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 »

Re: Speakers for P20+A20?
postby boxswapper » Thu Apr 06, 2017 8:52 am

Hi, long time lurker here. I'm recently enjoying a p20 a20 combination.

I've used ls3/5a but find it ok with this combination but worked better with an old ap30 I once had. I know the Doc doesn't recommend complex crossover speakers with his kit.

So my current fascination is with Rega RS3 speakers. I love them with this combination! Simple crossover this just works a treat.
I have RS1 too, but prefer what the amp does with RS3 as it goes lower.

My main wow is just how immediate the music is. Orchestral with heavy percussion is a joy. Dynamics are superb. They really boot the hell out of the RS3 when needed.
My own taste means I use a valve phono stage that gives an airy feel, a Pro-Ject tubebox, but the rest of my kit is simple too, a standard Rega planar.

I have owned other NVA amps previously but my main failing before was using them with non NVA preamps so moved them on too quickly. What can I say but using an all NVA system as the Doc recommends has proven to be the biggest upgrade and is a no brainer. Indeed for me it squashed the sound not using Doc preamps. To anyone who thinks don't bother with the entry level one, think again. I look forward to switching on the little black box every morning and it has rejuvenated my interest in hifi again (wont leave on 24/7... :dance: )

Also I have a JPW mini monitor which I like to use on rock music with a Lenco L75. All I can say is these little boxes ROCK! and make a fantastic combination with the A20 p20 for loose change!

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

Unread post by TheMadMick »

LS6 & BMU

I had been happily using TQ green speaker cable for a few years but lusted after TQ ultra black - but could never find it at a price I was prepared to pay. I came across a review that said something like "NVA LS6 is about 95% of TQ ultra black" - so at a quarter of the price and a 30 day trial I thought I couldn't go wrong.

First, the "hair shirt" bit. It arrived just after Christmas 2016 in a small box with no paperwork I could find. I was then a little surprised (although if I read round I shouldn't have been) that I had 4 bi-wire cables. They are a bit on the stiff side and having found out they are, among other things, copper single strands, I was reluctant to keep bending them to get them straight - the wayward wires have a low wife acceptance factor - beware!!! I then strained my ancient eyes to determine which was the tweeter wire and which the woofer. Being an occasional guitarist used to feeling the thickness of guitar strings it proved easier to feel which was which. Surely a short piece of coloured shrink wrap would make this a LOT easier. Then I found that the tweeter connection would pull itself out of the binding post. Spades would have made a much more secure connection and would minmise the effective length loss by the cables sticking out of the speaker and amplifier biding posts. Good thing the Doc makes these about 10% longer than nominal although, if I'd known that, I could have ordered a 3m set instead of a 3.5m set. So is the cable worth the "hair shirt" approach?

Let me put it simply. If TQ Ultra back is better than LS 6 it must be one hell of a cable. However, I did need a LOT of patience to get it to run in on my system (see signature). It took over 5 weeks, the first week almost continuous running on my tuner and the Good Lord did not bless me with patience. Now it is run in, I don't think I will need a further upgrade. I'm delighted. You can read all the good things about LS6 in this thread and they are all true!

If you have the patience, buy with confidence.

The BMU arrived about 10 days ago and, unusually, Doc gave the opinion that it would need about a week to run in. Uncannily accurate. It seems to have just come on song and I might aspire to greater improvement with time? It is neat and heavy with a long lead. I prefer the black sockets provided to the gold ones shown on the e-bay illustration - but let's face it, who is going to see the sockets? I parked mine behind the rack (no comments please) where it sits and buzzes gently at about 100Hz (I assume). I simply love what it does and I trust it will also solve my "bad mains" afternoons (none so far). You can read the effects in the other reviews in this thread and they are all true.

Another recommended product.
Blusound Vault 2, P50SA, A80's, BMU, TIS, LS7, MA PL200, Meridian 506 (18 bit).

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Unread post by TheMadMick »

TIS

The Doc said he wanted less complimentary reviews as well as good ones. So here goes.

