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AUDIO FORUMS >> Member's Systems Picture Gallery >> SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
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Message started by thethanimal on 08/09/20 at 22:31:52

Title: SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
Post by thethanimal on 08/09/20 at 22:31:52

I just received my SE84UFO with 25th Anniversary mods last Wednesday, and what a huge improvement over using my Integra receiver (Class D) to drive my 10” Audio Nirvana speakers. The speakers are in the 2.8 Mk II cabinet design supplied with the drivers from www.commonsenseaudio.com; these are full-range drivers with a claimed 99 dB/W/m efficiency, and considering the volume I get with the amp turned only halfway up I believe that rating. The Integra driving my KEF Q100 speakers sounded good, but stepping up to the Decware/Audio Nirvana setup took the experience from listening to good recordings to listening to musicians in my room. Actually the same quantum leap I experienced when I moved up from Logitech computer speakers to the Integra/KEF combo.

Rest of the system:
AudioQuest PowerQuest 2 power filtration
Decware DHC-1 sending power to the amp
Bluesound Node 2i streaming DAC
SVS SB-12 NSD 12” subwoofer using Node sub out
AudioQuest Evergreen interconnect and Black Lab subwoofer cable
AudioQuest Slip 16/2 16 ga in-wall speaker cable

https://ibb.co/pd4Bwnr
https://ibb.co/NTWMYLZ
https://ibb.co/VQxb0Ph
https://ibb.co/nLyX3Ly

Title: Re: SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
Post by Geno on 08/10/20 at 02:51:07

Thanimal, not long after I got my SE84 a few years back, I took a long, hard look at these speakers. I had read good things about them. At the last minute, I went another direction. They are very nice, and I know you are enjoying them!

Title: Re: SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
Post by piezoman on 08/11/20 at 13:57:52

Looks really nice, I'll bet the sound is lovely and pristine!

Title: Re: SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
Post by beowulf on 08/12/20 at 07:57:42

Really beautiful setup and speaker cabinets in particular.

Title: Re: SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
Post by thethanimal on 08/12/20 at 13:44:05

Thank you. Those cabinets were my first build, but I got a lot of help from my father-in-law who has a really nice shop set up. My wife says they look better than any of the options I showed her when I was speaker shopping, before I decided to go all in for the build. (I never showed her the Devore Orangutan speakers since they were far too expensive, but those definitely influenced my build.)

My next upgrade might be to a REL sub in white for aesthetics and performance. It’d work better with the system too, using the high level inputs off the amp instead of line out from the Node.

Title: Re: SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
Post by Tommy Freefall on 08/12/20 at 23:55:46

Looks great - nice and clean!

Title: Re: SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
Post by Erdmanb on 09/10/21 at 08:41:24

Built an open back cabinet with 12 inch AN super drivers. Added a helper 12 bass driver with a simple low pass filter. I’m a big fan of Audio Nirvana drivers after listening and owning almost every speaker type out there over my 40+ year audio journey. You get the sound of a dipole like Maggie’s and Martin Logan’s but you also get the coherency of a single driver setup. Also very high efficiency. Dynamics of a horn without the horny coloration.

Title: Re: SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
Post by thethanimal on 09/10/21 at 17:08:07

Is love to see pictures of that build. I feel like I’m getting some colorations or distortion in the midrange, on female vocals and piano, and I wonder if it’s from my cabinet construction or damping (or speaker cables).

Title: Re: SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
Post by Tony on 09/10/21 at 22:46:21

What a beautiful set up and room. If the sound matches (and I'm sure it does) the good looks of your room, it must be a perfect setting for listening to music. Nice work.

Title: Re: SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
Post by Eldergod on 09/16/21 at 14:00:16

In for build pics as well. Been looking at these drivers for a while. Did you go with a rear port I assume?

Title: Re: SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
Post by __Jon__ on 11/03/21 at 17:31:21

Looks very nice.

Regarding using high level inputs for a sub, I recently learned that one needs to double check that the amp has a true ground. I know some of Steve’s amps will work (such as the ZMA) but others won’t. I’m not sure about your particular amp, but thought I would give you a heads up.

Best,

Jon

Title: Re: SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
Post by thethanimal on 11/03/21 at 18:01:14

With the Zen amp’s floating ground Steve suggested on these forums so where to bridge the negative speaker terminals with a jumper. That’s what I did and my REL T/5x (upgraded from the SVS in the picture) works wonderfully.

I did find an interesting tube rolling result. When the stock rectifier tube died I got a 1955 RCA 5U4G following the American NOS advice from Steve, and a ~1960s JAN 5U4WG 5931 following the advice of another forum member. I found the RCA to be just a bit better, but since it’s older I decided to leave the JAN tube in most of the time and run the RCA for special listening sessions. Then I got the REL, and the other day I got around to moving it to the left sidewall to investigate alternate positions for a second subwoofer. I had never felt the REL really had the “oomph” I wanted and was questioning my purchase, and the move to the sidewall only entrenched that view. Then a couple weeks ago I swapped in the RCA for some reason and I swear the bass came alive — from the subwoofer! Nothing else had changed. I haven’t had a chance to swap the JAN back in for further comparisons, but I guess that means my JAN tube is drifting out of spec and not providing the proper steady voltage to the power supply.

Title: Re: SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
Post by thethanimal on 02/05/22 at 03:04:16

My original soldering job on cheap terminal cups wasn’t very good, and after worrying I wasn’t getting the best sound I drilled a hole through the plastic cups and ran the AudioQuest Slip 16/2 wire straight to the drivers. I read a lot about Steve’s ZSTYX cables but couldn’t jump on the price, and thoughts of DIY were stalled by doubting my wire stripper could handle the military grade sheath and my soldering abilities.

After reading other thoughts on speaker cable for low powered amps and high sensitivity speakers, I ordered some Belden 9497 (tinned copper, 16 gauge). I replaced the terminal cups with a plate and binding posts that seem to be the same ones on my SE84UFO and put some more patience into soldering the Belden to the posts; the other end is bare wire into screw terminals on the driver. Then I connected the speakers to the amps with bare wire connections.

What an upgrade. Previous grain or harshness with female vocals (on the wonderful “Bloom” by Areni Agbabian) are gone. Soundstage definition and low level resolution increased. Tonal weight and bass heft increased. Wish I had done this long ago!

Title: Re: SE84UFO with Audio Nirvana 10” Speakers
Post by thethanimal on 02/05/22 at 03:11:31

The completed rear of the speakers.