Jason, hello! And Casey as well!
It is certainly possible the speaker needs warming but they are ribbon/magnetic planers. With their extremely low mass I doubt that is a significant factor. As for the room temp. I have experienced this in all seasons including blistering summer months. And one other observation: Casey mentioned he performed his evaluation with stock AC power cords. Irrespective of interconnects, this is the single most important upgrade one can perform with the R9SE amps. With the right AC cord I will confidently insert this amp into any good system in comparison to amps costing three to four times its moaderate $5000 price tag. In a system, synergistically assembled, it will consistently walk away the winner in nearly everything that is important for producing a live experience in the home environment. I wouldn?t dream of this with the stock AC cords.
Did it change some time later? Maybe the next day? Actually I had intended to add a follow up. After writing this evaluation, which took nearly an hour, I went back up to the listening room and guess what? The system had improved yet again. It now had the see through, whole cloth quality I most prize in this system and to which I attribute much to the Nu Force R9SE amps. After all, I use them in my $100,000 plus Reference system! There was now palpability to the ensemble. Honestly, it brings tears to my eyes to listen to a performance of this caliper and the stories told in songs like Loreena McKennitt?s with this level of reproduction. The entire system had been playing continuously now for well over 4 hours. As before, when listening to Swan Lake, there was a subtle but very significant change in the rendering of the gestalt that occurred sometime after the four hour mark.
As for my experience with equipment warm up; this is consistent over time, in different room installations, at any time of year and with all components. Some require longer time than others, as I noted before, but virtually nothing I?ve heard in a well designed audio system sounds right immediately after turn on. I stand by my conclusion and invite others to spend the time to discover when their system gels and report back. I must stress, the level of change can be dramatically, more or less, apparent depending on how well the system has been synergistically assembled. The better the synergy of all the components, i.e. electronics?, all the cables, AC supply, etc., the more real the sound field created and the easier to identify changes over time as well as when substituting other components for that matter. And let?s not forget about room interactions. Remember, lower volumes will excite nodes to a lesser extent and therefore give a better picture of the system.
And on a side note: ?Synergy?. When done with a keen ear, a good sense of reality and with the ego placed far away, a system of modest cost can be assembled to reproduce a stunning experience of a live event. Ah but the trick, however, is to listen without prejudice. I often have customer?s bring a significant, or not so significant other, when auditioning equipment. Especially cables. It can be both hard to justify their relative expense as well as the opposite expectation of ?more expensive is necessarily better?. I have rarely found this to be true. An uninterested individual, the ?other? will give a much more accurate report of the differences in components as they are not invested in the process or equipment. This does not guarantee accuracy or compatibility but it offers a relatively unbiased window into the effective changes. Something to think about when making a component decision.
Well that?s it for now!
Good listening,
Paul
P.A.U.L.
www.precisionaudioonline.com