I'm a sucker for a bargain so when the Doc offered TIS at 20% off, I couldn't resist. Like the LS6 it seemed to take ages to run in but I think I got somewhere close.

I have to say the level of detail and leading edge definition are beyond anything I've come across (and I've had quite a few interconnects in my search for "perfection"). As a result, there is a stereo image you can mentally walk round. It is also very well finished and I find it rather attractive in an industrial sort of way. But who sees your cables behind your system?

However, there were a few things that I just couldn't get used to:

a) an upper mid-range had a hardness - I've come across before with Nordost. I find it wearing and eventually tiring. That is why I moved on my Nordost loom.

b) the bass was full but not as extended as I am used to. I could have lived with this and it may well be that the bass would have mended itself with time as it is often the last thing to come good but I am not blessed with patience.

The other thing that got to me was that music sounded like a group of musicians each playing separately but I couldn't imagine them as a group. Maybe that's my expectation but I simply couldn't get my head round it.

To his credit, Doc honoured his promise to refund within 30 days and I'm very pleased to have had the chance to listen to this interconnect. Please be aware that cables can be system specific so beware if you are running a Musical Fidelity system. NVA should be just fine.
Blusound Vault 2, P50SA, A80's, BMU, TIS, LS7, MA PL200, Meridian 506 (18 bit).

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

Unread post by savvypaul »

CUBE 1 - Review Follow Up

I have now owned Cube 1s for 6 months. I posted a review last November. I had been using Harbeth P3ESRs for about 2 years prior to getting the Cubes. Since getting the Cubes I have also purchased NVA P50SA Pre & A60 MK2 Power and LS6 Speaker Cables and SSP MK2 Interconnects to replace my Sugden A21aS2 and Townshend cables.

I came to the Harbeths as I was looking for a sealed box design (I hate the sound of chuffing ports) and I bought into the BBC heritage back-story and traditional look (I don't like bling). I always enjoyed the Hrabeths, indeed I thought they might be my 'last' speaker. I only came to the Cubes because I was so impressed with the NVA Balance Mains Unit - both impact on sound and value for money.

In the past, following a change, I have sometimes had doubts...'were those last ones really good, after all?'...'are these new ones really better or just different'? I decided to hold onto the Harbeths for a while rather than sell them straight away. I put the Harbeths back into my system on Friday and have listened to them 3-4 hours per day on each of the last 4 days.

I am disappointed...upon realising, beyond doubt now, my previous ignorance and self-delusion. The Cubes really are vastly superior. The clarity, ease, freedom, lyrical dexterity, unhindered emotion of playing through the Cubes is why I love music in the first place. Listening to Natalie Dessay singing Schubert Lieder, rejoicing in every subtle yearning and the romantic warmth of her interpretations, listening to Fasil Say romp through Moxart's piano sonatas and knowing the joy and intensity behind every key strike, listening to James Hand and seeing every day of decades playing Honky Tonk bars. Here there is more...music.

Some other things I have learnt about the Cubes:

Positioning - start close to the wall, about 6 feet apart. Move closer / further from wall to achieve correct balance. They snap into place - you will absolutely know - the differrence between right and wrong is not subtle. It's like they 'engage'.

Tonal balance - the Cubes are neutral. No artificial boosts or shaping. Plenty of bass but no boom or wallow. No fatigue. They are not tone controls.

Transparency - I have significantly upgraded my digital source in the past 3 months. The Cubes are very revealing of changes.

Stands - I still consistently prefer light and rigid to 'heavy metal' mass.

Getting back to the music. Do not die before hearing Cubes, please. These are game changers. It may take you time to unlearn what you previously knew...but do it.
I am in the hi-fi trade
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Company Name: NVA Hi-Fi
https://nvahifi.co.uk/

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

Unread post by SteveTheShadow »

Just a few words on the NVA Cube 2 I have on loan from Richard.

First of all, in the flesh, they are a lovely looking pair of speakers, in their sophisticated black gloss acrylic livery and blend surprisingly well into a typical living room situation.

