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

Photos of Cube Audio Nenuphar speakers in a customer's home, courtesy of Mono and Stereo:

Cube Audio Nenuphar, system, room photos

david_ten

There is no such thing as a thread that only mentions one speaker. Already people are talking about Horning, Charney, Voxative, and whatever. Of course, people want to know how Cube compares to whatever.......this is what the game is about. Now, if the thread was titled....."Only Cube owners experiences, please"......then MAYBE you have a point.

Some people feel threatened by my comments on improving the speaker......and mentioning other speakers that are maybe way cheaper and could be alternatives........if you like feeling bad.....that is your choice. I suggest you choose joy no matter what the circumstance.....it feels much better and lifts everyone. My intention is to educate and inform......about audio and life.

In that vein, I will now mention a much better version of a Cube speaker.....an open baffle speaker you make yourself. You can buy the drivers in the US for something like $6,000 a pair delivered. You can take $500 worth of 3/4 inch 13 ply baltic birch plywood and 3/4 inch highly refined MDF and make a baffle 2 feet wide by four feet high. You also make wings that are one foot by four foot on each side going straight back (felt on the inside of the wings so the rear radiated highs will not bounce off the wings). You use the Birch for the front and rear and the MDF layer in between.....all baffles 2.25 inches thick. You mount the driver near the top of the baffle and use all my techniques and you will have way, way, way better sound than a stock Nenuphar......and on a baffle that is basically a four foot square folded back....you will have bass down to 40hz in your room. Of course, you will need a good sized room and the baffle has to be at least 5 feet from the rear wall. With all my tweaks plus the sound of open baffle (total elimination of box sound and rear radiation)........this would blow you mind. You can finish and shape the baffles any way to please your eye. The speaker wire would be wired directly to your amp from the voice coil wire......OMG. Total cost....less than $7500. If you do not have any woodworking skills you can hire some local woodworker for $1000 to make them for you with super finishing.

Drivers....$6K, Ground Enhancers $38, Bybee Clarifiers $220, wood and glue and screws $550......footers? Finishing? With a table saw and router you could build these in one weekend (without finishing).......you assemble and it sounds so good you wait for a loooooooooooooong time before taking the drivers out and finishing it......it will sound that good........Who will be the first to do this? Not everyone is conservative and just buys stuff. Way less than half price you have something way frickin better.

I will leave this thread for awhile and let you talk about amps and such......will check back later......maybe someone will try what I suggest and post here or start their own thread. Would be lovely if a Nenuphar owner built an open baffle version and compared.....really cool.

Of course, you can add supertweeters (some already have) and woofs......that is another story for another time. Have fun. Love is all there is.

ricevs, good suggestions about OB and direct wiring but can I suggest a separate thread on OB designs for a fuller discussion. I would chime in since I have a number of designs and drivers in mind and intend to put them together this year including field coils.

I do like some open baffle speakers, but, I would think that if it were so easy to make a "much better version of the Cube speaker" by making a very easy to build and cheap open baffle version, Cube or someone else would have done so already.  There are probably good reasons why went with what appears to be a version of the Voigt pipe form of loading.  

Still, it would be great to have a thread with DIYers showing off their designs.  I've heard some really interesting OB speakers, including some monster, cost is no object designs using twin 18" fieldcoil woofers in a baffle more than 4.5 feet wide.  

Nelson uses Cube f8 in OB

https://www.stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-26-nelson-pass-harmonic-distortion-page-2