherion dual AMT Supertweeter.  I found the addition of the supertweeter to enhance the listening experience,  especially with sound staging and the subtle but imo important treble decays.  I went back and reread some of the reviews and this was mentioned.  I had mine crossover at 12khz and -2dB.

I also run the Nenuphar with a pair of Rel S510 subs.  I like them but could easily live without. I had crossover set at 20hz and volume up at 4 clicks.

The Nenuphar provides a strong foundation for owner to customize the sonic spices to their liking, a sprinkle of bass here and treble there provides different experience and I enjoy the journey and customization depends on my mood.  At times I do turn off all effects to enjoy the Nenuphar sans crossover, and love that I have that option.

Here are some photos of the setup:https://goo.gl/photos/rinLZWzHoBvCizNLA
I have the supertweeter on the same plane as the speaker, both slightly toed in into the listening position.

I am using a full PS Audio stack:

P15 Power Regen
DSD DAC Sr
BHK Pre

I used to have BHK250 amp buy sold that in favor of the SIT2.

Sorry I didn't compare the Aperion to any other brand.  I did compare their TOTL model the dual AMT to the lower aluminum ribbon model.  I think I could live with the aluminum ribbon model, they were very close.  With exception of the sensitivity so for maximum compatibility later on I went with the AMT, that and I thought it's a bit more airy.. but that could be the price bias taking.

Has anyone replace the rear rubber feet with something else?  How do you handle the mount?  I wanted to try isoacoustic Gaia but can only replace the front spikes since they are threaded and the rear ones are just wood screw.

Thanks for the response guys.. couple reasons, mostly I got the Gaia with a deal so thought I give them a try, and my listening room is in the garage, with the floor slope downward already, at what I think is around half (or maybe a bit more) compared to the Cube design, so I think having the speakers level would be more inline with the original design.  I could always use a shorter spike, but thought I try the Gaia.  I order a set of the NSMT outriggers: https://www.nsmt-loudspeakers.com/content/speaker-outriggers.
We'll see how that go.. if not I can always resell them.

I've been listening to the Nenuphar with IsoAcoustics GAIA II for a few days now.. so far I can say that it's improved the center image and increased depth, really enjoy the Cube even more now.  Also noticed improved treble, I think that maybe because I'm no longer tilting the speakers up.  Note however that my listening room is a converted garage, the floor is already sloped down, which give a similar effect as tilting the speaker up.
These looks great and sounds great.. I've no plan of going back to the standard feet.

Some photos here:https://photos.app.goo.gl/NT6eiMgeea91o2Tt5

Congrats.. what are the specs for these beauties?
I'm going a completely different route.. put in an order for a McIntosh MC462.. hopefully they will pair well with the cube.  It's a 3 months wait now aday.. no fun at all.

@david_ten Thanks for the bit of info.. excited to hear your thoughts.. I used to own purposed built 300B amp for headphone listening, these builds really do bring out the best from our speakers.  Please share some photos of the amp when you get the chance.

@charles1dad From Stereophile I also see this:

The output impedance was lowest from the 8 ohm Autoformer tap, at 0.09 ohm at 20Hz and 1kHz, rising to 0.13 ohm at 20kHz. The 4 ohm tap’s output impedance was almost twice that of the 8 ohm tap—not what I was expecting—while the 2 ohm tap’s was 0.14 ohm at low and middle frequencies, rising to 0.185 ohm at the top of the audioband.

So from the 4 ohm taps, the output impedance is double (almost) of the 8 ohm taps, going to 0.18 to 0.26.. giving the damping factor of <50 (similar to the SIT-3) going into 8 ohm loads.. so yeah, crossing my fingers and toes that it’ll work out.

Sorry to hear about your house David. Hope everyone is safe and the audio equipments survived the damage.  

Best wishes for a quick and safe recovery

Alan is building me a set of his 45 mono as well.  Which 45 tube are you using?

@abd1 looks like RCA 45, and RCA 6sn7.  I have not heard RCA 45, yet, but my experience with RCA 6sn7 is that they are very dull sounding and not as musical as other 6sn7 out there.  I really like Brimar cv1988 6sn7 but they are pretty much unobtainium now a day.  Other NOS tubes I like is the Tungsol black glass, get the cheaper 6f8g with adapter, they sound the same as their 6sn7 counter parts.  I also like the new production tubes like the black treasure.  

I have the Brimar, Tungsol and JJ will report back when I get I get the chance to try them.  Alan mentioned it will take him 2 weeks to build.

Nice, glad to hear consistent reports for Alan's amp.  I did asked Alan to remove the volume control in my copy, hoping to gain a little resolution there.  Sorry didn't mean to dis the RCA 45, all my impressions were with Woo WA5 and headphones.  Looks like in Alan circuit they sound great, a good sign for a great designed amp.

Is there a website I can do to to explore Found Music amps?  I am having trouble finding it through Google searches.

Thanks David