Enclosure: Vented (front) and tuned to 37 Hz Super strong glued Pan Fiber construction 1 1/2" thick front baffle Mass loaded Internal and external resonance damping Floor standing with dynamic coupling feet Low diffraction High durability three step textured black finish standard on VSM-MM Premium high-gloss color finishes standard on VSM-MX Brass tuning rods on front and top of cabinet Hand-crafted speaker grills included Woofer: 6.5 inch paper carbon-fiber cone Cast aluminum basket Low diffraction rubber surround Large motor, rear vented Specifically manufactured for Merlin Music Systems by ScanSpeak Tweeter: 1 inch soft dome Dynaudio Esotar D330/A Crossover: Highly optimized 12 dB per octave Crossover point at 2200 Hz Both drivers wired in electrical phase Fixed output (no level controls) Impedance corrected Electronic circuit damping Proprietary ultra-low loss inductors by Hovland Hovland Aluminum foil and polypropylene capacitors Caddock Micronox® Film resistors Wired with Cardas wire Bi-wireable via Cardas "low stress" binding posts Removable outboard RC Networks EMI/RFI filtering networks Point-to-point hand wired Easily removable for upgrades/repairs Bass Augmentation Module (BAM): 5.2dB of boost at 35 Hz Subsonic bass roll-off below 27Hz Outboard power supply Optional rechargeable battery power supply Single ended (RCA) or fully balanced (XLR) models available Cardas Cross internal wiring Caddock Micronox® Film resistors Hovland Aluminum foil and polypropylene capacitors Input impedance: 40k ohms Output impedance: 100 ohms THD: < 0.005% Maximum output voltage: 9.5Vrms Power requirements: 50/60Hz 110VAC to 117VAC.

Frequency Response: 33-22 kHz +/- 2dB, 1 meter on axis

4dB down at 30Hz with BAM in circuit

36-20kHz +/- 1.75 dB, 1 meter on axis

36-20kHz +/- 1.5 dB at 10° off axis (optimum listening axis)

Acoustic phase shift: Less than 10°

Impedance: 8 ohms nominal 6.5 ohms minimum 15.6 ohms at crossover point

Sensitivity: 89 dB, 1W/1M (2.83V)

Excellent tube amplifier compatibility

Power Handling: 200 watts (program)

Maximum output 111 dB (program)

Power requirements suggested: 17 watts minimum (tube) 25 watts minimum (solid state) 200 watts maximum

Dimensions and Weight: Speakers: 8-5/8 inches wide by 10-1/2 inches deep by 42-7/8 inches high 84.5 lbs. each

BAM: 6-3/4 inches wide by 8-3/4 inches deep by 2-1/4 inches high

195 lbs. in packaging (one pair in carton with BAM)

Warranty: 10 years parts and labor Options:

Fully balanced (XLR input/output) Battery BAM. Includes a self contained, rechargeable battery power supply. Single ended/Balanced BAM unit with self contained rechargeable power supply available.

CD Player CDP-8 The CDP-8 CD Player once again demonstrates NuForce's redefinition of audio-playback standards and value. We conceived the CDP-8 for Red-Book CD playback exclusively in order to avoid the pitfalls and compromises to which so-called universal players are prone. In recent years, advances in technology have resulted in clearly audible refinements in CD playback. However, preferring to keep abreast of newer formats, most manufacturers have declined to put their best efforts into CD playback, preferring to assume - against all evidence -- that the compact disc is obsolete. We at NuForce emphatically disagree. Public and private music libraries consist in the main of compact discs. It doesn't take much insight to recognize that people with expensive CD collections are unlikely to replace them with other formats any time soon, even assuming that the vast array of CD titles will ever reappear in these other formats. Common sense tells us that collectors will much prefer to avail themselves of the advances in CD playback the NuForce CDP-8 exemplifies. What is it, then, that makes the CDP-8 better? For a start, our player employs a state-of-the-art optical drive system and powerful DSP-based decoder that fully implements Red Book error-correction capabilities. This feature alone offers a clear advantage over other strategies. Our custom-designed DSP directs the laser servo to correct errors, thus negating data corruption before it becomes an issue. Until now virtually all CD transports have been essentially "dumb" in that their optical drives lack the ability to recognize disk error, however minor. They simply output data, good and bad, until major problems appear. We have all experienced how scratched CDs can stutter and skip. Only when the transport encounters big-time errors does it attempt to detect the disc's playable areas. This approach embodies a dilemma: before the transport encounters and responds to significant errors, it passes along numerous smaller errors to the next stage, at which point an error-correction algorithm attempts to reconstruct the lost data Further complicating the process, the master-clock signal synchronizing the circuit has to be derived from the data stream as it's retrieved from the disk. The aforementioned small errors cause even greater problems by amplifying jitter throughout the digital-to-analog process. Is it any wonder that CDs have been largely unable to provide the level of playback quality they're capable of? Further, is it any wonder that many audiophiles shun the format to this very day? In contrast to other procedures, the CDP-8's transport, which runs at a single speed, includes a memory buffer that temporarily stores the disc's data. This procedure permits data re-clocking that the on-board Master-Clock resynchronizes. The laser servo's DSP control has significantly reduced jitter, further system-data synchronization is no longer dependant on the original data stream's accuracy. Jitter and its accompanying distortion have been reduced to a matter of little consequence. The CDP's novel and groundbreaking design concepts result in a level of playback that rivals or surpasses that of any other player on the market today. This holds true even when compared to the implementation of a computer as a CD drive/music server. Simply put, a computer cannot read a CD in its native format, thereby making it difficult -- and costly -- to recover CD data in the manner of a straightforward CD Player. The CDP-8's output provides the finishing masterstroke: a high-performance DAC and sophisticated analog output circuit process the final decoding. Finally, as an attractive ergonomic feature, a touch-sensitive strip controls the CDP-8's command functions, thus avoiding the need for mechanical switches or push buttons. The included remote coordinates volume and input functions with NuForce's P-9 Preamp and IA-7 Integrated amp. Compared to other CD-playback devices, the NuForce CDP-8 offers an unprecedented level of performance and value. Not only do we make your CD collection and the investment it represents viable for years to come, we do so at a most attractive price. Top-quality, affordable, dedicated CD playback from a no less dedicated company - now there's a concept whose time has arrived!

Specifications.

•Maximum output level: analog RCA, 2.7V

• S/PDIF output: RCA and BNC

• Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz, @ +/- 0.3dB.

• Signal/noise ratio: >100dB.

• THD: 0.005% at 1kHz, 0dBFS

• Output impedance: 100 ohms

• Dimension: 8.5" x 14" x 1.8"

• Weight: 7

anmeldelse Stereophile:

www.stereophile.com/content/nuforce-cdp-8-cd-player