Mombo, I too have been concerned when purchasing pre-owned NBS. The only real way to tell if NBS is authentic is to buy from someone who can prove the cables origin. In my quest for NBS Statement ICs I came across people who had 4 runs of Statement ($6000 each) and claimed they bought it 3 years ago but never used it. To me, this is a RED FLAG! Who keeps 24,000 worth of cables sitting in their garage?
When you buy NBS, see if you can find out as much about the origin of the cable as possible. Check to see if the seller has the original receipt and packaging. Most of the counterfeit NBS cables do not have packaging.
I saved my receipts when I purchased my NBS and therefore they should maintain value MUCH better if and when I decide to sell.
RJ or anyone else, please feel free to contact me if you want real NBS cables. I will put you in touch with some valid dealers. |
Dear Fellow NBS Fans: My name is R.J. Waller. I have been a member of Ardiogon for several months now. My syst. is currently cabled entirely with NBS products, of the Classic series which were purchased from a US dealer at retail cost. I have receintly been attempting to upgrade my cable set, primarily Signature Level, to one of the higher grades. In doing so I have heard rumors of counterfeit NBS products on the resale market. Some of these are originating from Hong Kong, another source from Florida. Does anyone have info. on this? If a cable is offered from Hong Kong, how can the counterfeit product be identified?
It seems that there must be some reasonable method of aquiring upper level NBS without always going the retail route. Any info. would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You, R.J. Waller mombo@aol.com |
In response to Tekunda's question, I have both NBS Statement 3(on loan) and Valhalla , interconnect and speaker cable.I also use NBS power cords and line conditioners.
The Valhalla is an excellent cable , its attributes have been well covered in other posts.
Cables are system dependant , and in my system the NBS works more effectively. Without resorting to the typical audiophile descriptions, I find the NBS simply more musically convincing.It is a great cable when combined with
a full complement of NBS power treatment. |
Jafox, regarding your humm, I would suggest that you check your RCA connections. I had similar problem, turn out the connection between the RCA and the cable itself was bad. try wiggling it, and even rotating it. let me know what you find. |
I have used NBS for years and have AB'd them with my friends cables. They all ended up switching to NBS. You can't go wrong with NBS. I'm now using the line conditioner that blew away several top of the line units. I have monitor 0's. |
I too have had good response from NBS. A couple of times I needed information and I too was told Walter was out of the office, but I put my questions to an email and within the day I had gotten my questions answered.
I use Statement between preamp and power amp and also as speaker cables from mono amps. The interconnect cables had a very faint high freq buzz sound that my other cables did not exhibit. After some time, it is almost gone but not entirely. NBS had suggested that maybe there was an impedance mismatch with my gear (ARC LS5 to VT130). But the same existed when I tried an Adcom amp as a test and now with ARC CLassic 150s. When I asked NBS if I could stop by their office to try these cables in their system, they said that would not be possible. So it sounded like they did not have a system in house to do such a quick test. I still wish I knew what this problem was. I will have to try another preamp one of these days and see what happens. If I use the cable from phono to line or DAC to line, there is no buzzing.
I also asked about buying longer cables and reterminating to shorter pairs. NBS also told me this was not possible as each cable is configured to its final length. So if you end up with a cable longer than needed, you will just have to find a way to deal with that.
I tried NBS Master against so many a few years ago. See my reviews of SilverAudio cables on AudioReview. The Master was the clear winner, but the SilverAudio at the time was the best overall value with Cardas Golden Cross excellent in some links of the chain.
We can only try so many cable combinations for comparison. I too would like to hear the Valhalla or Dominus or perhaps the Siltech but for now the NBS brings on a level of resolution and harmonic richness than makes for an incredible musical presentation.
And yes, Audio Perfection here in Minneapolis is a great place to go as the owner is so good about letting customers try out products at home. That is what sold me on NBS.
John |
I have used their products are they are one of the better lines. Other companies like Pure Note and Silver Audio are aslo excellent. Just because a company is small does not mean that great products cannot be realized. In fact I prefer this over the big guys since we all know their money goes into overhead and advertising. |
eaudionet.com also sells NBS. They're out of New York. You can access them from this website. Wen-Li is excellent to work with. I have used and tried numerous IC's and speaker cables and now own NBS Monitor I. I have no desire to change them for any other brand. |
Mgottlieb, have you compared the NBS cable against the Valhalla or Siltech? |
a search on "nbs" on this site will yield >200 threads in which these cables are mentioned. you'll get like results with a search on "nbs" in the cable section of aa:
http://www.AudioAsylum.com/audio/cables/bbs.html
i suggest you read some of these postings to get a better idea of the widely varying views of nbs products. -cfb |
NBS Monitor 0 is one of the two best cables I've ever used. (The other is Purist Dominus.) Lyric HiFi in New York is one of their dealers, and their isn't a more reliable dealer anywhere. |
NBS cables are pretty much the best you can buy.True NBS isn't that big of a company and mr fields pretty much is a one man show,but most truly hiend manufactures of cables are smaller companies.If you have a question regarding their cables...Audio perfection in minneapolis
sells NBS a long with the best equipment avail.
612-822-0048 |
