Amplifier tweak advice

moray james · « **on:** 1 Feb 2006, 11:18 pm »

Jason: there is an old amplifier tweak which often works well that I have been considering trying out on my Ref 8's. I thought it best to get your advice prior to trying this as I have little experience with the NuForce products. The mod involves connecting the two mono block's negative speaker terminals together with a length of wire. I thought it best to check first to see if such an arrangement would cause any grief with the NuForce amps. Thanks for your assistance in this matter. Best regards Moray James.

nuforce-casey · « **Reply #1 on:** 2 Feb 2006, 12:57 am »

Quote from: moray james

Jason: there is an old amplifier tweak which often works well that I have been considering trying out on my Ref 8's. I thought it best to get your advice prior to trying this as I have little experience with the NuForce products. The mod involves connecting the two mono block's negative speaker terminals together with a length of wire. I thought it best to check first to see if such an arrangement would cause any grief with the NuForce amps. Thanks for your assistance in this matter. Best regards Moray James.

This would not work with nuforce amplifier.

moray james · « **Reply #2 on:** 2 Feb 2006, 06:22 am »

Casey: would connecting the two NuForce mono block negative speaker outputs to each other cause a problem? Thanks Moray James.

nuforce-casey · « **Reply #3 on:** 2 Feb 2006, 08:41 am »

Quote from: moray james

Casey: would connecting the two NuForce mono block negative speaker outputs to each other cause a problem? Thanks Moray James.

The -ve terminals on Nuforce is not = ground, therefore, they should never be connected together.

moray james · « **Reply #4 on:** 2 Feb 2006, 09:13 pm »

chaser · « **Reply #5 on:** 4 Feb 2006, 01:11 pm »

1- Is stacking the Ref 9's one on top of another safe, or is it not recommended? I would prefer to stack the amps, and perhaps put the Nuforce P-8 preamp on top. Any hazards in doing so?.

2- Also any recommendations on a CD player, or DAC in the $1,000-$1,500 range, which has the same characteristics as the Ref 9's would be appreciated. I am looking for a very dynamic, rich, (but not lush sounding) player, or DAC. I am using the Sony NS999ES universal as a standalone player for Red Book playback exclusively. Thanks.
Chaser.

jimmyp58 · « **Reply #6 on:** 4 Feb 2006, 02:47 pm »

Great question Chaser. In my setup, I have two columns of NuForce amps separated by ~ 1 inch --- Ref. 9 on bottom and 2 Ref. 8's on top. They're left on 24x7 and I have had no problem with it. They are in a Salamander rack; the 2 Ref. 9's are used to bi-amp my Usher BE-20's (I have two other Ref. 9's on the other side of the cabinet for the other BE-20).

Note that this cabinet is very well ventilated. I recently had a customer that tried to stack his 2 new Ref. 9's that he bought from me in a very confined cabinet with little to no ventilation. Problems galore (amps overheated causing the speakers to malfunction). Jason & Casey were great in trying to figure out what was going on and sent him two replacement Ref. 9's (version 9.02) as well as a Ref. 9 (version 9.01+). Still had problems. Being that he is a Mechanical Engineer with a doctorate in thermodynamics he went back to the basics --- change the surface area. He now has them on their side, again changing the surface area, and has them about 1 to 2 inches apart. The heat has stabilized and voila, he's in audio Nirvana.

Jim

chaser · « **Reply #7 on:** 4 Feb 2006, 02:59 pm »

Hi Jimmy,
Thanks for the info. I guess, I should have no problems stacking the Nuforce components, as long as I have plenty of ventilation - as thankfully will be my situation.
Any recommendations on a CD player, or DAC for a good match with the Nuforce products???
Chaser.

jimmyp58 · « **Reply #8 on:** 4 Feb 2006, 03:05 pm »

I have used a JoLida JD100 (of which I am a dealer of) with phenomenal results. I also use (and recommend to all my customers) they consider using the Apature Accusound Silver BL-4 interconnects with the NuForce amps (I also use them as interconnects on the JoLida).

I recently switched my CD player to a Marantz SA-11S1 (dealer of this too) with incredible results. I had the pleasure (as well as my team) of spending 4 glorious days with Jason, Casey, and Tranh in the NuForce rooms at CES. In the primary 2-channel room they employed the above Marantz player and it was outstanding. Having it now in my system has not been a disappointment!!!!!!!