[ibumetin]

Hi there!

I've been searching about NuForce Icon together with KEF iq3 - but haven't found any answers to my problem.

Yesterday I took delivery of an Icon, and paired it up with my KEF's - and the result is quite a bit from good/excellent.

I find it hard to explain (I'm from Sweden, hence Swedish is my native language) what the sound lacks - but it's pretty "plain" and dull - no details when listening to guitar riffs etc.

What do you guys think? Is it a bad mix up with the Icon and the KEF's?

Thanks in advance!

[hibuckhobby]

If the Icon is new, you may want to break it in for at least 100 hrs before coming to any firm conclusions.  There are those who don't believe in equipment break-in times, but I've heard significant changes take place over time.
Best wishes,
hibuckhobby

[Caar]

I do not have Icon - yet - but have the Nuforce Ref9 SE, versions 1, 2 and 3.
And in every one of them, breaking it was necessary to get the best of the equipment.
In latest upgrade - Ref9 SE V2->V3 - a minimum of 150 hours was necessary.

[ibumetin]

Thanks for your replies and input guys! However, I think the sound is too bad to just depend on the Icon not being broken in. As I said, it's hard for me to explain what it sounds like.

Is it possible that the speakers are to "heavy" for the Icon a.k.a the Icon being to weak? I'm not here to flame NuForce, the Icon or KEF - I just want to find the reason to why it sounds bad. I'm no audiophile either, but it shouldn't sound this way.

Best regards,

[decal]

Is it possible that the speakers are to "heavy" for the Icon a.k.a the Icon being to weak?

What do you mean by this?

[Taterworks]

What's the rest of the setup involved? Are you using the NuForce-included speaker cables? Which source is being used - analog input or internal DAC? Do the KEFs sound better on other amplifiers you've connected them to? What other amplifiers have you used the KEFs with?

There are a bunch more variables involved involved here than just saying "I've got this amp, and these speakers, and...they don't sound good. Why don't they sound good?"

[ibumetin]

What do you mean by this?

I mean that the Icon maybe is to weak to handle the KEF's. Or not? Just trying to figure out a logic solution.

What's the rest of the setup involved? Are you using the NuForce-included speaker cables? Which source is being used - analog input or internal DAC? Do the KEFs sound better on other amplifiers you've connected them to? What other amplifiers have you used the KEFs with?

There are a bunch more variables involved involved here than just saying "I've got this amp, and these speakers, and...they don't sound good. Why don't they sound good?"

Setup: Macbook Pro -> the NuForce-included USB cable -> NuForce Icon -> the NuForce-included speaker cables -> KEF iq3.

I haven't had the opportunity to test the speakers with another amp yet - but I bought them used from a person which I trust, who said that they worked just perfectly. 

Of course I know that there are a lot of variables involved in this, but initially I searched for a quick answer i.e "NO, NuForce icon will NEVER work with KEF iq3 due to ... " or something like that. I guess it's all more complicated than what I first thought...

[SOMagic]

Hi there!

I've been searching about NuForce Icon together with KEF iq3 - but haven't found any answers to my problem.

Yesterday I took delivery of an Icon, and paired it up with my KEF's - and the result is quite a bit from good/excellent.

I find it hard to explain (I'm from Sweden, hence Swedish is my native language) what the sound lacks - but it's pretty "plain" and dull - no details when listening to guitar riffs etc.

What do you guys think? Is it a bad mix up with the Icon and the KEF's?

Thanks in advance!

Do you know what is the nominal impedance and the sensitivity of your KEFs  ?

I do not believe in burn-in, btw. I have the Icon Amp and it has no problems driving speakers with 86 to 90 dB sensitivity and nominal impedance of 8 Ohm. As I can see your amp delivers  cca half the power of Icon Amp.

Looks like, that your KEFs are difficult to be driven by the amp you have ?

[ibumetin]

Do you know what is the nominal impedance and the sensitivity of your KEFs  ?

I do not believe in burn-in, btw. I have the Icon Amp and it has no problems driving speakers with 86 to 90 dB sensitivity and nominal impedance of 8 Ohm. As I can see your amp delivers  cca half the power of Icon Amp.

Looks like, that your KEFs are difficult to be driven by the amp you have ?

I found the following specs on KEFs site:

Sensitivity: (2.83V/1m)   89dB
Input Impedance:   8 Ohms
Amplifier Requirements: 15-120W

The rest of the spec sheet: http://www.kef.com/gb/loudspeakers/Q-Series/IQ30

I'm a bit curious about "amplifier requirements", since the Icon only can deliver 2x12W.

What do you think?

[SOMagic]

I found the following specs on KEFs site:

Sensitivity: (2.83V/1m)   89dB
Input Impedance:   8 Ohms
Amplifier Requirements: 15-120W

The rest of the spec sheet: http://www.kef.com/gb/loudspeakers/Q-Series/IQ30

I'm a bit curious about "amplifier requirements", since the Icon only can deliver 2x12W.

What do you think?

According to this
http://techgage.com/article/nuforce_icon-1_amplifier_and_s-1_speakers/2

(see bottom of page - specs)

your KEFs are having almost the same characteristics (imp., sens.,) as NuForce S-1 Speakers
(8, 87) in theory your amp should drive them well, but in practice much more power is needed when the impedance drops (below 4 Ohms) . The nominal impedance is actually an average value (8 ohms), with each frequency it changes up and down, problem gets when it approaches 2 Ohms and below (typically at low freq. i.e. bass) - which also depends on speaker construction ...

Try your amp with another pair of speakers if you can, but do not turn the volume more than half. (there is a possibility that you have damaged your KEFs /or bought them damaged in first place/ by pushing the volume .. (clipping) ) . This can happen with low-power amps. Not likely that you damaged your amp though...

I tried yesterday a pair of  desktop speakers with 3 Ohms 88dB - Icon Amp could not drive them !?
In best case your speakers are  ok but not an appropriate match with the amp.

regards
SnakeOilMagic

[hungrych]

I know this is an old thread, but I had this same combo for awhile and it sounded pretty good. Did you make sure the jumper cables were in correctly, making contact with the speaker cables? I had a kind of annoying time getting them to stay in the right place, and when they didn't there'd be no bass.

[rustydoglim]

Even if the Icon doesn't have enough power to drive (we tried using Icon to drive S-9 and it sounded very good up to certain volume, obviously) the Kef, it won't just sounded bad. Sometime is wrong.
Perhaps try to check on the speaker with another amp.