Cube Audio Nenuphar Single Driver Speaker (10 inch) TQWT Enclosure

@stephendunn Steven, thanks for the response / answer.

I’m of two minds on this.

First, from your posts regarding what Max shared with your friend...it seems coupling the entire speaker bottom / surface to the Townshend Platforms is recommended. It makes sense (intellectually to me) for a traditional speaker with a fully enclosed bottom. In other words, the greater the coupling, the better.

When I connected with Grzegorz about Height and Tilt for the Nenuphar, my takeaway was that both Angle and Height differentials from a solid floor would lead to differences in low frequency performance. And that the ’stock’ setup was what Cube found best based on the configurations they tried out. He also said that playing with both to meet the owner’s specific needs / preferences was fine.

Of significant concern to me is that solid wood strips (both front and rear) mean that the Nenuphar would then only port via the gap on the left and right sides of each speaker.

Given that (1) the Nenuphar is already raised beyond what Cube "ideally" chose (due to sitting higher on the Townshend platforms) and (2) porting is over an ’uneven’ double surface... I am concerned about further additional deviations and their likely impact on sound quality.

Can you comment more on your experimentation in the area as well as the results from your friend (assuming he/she also have the Nenuphars)?

I’d also love to hear from others active in the thread regarding your thoughts on the pros and cons of doing this?

Thanks!

David,

You make good points regarding the placement of the Nenuphars on the Townshend Seismic Platforms.

1.  When I first placed the Nenuphars on the Platforms I noticed a distinct improvement in bass response, as well as other other SQ issues that have been well documented in this thread.  The speakers were on their original spikes and rubber feet.  I mention this because I too was worried about the Platform negatively impacting bass response because of the having the double surface you mentioned.

2.  The strips of wood do not interfere with the port of the Nenuphar.  The front 1x2 is underneath the solid portion of the speaker bottom between the spikes and the front plane of the speaker.  The rear strip has less bottom surface to work with but rests underneath the maybe 3/8" between the port and the back plane of the speaker.

3.  I have been careful to maintain the angle of backward slant that the original spikes and rubber feet created.

So even though I have not coupled very much of the speaker's bottom surface area to the platform, it is obviously significantly greater than the surface area touched by the spikes and rubber feet.  

I have to emphasize that this way of coupling the speaker to the Platform created an immediate change in sound--not subtle as they say.  I thought the change improved virtually all aspects of the speakers performance, including bass.  It would be great for some Nenuphar/Townshend Platform owner to corroborate this: obviously a change in sound this strong could be interpreted negatively by other people. 

My friend who passed this info on from Max does not have Nenuphars, so didn't have to deal with the port issue.  He had a special bottom plate built for his Spatial Audio Lumina's by Clayton Shaw, the designer, who was also impressed by the benefits.

Stephen, thanks for the additional details and information.

For clarification, I was referring to the area [open and unrestricted on all sides, in stock configuration/setup] for the "air" / "energy" generated by the driver to exit from the bottom ported transmission line.

In your setup, the energy would only ’exit’ on the left and right sides of the speaker bottom. From what you have heard and shared, you are clearly very happy with the results.

My concerns are around restricting the outflow of air/energy AND limiting it to a left/right dispersion.

I know I will not know, one way or another, unless I try it out.

With my setup:

- the delta in performance upside was far greater with the Eden Sound spikes vs. the stock spikes/rubber bumpers [on my hardwood flooring]

over the,

- the delta from the speakers with the Eden Sound spikes on the Townshend Platforms 

Illustrated another way:

Stock on floor <<<< Eden Sound on floor < Eden Sound + Townshend

This may support Max’s point to couple as much of the speaker contact areas to the platform, OR, it may point to the stock spike/bumper setup being subpar and easily improved upon (in my case with aftermarket spikes, front and rear).

I’m open to trying your method, however, it will have to wait until the meniscus tear in my knee is resolved. : )

I’ve added two photo closeups on my virtual system page, for visual reference.

Hopefully the photos help clarify my prior post (above).

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/6658

I believe the photos (clearly) illustrate the ’open’ area, across the entire speaker bottom.

The spikes are from Eden Sound.

The platform is the Townshend Audio Seismic Isolation Podium.

David

Meniscus tears are no fun.  Lived with one far too long.  Wish I'd gone to the surgeon first thing.  I suppose that's deemed an elective surgery right now?  Good luck.

My bad, I didn't understand your point at first.  Yes, the wood strips do close off the space front and back between Platform and bottom of speaker.  And you're right, that space was no doubt tuned for the size and output of the port.  I'm going to do some A/B listening with and without the wood strips to see if I can get a handle on what it's doing to the bass. (Ok, I have to admit when I first put the wood under the speakers my ears gave a double thumbs up and they haven't moved since.) But I have to say when I was listening to the Symphony Fantastique the other day (at near live level) I was amazed by the depth and reverberation of the kettle drums...so I don't think it's diminishing the bass...

On another note, I ran into the Townshend Super Tweeters I used to use with other speakers in my storage closet.  I think I'll experiment with those.  I remember SE effusing about the addition of omnidirectional super tweeters (forget the name right now) on top of the Nenuphars.

This makes me sound like I'm unappreciative of the Nenuphars as is.  Hardly.  It's more like having a hyper sensitive instrument that responds to everything it interacts with.  Fun stuff.