NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

All reviews of NVA here.
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Dr Bunsen Honeydew
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Re: NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

Unread post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

Email - Cubettes

Lance B

Hello Richard.I just thought I would send you a few lines to tell you how impressed I am with the Cubettes you delivered to my house just before Christmas.
I have had several pairs of speakers over the past 3 decades,and have most recently had a pair of large,multi driver KEF speakers at well over three times the cost,and have to say that Cubettes destroy them in every aspect.

I expected to have to make allowances due to their tiny size,but am astonished how much more detail I am hearing,along with a huge,natural soundstage,totally divorced from the cabinets,as well as completely tight,and texturally true and surprisingly deep bass.

Most importantly,they have a life to them that focuses the attention on the music,and not the hifi technicalities.

Suffice to say that I am a convert to the semi omni crossoverless principle,and should I ever upgrade, I would not even bother with your overpriced rivals products,but instead get a bigger pair of cubes.

Thanks again.

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Unread post by scotty38 »

Cubettes

"If you like them why didn't you just buy the bigger ones in the first place?" said my wife..... They'd only been on the stands 10 minutes :lol:

That's my review by the way :clap:

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Unread post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

Email from Tom A

Hi Richard,
The BMU just arrived, I've already unboxed it and set it up and everything is running great! The info from the DAC on the input voltage suggests that we shouldn't have any more problems. Thanks so much for your work in sorting this. The BMU has really transformed things.

I've undertaken various tweaks and upgrades of my core system over the past several years, and nothing has had such an obviously improving effect as the installation of the BMU. The most easily discernible effects were that the soundstage is now markedly wider - the sound now seems to be coming from well beyond the boundaries of the speakers - and that the bass has deepened and become more prominent, balancing out what was a disproportionately prominent midrange (which I'd previously assumed was just the character of my speakers). This is very obvious when listening to jazz LPs - the double bass, with it's place and contribution in the ensemble, is now much easier to discern, making performances that I'm already very familiar with sound fresh and exciting. Finally, the sound now seems to occupy more of the space in between me and the speakers, filling out more of the room, rather than just being at the speakers. I wouldn't be surprised if there we more subtle changes that I've not picked up on yet, but these were the most obvious ones. Needless to say, I'm delighted with the purchase and there's no question I am keeping the BMU.

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Unread post by scotty38 »

scotty38 wrote: Sat Jan 12, 2019 5:59 pm Cubettes

"If you like them why didn't you just buy the bigger ones in the first place?" said my wife..... They'd only been on the stands 10 minutes :lol:

That's my review by the way :clap:
I appreciate this wasn't really a review but in my defence it's not something I'm comfortable with, I've never been very good at describing what I hear but I would like to offer up a little more.

Love them or loathe them, my speakers, before the Cubettes arrived, were PMC TB2s and I wanted to try the Cubettes for no more real reason than I just did, I had no issues, that I was aware of, with the PMCs. At first, after the initial new toy phase had disappeared, I found myself at odds with the new speakers but couldn't really put my finger on it. I messed about with positioning but couldn't get that happy feeling and of course the speakers were at fault as nothing else had changed. I almost gave up but eventually turned to my turntable and had a play with VTF and anti-skate and here I am now listening to them and I'm happy. I'm assuming something wasn't quite right there all along but I hadn't noticed. I'm not going to say these speakers revealed the issue, rather than a change of kit brought it to my attention but I may be doing the speakers, and myself, a disservice there... What I will say is that I'm very happy with my music now and I love listening to them. When you consider that the equivalent PMCs today would cost me in the region of £2800 and these were £225 then that speaks for itself.

I don't think it will be 2 years before I'm taking advantage of the "free" upgrade but I've no real desire to change right now, these are brilliant.

Thanks for the opportunity Richard!

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Re: NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

Unread post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

P50sa initial impressions

Ed345 » Fri Jan 25, 2019 2:40 pm

Got a new P50sa through the post last week and thought I'd give my initial thoughts. (I've bought a lot of NVA stuff recently, and try to report back on it all at some point when I've got used to it)

I really like the case size. I knew it would be the same size as my Phono 3 and the power supply box, but when it replaced the full size AP70 that was doing pre-amp duty it was a big change. The source select and volume control switches have a good weight to them without feeling like you're going to move the whole case around.