The 10x10x10 inch, cubic enclosures sport two drivers. On the top face, protected by a tough, black metal grille, there is a six-inch, bass/mid main driver, which has been treated with a doping agent. This treatment is designed deliberately to kill the top end of the drive unit, thereby providing a mechanical roll-off, which removes the need for the usual electrical solution of an inductor to roll off the driver in preparation for the crossover to the tweeter. The main driver is, in effect, connected directly to the amplifier's output terminals with nothing in the path of the signal. The front face of the Cube 2 sports a 19mm, capacitor fed, fabric dome tweeter, again protected by a tough metal grille. This HF driver projects the upper mids and high frequencies to the front.

What we have then, with the Cube 2, is a cubic box, with a pair of drivers at 90 degrees to each other, the bass-mid firing upwards at the ceiling and using intentionally, the rear wall as an off-axis reflecting surface, whilst the tweeter fires forwards conventionally into the room. Only the tweeter has any kind of componentry in the path of the signal; the cap that keeps out the LF, neither is there any kind of wool type damping material within the cabinet itself.
The NVA Cube 2 then, is not what one would call 'yer average loudspeaker.

Having in the past, used "full range" drivers in some of my own speaker designs, I fell in love with the directness and immediacy of the sound quality produced as a result of the absence of a crossover. What I did not fall in love with however, was the relentless, shouty quality, with which some of these full-rangers assaulted the ears. The compromises inherent in some of these drivers (the ones that could be afforded by mere mortals at any rate) were, in the end, unnaceptable, for this listener, despite the obvious musicality they were capable of producing.

So... I had high hopes here with the crossoverless, doped main driver of the Cube 2, praying that it would produce the same musicality that is the defining characteristic of crossoverless full-rangers, whilst handing over the upper mids and top end to a driver, much more capable of realising the upper end of the spectrum without screeching all over the place.

Richard provided clear instructions on how to set up these semi-omni speakers for maximum effect in the room and these were followed carefully.
Amplification was courtesy of my 25W pentode monoblock valve amplifiers. Sources included a Mac Mini, file based digital system feeding a Musical Fidelity M1 DAC. Analogue souce was a BTE designs Lenco L75 idler turntable with vintage Mayware Formula IV mkIII vari-mass, unipivot tonearm with Audio Technica AT440MLB moving magnet cartridge, feeding NVA Phono 1 phono stage.

Sound Quality

The adjectives that immediately spring to mind, when listening to these speakers are fast, clean, clear and musical.
Spinning up the 1987, "Still Life (Talking)" LP from the Pat Metheny Group, I was rewarded with a beautifully rendered filigree detailed sound. At the end of side one, "Last Train Home" was superbly atmospheric, with the rapid brushed snare train rhythm locked into place and propelling the track forwards, a huge sound stage populated with tiny little percussive instruments and a solid deep bassline. The massed voices towards the end of the track stretched across the front and the sound expanded upwards and outwards as the track came to its conclusion. This was a good first impression
Next up on vinyl was "The Look of Love" from the original pressing of the soundtrack to the 1960s spoof Bond Film "Casino Royale" starring David Niven and Peter Sellers. Here the Cube 2 gave a wonderfully intimate portrayal of the song. Dusty's voice, placed dead front centre was full of character and tonality whilst the trumpet of Herb Alpert came across full of body with an absence of screech that was refreshing compared to what some quite expensive speakers do to him; lovely.

Turning to digital and the Claptone remix of "Liquid Spirit" by Gregory Porter was cued up.
This track is just so much fun on the right system, with its pounding metronomic bass beat and all sorts of background effects that add to the relentless drive of this dance track. Get this bassline wrong and the track just degenerates into an amorphous blob of gunge. The Cube 2s grabbed the bassline by the scruff of the neck and went for it big style. I didn't think my valve amps were as good as that in the bass. :lol: Feet tapped and monkey bone was engaged. Good stuff.

Calming things down, I went for a bit of girl/guitar music courtesy of Eva Cassidy live, singing "People Get Ready" This is a beautifully recorded live session and the Cubes did not disappoint, generating the venue in the living room. The drum kit was well portrayed, with tapped cymbal work ringing out with harmonics all present and correct, Eva's voice stayed controlled without a hint of hardness or glare and the applause was well delineated into a series of individual people clapping.

