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

Nenuphar journey, part 2.

My new Nenuphar Mini Monitors sounded alright after setup, but as my mother used to say, they "didn't send me anyplace I couldn't get back from." Break-in time. As they were I my living room I couldn't just crank them up and let them play 24 hours a day. I took awhile; the sound improved after about 50 hours, and the magic happened at 95 hours.

Now it was time to match the speakers with electronics. I decided to concentrate on amplifiers, adding a preamp later. I had two DACs available, one with volume control and one without, so I started with the direct from DAC to amp configuration. The DAC used was the MSB IV. Then it was on to explore my passel of FirstWatt amps, all designed by Nelson Pass and one even built by the master himself.

To be continued....

@keithr not wanting to go off on a tangent here so if you care to PM me regarding my thoughts of pros and cons of Boenicke vs Cube please feel free. We are dealers for both brands in the U.K.

@toetapaudio No pressure, but I personally think a pros/cons list would be useful here too.  Seems relevant given that this thread is more of a place (one of the only ones) to generally get information about the cube audio experience...

@stephendunn I also have my system set up on a room corner (see my system pictures). Forced by the room in my case, but it works really well. Eliminates the usual side wall reflection issues and allows for a deep space between the speakers as if they were pulled out much further into the room. I much prefer it to the long wall setups I've been forced into in the past.

This week Jeff Day at Positive Feedback has a review of the Pass XP-12 preamp. He starts by writing:
"I have been looking forward to telling you about the Pass Labs XP-12 line-level preamplifier, as I've found the XP-12 to make for an excellent match to the Pass Labs XA25 Class A stereo amplifier as well the First Watt SIT-3 single-ended stereo amplifier which are my current benchmarks for relatively affordable, lower-powered (25 watts and 18 watts, respectively) high-performance, solid-state stereo power amplifiers."