The stepped attenuator is a big step up from the regular volume control on my AP70. Even without running in, it was immediately more open and revealing. I look forward to it improving as it burns in.

Going from 6 inputs down to 4 isn't a problem for me, but the choice of labels was slightly annoying! The 2 input labels that are missing are VIDEO and DISC. I have 3 inputs connected, and was using DISC for my record player, VIDEO for the tv, and CD for my digital. Not a big deal, but I would have thought that DISC would be more likely to be useful to people than TUNER?

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Unread post by baitrunner »

Cubettes.

New Nva user here. Late last year i purchased some 2nd hand Nva pre and power amps out of curiosity and subsequently bought some Ls1 speaker cable
and a interconnect from Richard. To say i was pleased with what i was hearing was an understatement. It was better in every respect than the Naim chrome bumper gear i had been using and is now my main listening system, the Naim has now been relegated to bedroom duties. Now for the Cubettes, twiddled my thumbs about trying these for ages due to already having to many pairs of speakers and the wife not liking the look of the Cubettes . Anyway due to the offer price i bit the bullet and ordered some from Richard. They arrived promptly and very well packaged to, Fired them up and initial reaction was these will be going straight back as i was hearing a harshness to the sound, even though they seemed to integrate with the room from the off without any care to positioning . 2 days into listening and the harshness was gone, i was then treated to what i can only describe as a wonderfully open clear and detailed sound with absolutely no bass issues at all, which my room usually suffers with. These are remarkable little speakers i cannot recommend them highly enough . I have finally found a speaker that works seamlessly with my room and i have been through some . Anyone thinking of trying these go for it , these are a no brainer at the price.
Thank you Richard.

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Unread post by Lordie82360now »

Cubettes:

Arrived last Wednesday, surprisingly in two separate packages, well packed and protected.
On initial inspection they are larger than I anticipated having mocked up a cardboard version to compare sizes against the previous incumbents. The mass loading makes them relatively heavy and so solid!
Fixed to my stands the next morning and switch on - a little disappointing as there was a harshness to the treble although the bass midrange was great. Took a while to get used to the extended soundstage as it was so different from anything I had experience before - just that the sound is all enveloping along the wall they were backed up onto - about 15 cms away.
Decided to keep them playing at a very low level over the next two days and nights just in case they needed running in and hoping the harshness would naturally go away.

Bingo the sound is now so smooth and effortless and I am pleased as punch - how was I taken in to paying more than double the Cubette price for my previous speakers?
My two very young grandsons immediately noticed that grandad had new speakers and are both convinced that they are some sort of combined heater/ speaker putting their hands close as if to warm them while dancing away to their hearts content. It’s now a family joke which I have gone along with, but so what, the Cubettes sound great and that’s what counts!

My system is predominantly NVA and the Cubettes are the latest addition - long may it last!
Digital Source: Bluesound Node with PD Creative psu upgrade, Allo Digione/rpi4b/ifi iPower PSU/Volumio, Crucial and Samsung USB SSD, iPad 10th Gen 64mg, iPhone 8.
Amplifier: Arcam AS20.
Interconnects: NVA SSP mk ii Digital and Audioquest Carbon Optical.
Speakers: Quad S2 with NVA LS1.
Headphones: Bayer DT770 Pro LE.

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Unread post by Berty bass »

Cubettes

Having spent a good few weeks before Christmas home demo-ing various speakers having become a bit dissatisfied with my previous Kudos X-2's, then eventually settling on Rega RX5's, I really wasn't looking for any other speakers. However, as many of you have already found, the Doc's promotion was so tempting that curiosity and the significant reduction got the better of me and I pulled the trigger.