In hi-fi terms the Cube 2 is wide range with a clear clean sound that rarely strays into brightness.
There is a hint of clinical dryness from the tweeter at times, but this did not become irritating, it was just something to note rather than being a problem.

The soundstage is wide, deep and high and when set up properly, the Cube 2 will fill a room with an enveloping high quality sound, due to its semi-omnidirectional method of operation. Imaging is very good with good location left to right and front to back but the sources within that image are not pin points but decently sized instruments, that seem more natural to me than those that some direct radiating speakers produce. That is a matter of personal taste of course and if you like a wonderfully musical, emotional presentation, then these speakers are a no-brainer. Like everything else, the Cube 2s need to be listened to in your own space for you to make up your own mind.

Unusual the Cube 2s may be but they are seriously good speakers.....seriously.
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Re: NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

Unread post by CN211276 »

A80s/P50sa/SSPmk2

With the BMU and LS6 in place and transforming the sound of my system, NVA amplification was the next step. As before, I was confident that my Chord DAC and Dynaudio speakers would reproduce the benefits in the same way. The sources have been Tidal streams and ripped CDs. After some extended listening, with different types of music at different volume levels, I am thrilled as the sound has improved in every respect. The differences are not subtle.

Initially, with domestic considerations in mind, I played the Beatles Blue and Red albums and the two Queen Greatest Hits albums, music I am very familiar with, at low volume. What was immediately apparent was increased detail combined with additional space and separation between everything. The sound stage is markedly both wider and deeper, drawing me into the music. There is also a sense of effortless ease and authority. Both upper and lower bass have gained clarity, the latter being handled by a subwoofer connected directly to the P50sa. Cymbals are also clearer and sharper.

The sound improved after some running in and at higher volumes the increased dynamic range could be fully appreciated. Familiar tracks which start slowly and build up have gained a new lease of life. Bowie’s “Rock n’ roll suicide” is a prime example, from the single acoustic guitar accompaniment at the start to the frenzy at the end. This effect was similar on his more mellow “Hunky Dory” album. When electric guitars came in, and acoustic guitars are strummed harder, things livened up, the effect was very pronounced. The clarity and separation on backing vocals have also taken on a new dimension. This was very evident on “Dark side of the moon”. I had not been aware that so much was going on.

Heavier material also sounds a lot better. On Led Zeppelin’s “Physical Graffiti”, the simple riffs many of the tracks are based upon remain solid and stable as other guitars and keyboards enter the mix. In addition the power, as well as subtlety, of John Bonham’s drumming came across as never before. The Rush album “A Farewell to Kings” was also a revelation and increased my appreciation of Geddy Lee’s bass playing. His screaming vocal at the end of “Cygnus x1” (some of the lyrics in my signature) was handled with ease. The NVA kit revealed subtleties in Iron Maiden’s “seventh son of a seventh son” album which I was not previously aware of, beneath the layers of power chords. This was most notable in respect of the choral backing on the title track.

My only regret is that I was not aware of NVA sooner. I applaud the no thrills VFM approach, cutting out dealers, middlemen, LED displays, remote controls, brochures and hype. High end equipment does not have to be a rip off. The Phono 1 is on the way so I can still play vinyl.
Main System
NVA BMU, P90SA/A80s (latest spec), Cube 1s, TIS, TISC(LS7)
Sonore OpticalRendu, Chord Mscaler & Qutest, Sbooster PSs
Network Acoustics Eno, ifi iPurifier3, AQ JB FMJ, Cisco 2940 & 2960
DH Labs ethernet, BNC & USB cables, Farnells cat 8 ethernet cable

Second System
NVA P20/ A20, Cubettes, LS3, SSP, SC
Sonore MicroRendu, Chord Mojo 2 MCRU PSs, AQ Carbon USB cable & JB FMJ

Headphones
Grado SR325e/Chord Mojo, Beyerdynamic Avetho/AQ DF Colbat

RIP Doc

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

Unread post by SteveTheShadow »

A20/P20

Picked up this amplifier set today in person from the Doc.
I've had it about six hours and I have to say that this is a wonderful little amplifier. The same size as the Phono 1, it comes in a diminutive package, but don't be fooled by the small size, because the sound that comes out of this delightful little device is anything but small.

