"The monitors have no crossover to connect directly to your amp without signal degradation. The subs add the lowest octave and allow the speakers to be used in very big rooms. 100m² is no issue for Nenuphar BASiS. It's a very elegant solution to allow the speakers to do their magic in larger spaces whilst maintaining smaller cabinets. Be it the 10" or 12" subs, we use 200-watt class A/B amps and sealed enclosures. There's a regulated 4th-order low-pass adjustable from 50Hz – 150Hz, fluent phase and 0-6dB boost at 30Hz – 50Hz. The subs are available as single units so there's opportunity for all owners of Cube Audio loudspeakers to go for 2.1 or 2.2 systems. The current pair pricing for our 8" driver models is €5'990 for Bliss C, €7'990 for Magus, €11'990 for Nenuphar Mini/Mini Monitor and €22'900 for Nenuphar Mini BASiS. The 10" driver models are €15'990 for Nenuphar and €29'900 for Nenuphar BASiS. By itself, a Sub 10 is €6'490, a Sub 12 €7'900." Each smaller sub of my review set would measure 40x50x25cm and weigh 25kg.
Showing single-woofer applications
By January 1st, I syndicated Dawid's Nenuphar review which added one more deep notch to the company's belt by ending in another award. By January 22nd, "your review pair is ready. Please confirm that we can ship now. We're quite busy moving into a bigger factory where we will have our own CNC machines and a small carpentry area. By the way, I believe come summer you'll have a 15" at your place."
Voxativ subwoofers run a custom Voxativ bass driver to arrive at 96dB/99dB sensitivity for their small single-woofer and big dual-woofer model. High sensitivity to match their widebanders is believed vital for a seamless match. "Commercial drivers were far too slow" explained Holger Adler when I reviewed his Pi 9.87 system. What woofers did Cube use for their Sub10 and Sub12 models? Their web pages called "the woofer in the sub very fast and relatively lightweight. That allows a 200-watt class AB amp to deliver very energetic, superbly controlled bass. As always we did our R&D and came up with very fast, accurate and amazingly deep bass. Since we use sealed cabinets for very low group delay and amazing accuracy, integration with full-range drivers is very easy and effortless."
To which Grzegorz added, "for the subs we use commercial units. We spent time evaluating many woofers and found an extremely good one. When it comes to Nenuphar, we made several changes to its driver over the years but just polishing touches. There is a new change when it comes to the Nenuphar+BASiS units. Marek conducted many experiments and decided to remove the smallest whizzer and use a different cone geometry which works better for the bass-augmented monitor line."
Cube's graph shows how the monitor begins its roll-off between 90-100Hz. It also shows how starting the sub's attenuator at 12:00 seems to be a good starting point.
That was interesting. Rather than bolt on active woofers to drivers first designed to operate without them, Cube went through the trouble to re-tune their mains. This strays from a far easier one-size-fits-all approach. With their widebanders no longer tasked to cover the most challenging low end, they can be more fully optimized for the narrower range they now play. This shows how Grzegorz and Marek don't rest on their laurels. Instead they keep refining and adapting their tech. The earlier note about a new shop with added machinery spoke to the same. They take ever more control over all aspects of their manufacture. After amortization of the initial investment, it should also help control operational costs. It eliminates certain subcontractors and brings more processes in-house. And that shows commitment, ambition and resourcefulness. Such qualities are part of the intangibles like pride of ownership. They should inform hifi buying beyond raw hardware. Consider how our purchases reward and support those we do business with. Isn't it extra gratifying when our support goes to people whom we admire and wish to see grow?
