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.
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon/lol.gif)
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.
Somebody’s telling me the latest scandals.
Somebody’s stepping on my plastic sandals. Joe Jackson (1979)