2. amps-preamps
  3. 1163978060

nuforce 9.02se/belles ref./ moscode 401hr?

nuforce 9.02se/belles ref/moscode 401hr/McIntosh 402 or 602/parasound jc-1's (concerned about the heat) as amp for my piega c-8ltd ribbon hybrid speakers. Other recommendations welcome. My budget is up to 5k used or new but prefer used and less than my upper range. My goal is to extract as much performance from the piega's as possible at this price point (top to bottom). My musical tastes are ecletic but I listen to acoustic (bluegrass and folk) nearly half the time. My room is medium sized and dedicated. Current amp is an aloia 15.01 and it sounds very, very good but I feel like there is much room for improvement. Amp has a low level hum that I can hear during quiet passages. Preamp is lector zoe with premium genelex tubes. Source is aloia cdp as transport partnered with the scott-nixon tube dac. I have used odyssey extreme monoblocs and liked them also but not as much as the aloia. In what way? I don't have the audio vocabulary to say but it just sounds better to me. All suggestions are appreciated and don't hold back. Thanks in advance.
twc
Post removed 
plato
1,543 posts
 
If you go for the NuForce 9SE, it's a very dynamic, clear, and detailed amp the way it comes... But if you want it to sound sweeter and more musical I suggest removing the top cover and snipping out the single yellow capacitor across the speaker terminals. To me, the capacitor makes the amp sound colder, brighter, and more clinical. I think it sounds quite good with the stock cap in place but it sounds so much more musically gratifying with the capacitor removed.

That said, the capacitor also blocks some RFI, so if you're using a FM tuner in close proximity to the amps, you might want to leave the capacitor in place (though the output wiring runs through a coil to reduce RFI to a large extent).
twc OP
42 posts
 
I would suggest explaining in your own words what you like better about
the Aloia 15.01. Forget audiophile speak. Do your best. Your answer will
provide important clues to which of the very different amplifiers you
might like from your list.

I love the way that this amp gets out of the way and lets the speakers utterly and completely disappear. With the right recording there is no sense of speakers in the room at all. Not just a great center image but from an area outside the speakers to everywhere in between. I also like great inner detail. I really like to hear immediacy that can make voice inflections become prominent and easy to hear, especially the way Allison Krauss makes use of her voice that you wouldn't normally hear in a std system.

What I don't like is sibalance, meaning excessive sss and ttt. If there is one thing I think the aloia could improve on it would be that music can sometimes sound a little bland. Almost a buttery sheen over the music. Very smooth but just a touch dull. I also don't like grain which can sometimes appear especially on voices.

Anybody familiar with Reference Audio Mods mod to the nuforce 9.02? Better than the 9.02SE? I am skeptical.

Thanks. Tim
twc OP
42 posts
 
Regarding the previous post, I think I should have said I love to hear the immediacy and prominent dynamic contrasts to voice inflections among other inner detail shadings. Tim
Post removed 
More to discover