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

Just had a demo of a pair of Cube Audio Jazzon and Nenuphar - pretty similar level of performance to be honest, with the Nenuphar having an smidge more polish, detail and soundstage - but I would happily go for the F10 select given the cost/benefit ratio.

The F10 Select driver holds a lot of promise, detailed, dynamic, it does bass and has great width/height to the soundstage. But it was (for me) shouty and lacked soundstage depth because it was so forward in the vocal region. This was the same with two different amplifiers a 300b and an Enleum/Bakoon.

If the FR was equalised, and the presence region pushed back into the mix, then would this add depth to the soundstage as well as taming it shouty nature?

It’s a very tempting solution, but I still wonder if EQ is enough to ‘do the trick’ of righting the wrongs of a full range driver or if I should just stick with point source, but using multiple drivers…
 

…Or perhaps I should have listened to the F8 Magnus - smoother and more consistent frequency response by the looks of it?

Anyone else have a similar experience?

With the “many”  owner feedback comments and reviews, this is the first time I have read the Nenuphars described as “shouty “ and forward.

Charles 

Hi Charles, @gavin1977 statement referred specifically to the F10 Select driver which is used in the Jazzon. The Nenuphar uses the F10 Neo driver, which has a quite different magnet assembly.

Could be that he intended the comment toward both drivers. Having owned Nenuphars for over a year and experienced the break-in and associated system-optimization learning curve, I can see where someone new to these crossover-less full-range speakers could form this impression IF the drivers are not fully broken-in OR IF the accompanying system is not sorted OR IF the toe-in is incorrect.

These speakers provide little cushion for mismatched components (especially regarding amplifiers), suboptimal setup, etc, and they produce tremendous energy across the frequency spectrum (no crossover to dumb down the dynamics of the incoming signal through parasitic loss), so ancillary components with a hot upper midrange can be problematic. However, getting these things sorted delivers a sound that is so fundamentally right that, for me, it is nigh impossible to imagine returning to standard multi-driver “crossover-ed” speakers.

Fully agree with the feedback regarding optimised chain of electronics - something I have experience with. The amplifiers being used here are the ones with a proven synergy.

Jazzon:

What I’m hearing is the above frequency response. Dip in lower mid-bass, then a rising frequency response - this tilted up frequency response means I end up trying to compensate with the volume control for the lack of mid-bass, which just makes vocals even more shouty.

Perhaps the Nenuphars don’t have this issue as much:

But I can’t say that I heard them as sounding completely flat either.

I wonder if I should have taken the time to hear the F8, which is a very flat frequency response.

Just trying to troubleshoot, as there’s real promise here and so don’t want to admit defeat just for the sake of a lack of optimisation.

vs lii audio ??????? vs audo nirvana????????