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

A link:

8/0.9 = 9

@rwpollock which is pretty low and down in the tube amp range. The SIT-3 has a damping factor of 30.

Good observation. This is actually what the Nenuphar was designed to work with due to the highly damped driver implemented.

Charles

Just want to follow up on the speaker progress now that I have about 150 hrs of play on them. I feel that the speakers have settled in and are about 99% broken in. The sound is amazing across the spectrum. The soundstage is wide and deep. The detail that is heard is stunning. Strong deep bass, very impressive. If you want to hear how good the bass is with the Nenuphars play this track, the sound pressure it creates in the room is an attention getter. After listening to this track, I kind of wondered why someone would feel the need for a subwoofer with these speakers.

My speaker placement is about 1 ft from the wall with about 5 degrees of toe-in. The speakers are on 1 inch rock maple platforms to make it easier to move the speakers around. I am not using the spikes that come with the speakers, they are 1.5 inches tall and I feel that from my listening position, which is about 12 ft away, the speaker is angled kind of over my head. I replaced the spikes with Eden Sound HemiSpikes, they are 1 inch tall. Using them dropped the front of the speaker down where it is pointing more towards my ears and that small drop did not effect the bass in any way that I can detect.

@charles1dad 

Charles I took your advise and tried a tube amp with the Nenuphars. I have a Will Vincent custom built Dynaco ST with Gold Lyon KT-66 tubes. WOW the tube amp is an excellent match with these speakers. The soundstage is a little wider and deeper when compared to the SIT-3. The air around the instruments is a little more defined and the overall richness of the music is just great. This is how I like music to sound in my room. I am not complaining about the performance of the First Watt SIT-3, it is and amazing sounding amp and Nelson Pass did a great job designing a SS amp to sound like a tube amp, mission accomplished. But there is nothing like the genuine article, a real tube amp. I would recommend going with a tube amp if someone was going to purchase the Nenuphar speakers. It just seems that they were designed for a tube amp. There are many reviews and youtube videos out there using all different amps with great success, the tube amp is just my opinion.

I am very happy with my purchase and am looking forward to many hours of listening pleasure. I can't say anything bad about these speakers, they have checked all the boxes for me. Like I said above, these speakers are going to be a lot of fun !!!

@benjie

I am very happy with my purchase and am looking forward to many hours of listening pleasure. I can’t say anything bad about these speakers, they have checked all the boxes for me. Like I said above, these speakers are going to be a lot of fun !!!

This says it all!

You are very happy with the Nenuphars and have increased your enjoyment of listening to music. Wonderful, this is entirely the point of these endeavors. I’m glad that you gave tube amplifiers an opportunity to pair with your Nenuphars.

Charles

I wanted to tip my hat to everyone who has been active in this thread. After months of research, I’m pretty solid on the idea of building my own cabinets this summer and eventually purchasing a pair of Cube F10 Neo drivers... Pretty great that Cube offers this as an option, and also openly shares their cabinet design. As a guy with plenty of woodworking experience and not a huge audio budget, this is right up my ally.

This thread verified multiple times that my Yamamoto A-08s 2wpc 45 SET amplifier should be a beautiful match for low to moderate level listening in a ’far nearfield’ situation, maybe in the range of 6-9 feet from each speaker. When I first looked at Cube, I wrote them off because I figured 92dB sensitivity was too low for my 45s... however, given the easy / flat impedance and particular design of this unique driver, it sounds like it should be suitable.

My current speakers, a set of Omega CAMs, are rated 94.5dB, and I have all the volume I need while staying far away from the Yamamoto’s power limits. I don’t think a 2.5dB loss in efficiency will be earth shattering, but I’m only working off of theory here... Of course, the idea that the Cube will be an upgrade over my Omegas is pure theory as well :).