In truth I wasn't really expecting the smallest NVA's to compete with a pair of medium-sized floorstanders which I'd taken some time to find gave me the increase in scale and presentation over my X2's that I'd been looking for. So I'd connected them up to my main system and gave them a go with a couple of my favourite tracks. At this point I should mention that I am a bass player, so my ear is, I guess, naturally 'tuned' to look for a certain depth and weight in presentation. Now the Cubettes certainly couldn't be said to have that same depth and weight as the Regas, but they punched well above their weight all the same. I'd tried ATC SCM19's during my home demoing, pre-Rega purchase, and I really didn't feel the Cubettes gave anything away to them in that respect. The ATC's retail at over £2k FFS - what's going on?!

There was something I found really appealing about the Cubettes despite me missing a little bit of bass. They're character - or lack of it - was really engaging. I was genuinely surprised that they sounded so good with vocals. Their reproduction of instruments is natural and true also - one of my 'test tracks' is Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On', and I specifically focus on the reproduction of Jamerson's virtuoso bass playing. Some systems make it sound like a bass line but, in truth, it's completely organic and he introduces subtle, nuanced variations from verse to verse and chorus to chorus - I can hear all these variations clearly. The Cubettes are hugely impressive in this context.

I decided to to try them on my PC set up, in my 'music room' (for which read spare bedroom!), having had an old pair of Rega R1's doing the duties there for a few years. It's a simple set-up - lead off the audio out from the PC into a Cambridge amp and on to speakers, mostly streaming Spotify. Good Lord, what a change! Suddenly I was listening to music rather than just sounds. As my listening position here is quite near field (sat at a desk trying to figure out bass lines for my covers band) it's also very revealing and I couldn't believe the soundstage I was being presented with - wide and dept, just the way I like it. Instruments and voices were now being presented within a 3D environment - fabulous!

I really like these speakers. Of course physics play a part and they can't compete with well executed, medium-sized floorstanders, but they get indecently close to some! Even at the non-reduced price I feel they are a real bargain. Suffice to say they are not going back and, once 'played in', I'll try them again in my main system.

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Unread post by Takeanidea »

The Cubettes are really good for their size. They have clarity, particularly in vocals. They need more power than my JMLabs Focal Chorus 725 Floorstanders. They need a few days and some slight movement away from the wall before they start to work with the room. The angle you toe them into affects the stereo image. They were better sounding on my equipment cabinet as they were on stands, because they are so compact they were not at ear level on the stands I have.
The room I use is a rectangular shaped room with a low ceiling and a wooden floor. It has double glazing and 2 patio doors. There is no downstairs door so it is not quite a box room. 10 stairs lead up to the ground floor where there is a door. There is no acoustic treatment here.
The NVA Cubettes had the wow factor at moderate listening levels and were a match for my JM Labs. The only information I have found on their retail price was an article put on a forum some years ago. That person said he'd been offered them for either £1000 or $1000 as a half price deal. The speakers I have are possibly 15 years old. I bought them in November last year through Facebook Marketplace for £225.
Ultimately the JM Labs Floorstanders are better to my ears than the Cubettes. The Cubettes are probably too small to be able to provide the room filling sound with the control that the Floorstanders have. I have a detached house and have the luxury of listening at levels that many would only be able to experience through headphones. At these levels the Cubettes were being pushed extremely hard.
If I needed a set of speakers for a smaller room then I would be keeping the Cubettes I'm sure.

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Unread post by Stemcor1990 »

TIS

Been using a 1m pair of TIS for a few months now. I wanted to try the top interconnect and have now come to some conclusions about its performance.

The cable is providing the signal to a P90SA and second statement amp. Sources are PL71/Denon 103/NVA phono 2 with a single BBPSU for records and a Mac mini with a Teddy Pardo dac for digital.

When I listen to music, I want to hear musical instruments sounding like musical instruments and ensembles/bands playing like ensembles/bands. It sounds like a simple requirement but I have lost count of the number of systems I have heard which fail the test.

The TIS is certainly an improvement over SSC on both of my criteria. What did surprise me was the leap with the digital replay. I have no idea why this is so and not really interested in knowing why. I can’t find the words to describe what the cable does other than to say that I have been changing between SSC and TIS on both analogue and digital and it’s quite clear that there is an improvement with the TIS. It’s not more bass or higher highs but a fundamental sense that the music is more “correct”.

I wouldn’t mind comparing some so called high end cables with eye watering price tags against the TIS.

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