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

Hi everyone,

First of all as someone else has mentioned, I find this thread very helpful, civilized and amazed that people are so respectful to each other’s opinion/suggestions. Kudos to everyone on this thread!

My current speakers are Coincident Super Victory IIIs and I am strongly considering the Nenuphars. Nothing wrong with my current speakers but I am looking for wider soundstage and increased depth and details in low level listening.

My room dimensions are
Height - 7’10
Width - 15’7
Length - 18 feet

I have some treatments in the room. My preamp is EAR Yoshino 868PL and power amp is Simaudio Moon.

I heard the speakers briefly at my dealer but going to audition more seriously soon. My guess is that if I do fall in love and decide to get it, I would have to change my power amp.

I am new to tubes and having a tube pre is more than enough for me. Do I have to get a tube amp for the Nenuphars? Apart from the Bakoon and SIT-3 mentioned here, are there other SS amps that I should consider? Given my room dimensions, will the Nenuphars work?

@david_ten Yes and big thanks. They were helpful. I am going to auditon them soon (first time didn't really do critical listening as I wanted to see something else). 

My Coincident Super Victory IIIs will really need a strong speaker to fall out of love with another speakers..but history has proven that it can happen with audio gear 😀

I will report back with my impressions. It will be paired with XA25 and Bakoon amp for the auditon. 

One thing to note for me, if I do go for the Cubes, the quest to find the right amplifier will soon have to start for me. My Moon amp will not cut it with the Cubes, that I am sure...

@david_ten I auditioned the Cubes. I will post my thoughts soon. 

Following are my impressions of my audition of Cube Nenuphars:

Please note only digital source was used to keep everything simple and quick switching of tracks. My dealer had all the Cube models on the floor but I only focused on the Nenuphars.

Gear used for audition at dealer:

Preamp: Miyajima EC-5 Full function preamp

Amp: Pass Labs XA25, Bakoon 13R (used as an amp)

Sources: 432 Evo server streaming Tidal / DAC: Aqua La Voce

Cables: Swiss Cables

As soon as I entered some background music was being played at very low levels to warm up the system. I settled down in the seating chair and thought some music was played maybe in the room using some other small speakers (radio or something?)

I jumped and put my ears close to the speakers and was surprised that the Cubes were on. So initial impressions were, wow, even at very low levels the speakers completely disappeared!

First the the XA25 amp was used. My dealer suggested he play few tracks of his own and then I can suggest any songs I like. He played 3-4 songs and it was very good. Speakers disappearing act, black background, good instrument separation, great midrange. After 3-4 tracks my dealer played, I was like “damn, do I pull my wallet out now or what?”

Then…

I started requesting songs I know inside out and have been listening for few days in preparation for the audition. Before I get into that, my current system is as follows:

Speaker: Coincident Super Victory III (introduced as mk3 from mk 2 just over a year back)

Preamp: EAR Yoshino 868PL

Amp: Simaudio 330A

Sources: Acoustic Solid Metal 111 TT with Jelco TK-850S tonearm, Hana SL Cart; Chord Qutest DAC with Sbooter LPS.

Cabling: OCC Silver and Copper full loom from the same brand. I use a power conditioner and run dedicated 15A lines.

Various room treatment and isolation tweaks..such as Nordost Kones, Vibrapods etc.

I found the Cubes were very good. However, I found that (leaving different room and different gear aside) my current Coincident to have more bass slam and the high were a tad bit “airier”. Maybe due to the 12’ woofer and the ribbon tweeter? Overall, very similar to my current gear’s presentation but without the bass slam and tad bit less air. The Cubes were superior in instrument separation though but that could be due to my current amp. I think the Coincident deserve better amplification, maybe Class A or tubes.

Next dealer switched to Bakoon amp. Wow! I am VERY impressed with this amp. Small footprint and it can be run as an intergrated. No idea how they did it in such a small unit! While I enjoyed the Pass XA25 presentation, the Bakoon was cleaner and faster. I thought the bass would have slam, the bass was more or less like that of the XA25 presentation. I mentioned it to my dealer and he said it might be achieved putting the speakers closer to the wall (like Peter Bruninger has it in his listening room). At the dealer, the speakers were pulled front (maybe 3 feet?) from the front wall.

The cubes over all had good soundstage (between the speakers, the soundstage did not extend beyond the speakers), good front to back depth, VERY good instrument separation, GREAT “disappearing” act. I didn’t find the bass slam that I currently get with my Coincidents. I am not a bass freak and more of a midrange person..but…bass is important :)

After the audition, my dealer and I spoke about amplification. Bakoon is a bit out of my reach financially (more so if I go for the Cubes). He suggested a few good options (all tubes). I may consider those amp options first to try out with my Coincidents first...

Apologies, I don’t think I went into details but if anyone has any questions I would be happy to answer if I can.

@ riaa_award_collectors_on_facebook The dealer is a low powered tube/high sensitivity speaker proponent. It was due to my request he paired the Nenuphars with the SS amps mentioned above. He is not a Pass Labs dealer so didn't have the SIT amps and only hooked up the XA25 from his personal collection so that I get a taste what the XA25 can do with the Nenuphars.

So I guess if I do go for the Nenuphars, I have to pair with lower powered tube amp. I am just a bit hesitant going all tubes in my system but maybe I need to get over my "tube fear".   

@charles1dad

"Low power SET amplifiers are about as simple and straightforward as can be. Very few tubes (Or parts count in general) in these amplifiers and the DHT tubes have pretty good longevity. Also many of them are auto bias designed or simple manual bias. Overall this niche of amplifiers are exceptionally low maintenance. Nothing to fear in my opinion"

Thanks. I should just jump deep right in. When I changed from SS preamp to my EAR tube preamp, I could not believe the positive sonic attributes tubes brought to my system - more air, more space, more liquidity.

I may need to take a leap of faith and overcome my fear and deep right into SET or non-SET tube amp. :)