I had four amps to tinker with: a Bakoon AMP-13R, Kinki Studio EX-M1, FirstWatt F7 and Trilogy 925. The Bakoon and Kinki were off the table due to their output impedance being too low. Nelson Pass' F7 wasn't ideal but feasible, the best companion for today my 135wpc Trilogy integrated. Zero feedback? Check. High output impedance? Check mate, 0.5Ω in fact to mean a usefully low damping factor of 16. The British integrated quickly proved tailor-made close enough to leave specialist valve cravings at the door. Shortly after the very first audition of Nenuphar on my 925, I neither felt the need to pursue any other route nor had I the slightest notion of missing anything crucial. Extra confirmation by way of my FirstWatt F7 fed by Thöress DFP line stage checked that off.

Once amplifier compliance was sorted, it was time to address positioning where these boxes weren't fussy at all. Best performance came with them angled just slightly and about one meter from the front and side walls. This caught me off guard. With such products lots of small adjustments are usually mandatory. Here Nenuphar's needs were far simpler. After a short listen I thought that a more generous toe-in would dial up accuracy and focus but it didn't. Elevated HF and images locked tightly between both speakers led to a clear performance plunge. Then both cabinets moved closer to the front wall which amplified their bass response to overkill. In effect, the very first placement turned out to be best.

Prior to hosting Nenuphar, I already viewed this speaker as an unusual albeit very capable specimen from hearing it on different valve amps at various shows. This evidence told the story of a performer of enormous potency yet something still better occurred once it actually gave the first sign of life in my own room. Cube's top model behaved as complete, open and admirably linear as expected. But it also quickly morphed from yet another routine assignment into something far more satisfying. Nenuphar invoked the sensation of a major celebration which I felt very lucky and privileged to partake of on a daily basis. It was nothing short of a proper aural occasion.

It's one thing to hear impressive bass reach, another to actually feel it pound your chest. Nenuphar did this in spades. Just a brief listen to Hecq's "Steeltongued" was all it took to properly introduce me to its crazy LF behaviour. It reached very low, was fabulously elastic and when hits connected, no apology was included. Even the most complex bass lines turned to child's play yet always came off in high style. No other widebander specimen I'm familiar with ever even came close, nor did the vast majority of conventional speakers I've auditioned in this room. Nenuphar always acted according to what was on the music menu yet never once sounded bloated, sluggish, fuzzy or the tiniest bit boomy. Its bass never acted stiff, abnormally tense, desaturated or incomplete. Very quickly I realized that this speaker could take lots of power with dignity and no distortion to be as clean, moist and insightful as it was at lower SPL. It seemed to just scale to infinity then deliver more and more torque with no drawbacks.