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

@stephendunn  Looking forward to your findings, results and ultimate preferences with anticipatory curiosity!!! 

@toetapaudio  Robert, haven't heard from you in the thread for some time now. All good on your end?

Thanks, David.

There are indeed a number of pathways to pursue with the combination of the L2i and SIT 1s. But before I get started I wanted to make sure that the high damping factor of the L2i driving the Nenuphar was a non issue. Maybe the Ray Brown bass test--which the L2i passed with flying colors--wasn’t all encompassing. So I dove into my orchestral playlist to hear more. And I quickly discovered a problem. The L2i delivered the bass drum with a whimper, no impact, no mallet on skin. The drum’s climax after a crescendo was muffled, dim. Played through the SIT-1 with the XP32 pre the drum was big, impactful, as it should be. Night and day difference. One track that made this incredibly obvious was Prelude and Aztec Dance from Reference Recording’s Fiesta!, Dallas Wind Symphony, Howard Dunn. This was a big let down for me because other aspects of the L2i’s synergy with the Nenuphars were so positive: the deeper, wider soundstage, the enhanced 3D presence, the lit-from-within tonality. How much of that is attributable to the DHT pre-amplifier part of the design and how much to the AB MOSFET amp stage? Well, running the L2i into the SIT-1s as a DHT preamp might help answer that question. (With those big Elrog 300B Polaris missiles emerging from the top of the L2i, I think we all might have a hunch.)

Still, how could the L2i play Ray Brown’s bass with depth and impact but drop the ball with the big bass drum entirely? The greater the bass dynamic the more the damping factor affects it?

Stephen
Your findings closely mirrors the listening impression/ findings of Srajan Ebaen in regard to the bass performance as it relates to the DF. It does make sense when considering the design objective of the driver as stated by Cube Audio. I expect that the DHT Rossi preamp section will be beautifully matched with the S.I,T.-1 amplifier
BTW I'm very familiar with the Elrog 300b, a superb sounding tube. 
Charles