Did anyone here listen to any of the expensive Cube Audio FR drivers? Any impressions?
The F10 Select could be an interesting “final project” driver. The Neo would be really too much for me.
They look really awesome as well:
https://www.cubeaudio.eu/drivers
The F10 Select could be an interesting “final project” driver. The Neo would be really too much for me.
They look really awesome as well:
https://www.cubeaudio.eu/drivers
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Happy New Year from the Philippines. I would like to add a comment to “switch to distribution” I think it would be fair to mention what this shift imply. Under the pandemic and topped by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine we are affected by extemely highe prices on raw material and shipping. Secondly I would also like to add Cube has been in distribution from almost the very start. And for those buyer without a local importer/distributor Cube Audio, like everybody else, sold direct and the price in the end were not different from their current distributors. Third please mention a high quality drier that is a bargain - hehe.
The one time I heared the Neuphar Mini with the 8" F8 Neo driver, i was not really impressed. It sound quiet decent, but not worth the very high price for me. Build quality of it is very good, sound is ok, but many cheaper drivers do better for me.
It's indeed very Lowther like like Nelson says, with the same kind of issues, but way less than lowther drivers have. If you like Lowther drivers, you will probally also like these, and prefer them above the Lowthers. But only if it would be less than 1/10th of the price, it would be worth looking at for me, not 5K for a single driver (so 10K for a pair).
The others i did not hear, but i hear they are all very similar, so i suppose the same counts for them.
It's indeed very Lowther like like Nelson says, with the same kind of issues, but way less than lowther drivers have. If you like Lowther drivers, you will probally also like these, and prefer them above the Lowthers. But only if it would be less than 1/10th of the price, it would be worth looking at for me, not 5K for a single driver (so 10K for a pair).
The others i did not hear, but i hear they are all very similar, so i suppose the same counts for them.
Cubes were that expensive long before the war in Ukraine, and prices are still at the same very high level. So I don't think that comes into play here, even if Cube Audio is based in Poland, next to Ukraine.
Okay - I have no idea about which year the switch happend but I do know from experience that the mentioned factors has a huge impact in our trade. But I can then conclude that it dont make sense to mention “switch to distribution” - that is nonsense. I had Cube Audio in Denmark when they start to build up their distribution network and before they released their neo versions. They were not cheap and stating they were a bargain is questionable. And we think they were to expensive vs the sq. We then took Lii Audio on the menu but after a couple of incidents - counterfeit issues, quality control and a couple of other things we dropped them. Ended up making a deal with EMS and that is a completely different ball game. Talking about “a bargain” I would say that their field coils gives bang for the bug.
Wow Factor,
Interesting that you mentioned EMS. I was looking at their LB7 15ohms driver in a bookshelf enclosure matched with a 6 watt tube amp. There aren't that many DIY builds with these driver so this makes it harder to pick these driver over others, say Mark Audio, that are popular with DIYers. Not being able to hear them prior to purchase or lack of reviews make the EMS a harder sell. They are not overly expensive but more than MA and I'm not willing to dish out that kind of money, on EMS or Cube, just to experiment.
What is your experience with EMS? What boxes have you heard them in? What drivers have you heard? EMS vs Cube
Interesting that you mentioned EMS. I was looking at their LB7 15ohms driver in a bookshelf enclosure matched with a 6 watt tube amp. There aren't that many DIY builds with these driver so this makes it harder to pick these driver over others, say Mark Audio, that are popular with DIYers. Not being able to hear them prior to purchase or lack of reviews make the EMS a harder sell. They are not overly expensive but more than MA and I'm not willing to dish out that kind of money, on EMS or Cube, just to experiment.
What is your experience with EMS? What boxes have you heard them in? What drivers have you heard? EMS vs Cube
Despite that I am a dane and have a good knowledge about the european audio scene I first encountered EMS via some senior audiophiles in France. They use the LB8. Japanese audiophiles and especially, to my knowledge the seniors, are extreme but also conservative. So I was quite surprised that they drivers from EMS. I have always trusted these guys so I had no problems jumping in a set of LB8EX. Well I jumped in to a expensive set of Cube when they were not known yet. So why not EMS? Out of the box EMS sound very convincing. No shout and you don’t sit down and start to listen to how different instruments sounds like. It is not the firt thing that pops up. It is all about a tonal character that feels right. There is a couple of commercial companies who use the 5” - take a look at Closer Acoustics. A lot of full range driver manufactures has lesser marketing and EMS is no exeption. My experience with the diy market is more like agivens brand popularity is like the flvour of the season more than it is about quality, long term use, support with spareparts and price vs quality. I think that the different old brands has a loyal clientel and their sales is based on recommendations more than reviews and outgoing marketing. They have managed to create a business size and a turnover that makes them happy. If you ask them if they want to sell more they will probably say yes but they no already where the limit is before the extra turnover cost a lot more money to make it feasable…….What boxes? Well I have passes that level and I am quite happy with what i can sqeeze out of open baffle setups 
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Those EMS look quiet decent actually. and not very extreme priced. They seems largely being designed for backloaded horns with a low qts altough, so not really my cup of tea. But for that section, i've seen much worse, also with big known brand...
I never heared one altough, and i'm living in near France and know a lot of diy'ers down here and read the french fora also... I'm not sure these sell in big numbers down here. But it could be a good option. I'll have to check them once.
I never heared one altough, and i'm living in near France and know a lot of diy'ers down here and read the french fora also... I'm not sure these sell in big numbers down here. But it could be a good option. I'll have to check them once.
I think no matter where you check FR drivers and no matter the motor used you will not see people with lifted arms in joy telling that this or that brand is the new grey. Yeah you are right about the QTS but if you consider adding a LF driver in a OB system then you should releif the FR and cut it gently. I started with a clean l-paded FR but added a gentle LF roll off and got so much more SQ out of the driver. If you need a bit more freebies in the LF from a higher QTS then consider Supravox. They make dfferent 8” drivers and the price is app the same as EMS.
Those are not that good. They are too much in the Lii (both sides) or audio nirvana their alley. But EMS is way better looking on paper i have to say. They can be a good alternative for Fostex or some Tang Band's, even the 8". They are less ragged on top in the specs and from what i read about them that is confirmed in reality but are for the rest very similar i think. I'll keep them in mind when i have a project like that comming up. But for myself, i'll stay with my prefered Mark Audio drivers.
EMS are WAY above Lii speakers, I also own silver 8 and silver10 and unfortunatelly these sounds like crap to me whatever I tried, finally silver 8 are performing best in Joan enclosure after some heavy polystuff tuning, I tested all the proposed Lii designs and they are all bad IMO, anyway way behind Scott's design and EMS speakers...way behind...
I will test the Lii in open baffle whith subs for the low's like many poeple seems to like them performing, but I am not a super fan of open baflle, none has shown me yet a good ballance..
Yves
I will test the Lii in open baffle whith subs for the low's like many poeple seems to like them performing, but I am not a super fan of open baflle, none has shown me yet a good ballance..
Yves