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

Cal,
That referral to 6 Moons is a good idea. Srajan Ebaen has been an admirer and user of Zu speakers for quite some time. He has reviewed a number of their models very favorably thorough the years.


He was very taken and struck by the Cube Audio Nenuphar and seems to place them in their own singular uppermost tier category for single driver speakers . He is astonished by their sound quality and presentation.  Although Zu utilizes full range drivers I realize that it isn’t a single driver speaker as is the Nenuphar.
Charles

Charles, interesting indeed. That said, Srajan likes a music genre that really i'm not into (world acoustic) and his writing is often confusing. 

I will say I heard the Voxativ 9.87 in a dealer's home and wasn't impressed as his (and others) reviews. That said, I don't believe it was broken in near enough. It had wonderful jump factor, but also clear as day, uneven frequency response issues in various parts of the spectrum. The bass was also dry.

I've been toying with the idea of getting a second speaker (YG is my first) and Zu/Cube are high on that list. The Druid VI is considerably less expensive, but seems to be more of a rock n roll speaker vs a classical one. I can say previously owning Definitions that the old Zu's strengths weren't on classical. The Druid VI bridges the gap much further but still doesn't seem like that speaker's favorite genre.
 

FYI, since Ag / Argentum, aka Silver is on the menu...

The SR speaker cables I used are high purity silver 99.999%

The Scott Sheaffer speaker cable I am using is also high purity silver, though I do not know the specific purity level. Knowing Scott, his sourcing and selection is impeccable.

As mentioned above, though Scott's cables edged out the SRs and I clearly prefer them in my system, the SR cables are superb.

Good to read the back and forth above. As @debjit_g mentioned, the thread had been dormant for a bit.

Keith,
I’ve heard Vaxativ single driver speakers a few years back and I wasn’t blown away for certain. Thin in the midrange and bass shy. From all indications the Cube Audio Nenuphar is a much more complete and satisfying speaker. I have no reason to doubt this as a fair number of listeners have confirmed this assessment. It's reported to be quite adept with all genres of music. 
Charles

First to log in on speaker cable inquiry: I use SR Foundation cables after having auditioned them against Double Shotgun Clear Day cables. (RIP Paul Laudati).  The Foundation had more meat in the mid range and bass as well as more air and larger soundstage.

But now on to my latest discovery.  So I've been sitting here happy as an audiophile clam can be with my Pass Labs XP-32 and SIT 1's making magic with my Nenuphars.  Then my local Pass Labs dealer (Gestalt Hifi) becomes a Vinnie Rossie dealer and offers me an audition of the VR Integrated Amp L2i.  He even has the upgraded Elrog 300b tubes.  I look up the specs on this universally acclaimed 100 AB watts per channel unit and find it has zero negative feedback (great) but an output impedance of .10 ohm.  Not so great, giving it a damping factor of 800 driving the Nenuphars.  But still, my friend Mike is willing to come over and install the beautiful beast (50 lbs) white gloving the tubes and everything.  We listen for a while, things sound decent, he leaves and I'm sort of wincing at this over ripe plummy ness to Bill Charlaps's piano. (Ah tubes, I say to myself.)  So I go away and come back in a couple of hours and really listen.  Whoa.  Wait.  We have a contender here!  All plummy ness is gone, the soundstage is HUGE (something others have heralded about this amp), instruments are 3 dimensional and tonal colors are like wet paint. This can't be, it sounds more alive and real than my SIT-1s!  But I'm not focusing on the bass enough, surely the gorilla damping factor has to be sitting on that.  So I play the best test of true bass I know, Ray Brown's Super Bass and his Three by Four number from his Walk On album.  Not only is depth of bass better, but it's more tuneful and full of these micro details, string against finger flesh, string against wood I've never heard before.  Plus the live recording space has become my room!  So what's the damping factor reigning in or impacting?  I can't hear it.  I think someone here a while ago loved the Nenuphars with an equally high damping factor Gryphon amp. I looked askance.  Well, I ain't looking that way no more.  The VR is punching way above it's damping factor weight (or any weight class for that matter) and I'm grinning ear to ear.  More to come.