 |
| Letters -- June 2006 NuForce vs. Bel Canto June 19, 2006 To Mike Silverton, I really enjoyed your review of the NuForce Reference 9 SE. As one who writes for a living (although in a bureaucratic context), I have no hesitation in saying that your writing is superb, in conveying both information and interest. I’m a tiny (sub-micro) out-of-home audio dealer in Juneau, Alaska -- Audio Persuasion. While I have signed up with NuForce as a dealer, I’ve not acquired, heard, or seen any of their products, though I expect to hear them in San Francisco next month. I simply want to point out a crying need to compare the Bel Canto e.One Reference 1000 amps to the NuForce amps. Anyone with an interest must be concerned with both products, and the difficulty of trying to audition both under comparable circumstances is huge, in Alaska or anywhere else. It sure would be great if Ultra Audio could accomplish this comparison. I expect you’re more than a little curious yourself. Dave Sturdevant I'm trying to line up the Bel Canto amps you mention for review. Should only be a matter of time. When you do get your hands on the NuForce Reference 9 SE, let me know whether your impressions of its merits are as positive as mine. Cheers….Mike Silverton Another digital-amp convert June 13, 2006 To Mike Silverton, I just read your review of the NuForce Reference 9 SE amplifiers. I just want to tell you what a coincidence this is. Earlier this week I acquired a pair of Acoustic Reality eAR1001 amplifiers. These are ICEpower, not NuForce design. I decided against the NuForce because of the rumored radio interference issues. Anyway, initially, I got the eAR1001 to drive my surround-sound system, but, I thought, heck, I may as well try them on my Revel Salons, which too have been driven by Mark Levinson No.33H amps for the past four years. My jaw dropped. The No.33H amps are now off and disconnected. I am selling them. I cannot believe the similar experiences we share. I am half the world from you (Hong Kong). The eAR1001 amps are even cheaper then the NuForce; you may want to give them a try as well. These class-D amps are really redefining the whole price/performance ratio. Wai-Shan However distant geographically, your experience matches mine. The FM-interference issue is the only negative I can attach to the NuForce Reference 9 SE. In all other respects it strikes me as astonishing -- even now, and that's one hell of an admission from an audiophile. Our enthusiasms normally endure for a couple of months. Cheers….Mike Silverton A challenge June 5, 2006 To Mike Silverton, Your review of the NuForce Reference 9 SE amps was great. The way you kept comparing to the Levinson No.33H amps and the analogy about the Patek watch versus the quartz crystal watch were really effective at pounding home the point about older technologies versus newer. Now an idea for you: I work in the field of biomechanics. The field uses physics to judge the "rightness" and "wrongness" of stuff. The thinking goes like this: If the physics are screwed up, why bother? Here’s an idea of mine you might want to think about. I’m an audiophile and music lover, but am not involved with the industry, so I don’t stand to gain anything by e-mailing you this. I own a pair of Spendor SP-1 speakers circa 1984, a Levinson No.27 amp circa 1988 or so, and a modified Sony CD player, a few years old, I forget. Not exactly cutting-edge stuff, but it sounds good. I think audio reviewers need to do a better job reckoning with physics -- that is, room acoustics. I’m not an acoustics guy, but it really looks like there is an acoustical solution to "stereo" that is more sensible than anything out there. The implementation might or might not be "perfect" yet, but the approach has physics on its side. That’s a powerful ally to have! Robert E. Greene of TAS has been talking about digital room correction for some time. I’m speaking of Tact/Lyngdorf products, though I notice other companies are jumping on board. The big idea goes something like this: Keep the signal in the digital realm from source to speaker, or as close to speaker as possible. The signal gets turned "analog" at the speaker terminals or, in some kind of systems like Meridian, at the cones. Along the signal path, the digital room correction compensates for bumps and dips in the speaker’s frequency response. Any speaker’s response varies from room to room, depending on the location of the walls/ceiling/floor. Those Wilsons of yours are probably positioned carefully in the room so they’re "voiced" properly. (I have some friends who own Wilsons and those things are kick-ass good.) What the Wilson people (and others) do by positioning the speakers carefully is to compensate for acoustic nodes in the room. The digital room correction tries to hammer the problem from a different direction. If you don’t already know the room correction schtick, I’d bet it would be fun to figure it out. Clearly you have a good set of ears attached. Maybe it would be worth your while to go to Robert E. Greene’s website and the Tact and/or Lyngdorf sites. Then, see if you would be interested in reviewing the gear. I’d think the manufacturers would be most appreciative of the chance. You might decide to try some brand other than Tact/Lyngdorf, because I don’t get around the audiophile circuit much and you might have some good names to chase down that I haven’t heard of. I’ve been in some recording studios that use digital room correction and have heard the units in and out of the circuit. What a difference! Basically, it's like the speaker was swapped for some other brand. I had to laugh at how you pounded through different recordings of the same musical piece. When is the last time I’ve read a review where the reviewer did that? Kelly M. Glad you enjoyed the review. I had fun writing it and remain as enthusiastic for the NuForce Reference 9 SE mono amps as I've been for any component in my system. While I appreciate your suggestion about a room-correction piece, I don't normally initiate review items. That's my editor's role. I'm certainly up for anything that further sweetens life in the sweet spot, although, to be candid, my preference is for bare-bones simplicity. The thought of running more than one set of interconnects, for example, is enough to becloud my mood. Perhaps before I die or go stone deaf, I'll experience the pleasures of a dedicated, acoustically perfected listening space. For now, it's our parlor (aka living room), the acoustics of which are not at all bad. To continue in candor, I rather favor audio in a purely domestic setting. Don't ask me why. I'd have to start thinking about it, and at my age, that's an effort. Cheers….Mike Silverton
Ultra Audio is part of the SoundStage! Network. |