Used with my home designed, 94dB sensitive, semi-omnidirectional speakers, the combination sings.
The presentation is effortless, with absolutely no sign of any grain in the treble or hardness in the midrange. Bass instruments come over with the detail, speed and texture all present and correct and pitch relationships are bang on the money, with no hint of any vagueness. Timing is superb with no foot dragging and instrumental harmonics come over very well, with brass blaring and cymbals shimmering. Reverb tails die away naturally, into the bacground with no sudden cutoff, because the noise floor is so low. Instruments are nicely separated out, so that parts can be followed at will and thus, recordings tend to hang together as musical performances rather than being forensically dissected.

I have been a valve amp user for over ten years now and this little black box is the closest thing to the sweetness of vaccuum state electronics I have heard to date from a transistor amplifier. A lovely little thing and an absolute bargain at the price. 8-)

EDIT - and from Audio Talk Forum

So today I installed a little 25 Watt NVA power amp - the A20, plus a diminutive P20 passive control unit.
Image
Along with the Phono1 it makes a nice little system.
Why post this in my speaker thread you may ask. Well I have decided that since I want to develop my omni speakers further, I really do need a solid state amp to evaluate them with.
Now I did not expect this to happen, but the synergy between the diminutive NVA amplifier and my Flatback Banned speakers is simply joyful
Wonderful little amplifier - just wonderful. Reminds me very much of the sound Dave's "Son of Beast" OTL through my big Mets, when he brought it round a few months ago. I could have wept when he took it away. Now I have 99% of that sound.

Oh and the speakers are even better than I thought they were. They sing on the end of this combination.
I look forward to developing a few more of my omni speaker ideas with this little amp in tow; a new avenue to explore. :)

Cute huh? :D

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Unread post by SteveTheShadow »

More on the A20/P20:

OK, now this is going to raise a few eyebrows among a few people, but I've been listening to the A20/P20 combination for three days now and I can't fault it.
It just amplifies and plays music, like no other amp I have had, except maybe for a pair of very low power 4W single-ended 2A3 valve monoblocks I built a few years ago.
No matter what the recording, the A20 just gets out of the way and gets on with it.

The Doc's claim that his equipment is designed with music first, second, third, and...well you get the idea, in mind, bears out perfectly. It digs out the maximum music from anything it is asked to reproduce. Personally I love it...so much so, that it has, I'm afraid, elbowed out my pair of pentode push-pull valve monoblocks, to become the beating heart of my audio system. After twelve years of valves, this little black box of classic British minimalist amplification has sidelined them.
If you have high efficiency speakers like I do, the A20 will cruise it's merry way, all day on just a whiff of throttle, delighting the listener at every turn, with it's beguiling portrayal of recorded music.
Less efficient speakers might require one of the more powerful models in Richard's stable, but as his range goes all the way up to 80WPC, with the A# series and beyond with his T# series, there should be an amp in there for any eventuality.

A steal at the price.
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Somebody’s stepping on my plastic sandals. Joe Jackson (1979)

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

Unread post by CN211276 »

Phono 1

Although vinyl is very much a secondary source it is something I can’t be without as I bought a lot of albums between the mid 70s and mid 80s and a number of favourites are not included in the Tidal catalogue, usually because of problems with record labels. The purchase of the A80s and P50sa left me no option but to buy a phono stage. It had to be NVA after my experience with their other products. When a returned Phono 1 came up for auction, I just had to pounce. The Doc confirmed that it would be matched to my high output Denon MC cartridge.

