My NVA Amp Returns
Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:14 am
I bought an NVA A20/P20 starter set six months ago and was gobsmacked at the sound quality and it did sterling service in my system for a couple of months until the itch to go valves again became too much to resist and I built myself a low power single-ended triode amplifier.
Now the thing is, I am in love with the single ended triode sound, love the simplicity of these devices and the sheer musicality of the sounds they produce. I had modded and modded and improved the SET and was going to rehouse the whole shebang in another, better, case and properly incorporate all the mods I had done to it. To facilitate this I reintroduced the NVA A20 into the system so that I could work on the SET and still have nice sounds in the living room, whilst I was doing it.
What I was totally unprepared for was the sheer brilliance of the sound that came out of my speakers. Now to put this all into context, I had built a pair of my own semi-omni speaker designs, that whilst sounding very good indeed, were just a little bit "safe" sounding and though quite neutral, were tending towards blandness. I subsequently improved them, by increasing the tweeter output relative to the main driver, so that the sound became much more "live" and better balanced top to bottom.
I had done all of this, using the SET as the testing amp and the SET had been voiced with reference to the original sound of the NVA A20. What I hadn't done at the time, was test the speakers with the NVA itself. I had just used the SET and was thoroughly enjoying the clarity, dynamics and believability of the presentation especially as it was only putting out 4Wpc.
So, now that the NVA A20 had been reintroduced to the system, what was I to make of things? Well it was quite an eye-opener, to be perfectly honest. Clarity, dynamics, believability, musicality and sheer midrange magic were there in spades and the top end was just gorgeous; clear, detailed and without a trace of hardness or nastiness.
Now all this NVA excellence revealed by the improved speakers has put me in an awkward position. The music is so good, and the A20 is so easy to live with that I am yet again, for the umpteenth time, questioning myself as to whether I want to press on with the valves. I could spend a fortune on exotic output transformers and boutique components, but that would be hard to justify, when the NVA amp sounds so blinking fantastic.
I'm now retired and am sort of putting together a "final" system to take me into my dotage and I am seriously questioning the need to spend vast sums, when for far less money and messing about I could move up the NVA range of electronics and just concentrate on playing with my speaker systems.
Now the thing is, I am in love with the single ended triode sound, love the simplicity of these devices and the sheer musicality of the sounds they produce. I had modded and modded and improved the SET and was going to rehouse the whole shebang in another, better, case and properly incorporate all the mods I had done to it. To facilitate this I reintroduced the NVA A20 into the system so that I could work on the SET and still have nice sounds in the living room, whilst I was doing it.
What I was totally unprepared for was the sheer brilliance of the sound that came out of my speakers. Now to put this all into context, I had built a pair of my own semi-omni speaker designs, that whilst sounding very good indeed, were just a little bit "safe" sounding and though quite neutral, were tending towards blandness. I subsequently improved them, by increasing the tweeter output relative to the main driver, so that the sound became much more "live" and better balanced top to bottom.
I had done all of this, using the SET as the testing amp and the SET had been voiced with reference to the original sound of the NVA A20. What I hadn't done at the time, was test the speakers with the NVA itself. I had just used the SET and was thoroughly enjoying the clarity, dynamics and believability of the presentation especially as it was only putting out 4Wpc.
So, now that the NVA A20 had been reintroduced to the system, what was I to make of things? Well it was quite an eye-opener, to be perfectly honest. Clarity, dynamics, believability, musicality and sheer midrange magic were there in spades and the top end was just gorgeous; clear, detailed and without a trace of hardness or nastiness.
Now all this NVA excellence revealed by the improved speakers has put me in an awkward position. The music is so good, and the A20 is so easy to live with that I am yet again, for the umpteenth time, questioning myself as to whether I want to press on with the valves. I could spend a fortune on exotic output transformers and boutique components, but that would be hard to justify, when the NVA amp sounds so blinking fantastic.
I'm now retired and am sort of putting together a "final" system to take me into my dotage and I am seriously questioning the need to spend vast sums, when for far less money and messing about I could move up the NVA range of electronics and just concentrate on playing with my speaker systems.
