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


Cube Audio (Poland) designs single drivers and single driver speakers. 

Principals are Grzegorz Rulka and Marek Kostrzyński.

Link to the Cube Audio Nenuphar (with F10 Neo driver) speaker page: 

https://www.cubeaudio.eu/cube-audio-nenuphar

Link to 6Moons review by Srajan Ebaen (August 2018):

https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/cubeaudio2/

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Parameters (from Cube Audio):

Power: 40 W

Efficiency: 92 dB

Frequency response: 30Hz - 18kHz ( 6db)*

Dimensions: 30 x 50 x 105 cm

Weight: 40 Kg


* Frequency response may vary and depends on room size and accompanying electronic equipment.
david_ten
With regard to seismic isolation control credit and thanks should go out to the work done by Barry Diament.

For those not familiar with his work, here is a paper by Barry on the subject:

http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/vibration.htm
How do these compare to other detailed sounding speakers like magico s, m series, Raidho D series or Paradigm persona?
I heard the Nenuphars at the 2019 Capital Audiofest.  I liked, in part, what I heard.  Typical of the breed, it sounded very lively and engaging.  But, again typical of the breed, it was short on deep bass, a bit lacking in warmth, a bit rough sounding in the upper midrange and had a pronounced peak in the treble range.  Whether the undeniably great attributes of such a speaker outweigh the negatives is a matter of taste.  In part, it would matter what one listens to most frequently.  To me, the Nenuphars sounded very good with jazz, particularly where brass instruments are prominent.  They also sounded good with vocal pop music.  But, they lacked the weight and ability to deliver power when large-scale classical music was played.

So far, I've only heard a couple of single driver systems that I could easily live with myself.  One is the Voxativ Ampeggio, the other is the Charney Audio system.  I particularly like the Charney.  I've heard their speaker with the AER and Voxativ driver, and I particularly like the AER driver (a little bit more extended on top, and very smooth).

When "full-range" drivers are coupled with other drivers in multi-way systems, the result can be really good.  I've heard some amazingly good systems that use full-range drivers as the bass/midrange driver in two way systems, and I've also heard them used as midrange drivers in three way systems.  One big advantage of using full range drivers in multi-way systems is that crossovers can be simpler (I heard, and liked, systems where the full range driver is run full range, with a first order high pass filter network on the tweeter-very minimalist crossover).
This speaker is said to break out of the typical mold you refer to? Owners and reviewers certainly don’t hear the same sonic traits you mention. Perhaps the show was not an ideal venue to hear these and it could be the speakers were young in play hours? Very different take on this speaker compared to what I have been reading and learning.

It always amazes me how gear with little play time is often used to showcase at shows. This is not putting your best foot forward in terms of sales and marketing strategy. Cannot help but think this was at play here.

Good to read your comments as all perspectives are helpful.

Hi larryi,

Your assessment of the Nenuphar makes me curious as to what components were used upstream in the signal path. I’ve become convinced that the Nenuphar simply delivers what it is fed. Srajan of 6 Moons has particularly made this point on several occasions. While this could be said of any number of good quality speakers it seems especially so in regard to the Nenuphar.

David whose ears I trust has owned these speakers for a year and has had none of the shortcomings you identified. Now to be fair David has truly excellent components in his system and no doubt this is a factor. But this makes my point as to the impressive honesty of the Nenuphar. Larry as always I appreciate your informed insight and comments. For an example  of upstream changes, Srajan noted this speaker sounds crystal clear and a ’touch’ nordic cool with the Bakoon amp.

The speaker clearly sounds warmer/fuller/richer with the S.I.T.-3 amp. So the sound heard via the Nenuphar is ’quite’ different merely by changing the power amplifier.

Charles