I was always very sceptical about what I read about dedecated phono stages and never remotely considered buying one to connect to a previous amplifier which had one. Could they really make that much difference? I could not have been more wrong and would now go as far as to say a quality phono stage is as important to analogue as a quality DAC is to digital. The improvement goes beyond night and day, but must be seen in the context of the A80s/P50sa/SSPmk2 I recently bought, and not having a previous separate phono stage to compare the Phono 1 with. However, I’m sure the Phono 1 is playing no small part in the improvement I am getting from vinyl, which is no longer put in the shade by a high quality digital recording. I used to think vinyl compared poorly with digital at the frequency extremes, but this is no longer the case. It seems that the dedicated phono inputs in my previous amplifiers were cutting out this information and also restricting dynamics. My Rega Planar 3 with S shaped arm bought new in 1983, with a new belt and a couple of drops of oil, has been more than rejuvenated. So much of what the tt is capable of was not coming out of the speakers before.

David Coverdale’s “Northwinds” album is a personal favourite and was recorded at a time when he had a great voice. It contains a mixture of ballads, blues, gospel and heavy metal and is a very good test. The album has never sounded like this. Piano, electric piano, electric guitars, backing vocals, drums, crashing cymbals and bass notes were reproduced with a clarity that was not there before. Bob Seger’s “Stranger in Town” album was also a revelation in terms of clarity and separation, both on ballads such as “We’ve got tonight” and the up-tempo songs like “Old times rock n’ roll”. I share the lyrical sentiment of the latter; those old records will be coming off the shelf! The quality of the late lamented Greg Lake’s bass playing really shone on King Crimson’s “In the court of the crimson king” album. On “21st century schizoid man”, it was in no way masked by Robert Fripps dominant screeching guitar.

The NVA sound is often described as musical and I can see why. It is like less is getting in the way of the signal. This comes through a lot on old recordings (“In the court of the crimson king” and Beatles albums as examples) when they did not have the technology to mess things up in the recording studio, as can happen now. Going back to digital, I have found that since my recent review of the amps and interconnector the sound has improved further, with even more space between everything. I have not been home that much and I think the A80s took a bit more running in that I thought. With 80 watts and 87db efficiency speakers there is more than enough power, even for me. Peaks of 90db, well above the average reading, are easily achieved with the volume control at around half way. I have read many times that even at modest volumes you can never have too much power and, the way my speakers are lapping it up, this certainly seems to be correct.

I am not the only one aware of the dramatic improvement the NVA equipment has brought about. My other half was always content to play her music through her laptop speaker and had no interest in the hi-fi. Although she has not commented about the new equipment, since the amps arrived it has been all change and she streams her favourite songs through Tidal. When her friends were round for a party it was put on straight away and they danced the night away. Some of what she plays used to give me a headache, but through the NVA kit it has become bearable!
Main System
NVA BMU, P90SA/A80s (latest spec), Cube 1s, TIS, TISC(LS7)
Sonore OpticalRendu, Chord Mscaler & Qutest, Sbooster PSs
Network Acoustics Eno, ifi iPurifier3, AQ JB FMJ, Cisco 2940 & 2960
DH Labs ethernet, BNC & USB cables, Farnells cat 8 ethernet cable

Second System
NVA P20/ A20, Cubettes, LS3, SSP, SC
Sonore MicroRendu, Chord Mojo 2 MCRU PSs, AQ Carbon USB cable & JB FMJ

Headphones
Grado SR325e/Chord Mojo, Beyerdynamic Avetho/AQ DF Colbat

RIP Doc

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

Unread post by Alfi »

Based on Steve's comments on his A20 I took the plunge and purchased one myself. I wish to carry out some tidying up inside my well used and highly respected Avondale monoblocks so I felt this would be a good way to hear an NVA power amp whilst I work on my Avondale's.

Well to cut a long story short I have been thoroughly amazed at this stonking little 80VA 25 W per channel amp. I have spent 8 years with my Avondale's and they are brilliant at what they do very fast with good bass and dynamic, but they are no way as clear and sweet as the little NVA. It does virtually everything I would want but just falls a little shorten in bass wight and speed, but perhaps a the A40's will make up on that.

Alfi.
I am in the hi-fi trade.
Status: Manufacturer.
Company Name: Analogue innovation.

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