2. amps-preamps
  3. 1183737476

Not Another NuForce thread......

Ok, first I am not shill or related to, or affiliated with NuForce in any way...I just thought that we should have a thread to discuss the V2...

I just placed the Reference 9 SE "V2" in my system after living with the NuForce 9 SE for the past year and auditioning the Reference 9 V2 for the past 2 months...

I am putting out there for comment and debate that the Reference 9 SE V2 is one of the top 5 best amplifiers out there and currently available. (I personally think that it one of the top 3, but I am leaving room for argument)

Sitting in my room last night I was reminded of one of those transforming audio experiences. My first ones was couple of hours with the Sinus Faber Amati Homage pushed with a full compliment of the top of the line ML gear all with in a perfectly treated room....My experience with the Reference 9 SE V2 was like that...

Please comment if you are able on the V2 in general, what was your experience?? Are your thought of the Reference 9 SE V2 the same??
jb8312
ggil
46 posts
 
>>Personally I think the combination of tubes in the front end or preamplifier driving the Nuforce is the winning combination. The amplifiers really do work wonderfully well with tubes.<<

David, I agree 100% with your findings. I am a member of our local audio club and we listened to my Nuforce Ref. 9s (before upgrading them to V2) with superb electronics and speakers (Resolution Audio CD-player/pre-amp with Great Northern Sound mods) along with Gamut L-3s (BTW... these are amazing speakers!) and I wasn't impressed with the sound. Others in attendance were, but I wasn't. Just wasn't my taste.

However, in my system with my digital front-end - an APL Denon 3910 which has a tube output stage and a built-in attenuator, it's a completely different story. I am running my front-end directly into my Nuforce amps and the combination sounds magical... much different than the RA/Gamut combination.

So system synergy is very important with these amps (in particular) in my experience.
viclondon
19 posts
 
GCIL,
I have a resolution Audio Opus 21 and I briefly tried to drive my NF ref9SE v2 into my Gallos ref 3 II directely through the output of the Opus 21: I only kept it for 15 minutes and then inserted a Minimax tube preamp. The difference was absolutely night and day.
I have had the Opus for a couple of years and tried it with a lot of associated gear. It is my favourite CDP but in my experience (and many others') the line stage is absolutelly terrible: I always found that there is a real big increase in quality using the DIN output (which bypasses the volume control) compared to the DIN and the XLR.
So if you have heard the Nuforce directely driven by the Opus 21, I am not surprised that you didn't like them
stltrains
845 posts
 
i used a marsh p2000t with some tube rolling and isolation, preferred it over a nuforce p-8 preamp. i realize marsh is not in the top tier of tubed preamps. though it has received some good reviews. in the end it could not contend with my p-9.
i had been studying the use of tubed preamps with nuforce amps and it seems a lot of people like that combo.
thats why we can choose what appeals to our liking from so much great gear available. its a buyers market.
ggil
46 posts
 
Viclondon,
Interesting. Thanks for the info... I'll pass this along to the owner of the Opus 21 player.

I agree, the player itself is an excellent sounding CDP.
artmaltman
769 posts
 
My experience is with the integrated. I owned the original 50 watt v1, then upgraded to 100 watt v2, then upgraded to v2. I think the v2 is cleaner, clearer sounding, and more extended on top; possibly more extended on bottom not sure. Overall it is very noticable and I cannot hear any sonic downside to the upgrade.

Oddly the unit seems to get hotter on top than it used to. I read some place that with v2 on the integrated, the heat is redirected to the top of the unit instead of the bottom, for easier dissapation. I ran the unit 48 hours at substantial volume to break in some Thiel 1.6's and it got pretty warm. Not too hot to touch, but noticable. I do agree that venting the heat on top is better. I am surprised that a class D or class T or whatever would get so warm (It's not class A, right?). Anyway, I don't know if the monoblocks will have the same characteristic or not.

Art
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