Nuforce

Positive Feedback have given a"positive" review of the improved Ref9,now the 9.02.It seems as if there was something not quite right with the original version, so I guess my ears are still working.

I just want to say that I'm suprised(and appreciative-is that a word?) of Stehno's imputs.

Anyone heard the ia7?

Plato, these amps rock! I am glad I took the advice given to me. The other advice given to me is to get there p-8 pre/amp or wait for the p-9. The p-8 could be more of a bargain than the 9.02's. They are possibly way over built for there price range. I think you will start to see reviews on those p-8's soon.
The 9.02's sound better plugged into my dedicated circuit than they do into the panamax. The panamax slows them down and they sound a little on the dark side. If you like the sound a little dark then there you go. I had a Proceed hpa-3 which is 250w and these little amps kill it in every aspect. The bass that these produce is not typical of a ss 160w amp. The slam is amazing and accurate. If there was a problem with the first run of these amps I would have to say they are fixed. I will be dealing with the vibration control later but for now I dont want to touch em. I am probably going to get the p-8 and run it into my Arcam AV-8 if it is compatible. The p-8 has a HT passthrough so I will investigate that option. By the way my 9.02's have the extended bass version. Maybe the best sound to value ratio out there!

Jp1208, I just ordered a pair of the ref 9s with the extended bass option. Last night I had an opportunity to compare a Dartzeel NHB-108 with a pair of Ref. 9s. It was set up in my system, playing through a pair of Von Schweikert Audio VR-4jrs and I'll tell you, the Nuforce amps were not embarrassed by the Dartzeel by any stretch. The Nuforce amps are the real deal IMO. The Dartzeel definitely had a more refined, analog-like sound, but the Nuforce were pretty darn close. There were 3 of us listening, and I think we all came to the same conclusion. With some tweaking and system-tuning, I would bet you can get 80-90% of the performance of the Dartzeels with the ref 9s. From that listening session, I decided to order a pair. The pair I heard did not have the extended bass option, so it will be interesting to hear the differences between the two versions (extended bass vs standard).