NuForce Power Amplifiers

You likely have not heard of these amplifiers before, but I can guarantee you will. The NuForce technology represents a step in a new direction - a patented circuit topology like no other. The NuForce design is neither analog nor Class D digital. Though they share the advantages of small, lightweight chassis and cool operation of digital amps, the NuForce amplifiers are said to avoid the drawbacks inherent in those designs.
           The big surprise with NuForce is the ridiculously low cost - just $2500 per pair!

I’ll turn the podium over to NuForce and let them describe the details for you.

Recent technological developments have made it possible to leave small improvements behind, and take a true leap forward. NuForce is built on new science for a new era of what is possible. It is designed from the ground up, using revolutionary Switching Amplifier technology, implemented in a new way with high-performance analog modulation, and protected by multiple patents.

Four important advances:

1. High bandwidth. Truly faithful music reproduction of music demands bandwidth, and plenty of it. Insufficient bandwidth damages delicate and crucially important spatial information, and strips away tonal complexities. NuForce amplifiers deliver high bandwidth, with a ruler-flat response from 20 to 50,000Hz. Only a very few, very expensive high-end linear amplifiers can achieve that. This high bandwidth allows NuForce to amplify complex music with faithfulness far beyond the capability of conventional amps, with a vast soundstage that most music lovers have never experienced, because all the spatial information is now completely reproduced.

2. An extremely high damping factor. Damping factor is simply a measure of an amplifier’s ability to drive and control a speaker and the higher the number, the better. An excellent tube amplifier might have a damping factor between 10 and 100. A very high quality Class-A amplifier might reach 200. A NuForce amplifier has a damping factor greater than 4,000! And unlike conventional amps, NuForce’s damping factor is totally unaffected by changes in audio frequencies. In plain English, this means NuForce will deliver wide, lightning-fast dynamics with any speaker.

3. Ultra-low distortion and noise. In conventional amplifiers, there is no such thing as a fixed specification for distortion or noise. Manufacturers invariably choose to quote the most flattering number, typically measured at 1 watt. But in reality, when power demands increase, so does distortion and noise. NuForce employs unique, patent-pending technologies that actively cancel out the distortion at every cycle of operation. As a result, NuForce amplifiers have the same low distortion characteristics regardless of output level or audio frequency.

4. No phase shift. Many amplifiers use output filters, and these filters cause phase shifts. When there are phase shifts, spatial information cannot be accurate. Most amps have a phase shift over 45 degrees at 20kHz, going quickly towards 90 degrees as frequencies go up.
         NuForce amps are able to take the signal after the output filter, at the speaker terminals, to cancel all these distortions. This unique close-loop design results in zero phase shift across all frequencies. Repeat, zero.

Power corrupts:

The heart of every amplifier is its power supply. In conventional “linear” amplifiers, it is also the source of many problems that, with considerable effort and expense, can be lessened but never eliminated.
         For example, traditional power supplies are slow. After a dynamic peak, even massive transformers cannot recover fast enough to avoid damaging the music signal. The simple truth is that even the best traditional “heavy iron” power supplies are bulky and inefficient. Their shortcomings can be expensively disguised but never eliminated.
        NuForce uses a fundamentally different kind of power supply that is dramatically smaller, vastly more efficient, and thousands of times faster than any conventional 50/60Hz linear power supply. It provides the instantaneous power required by high-performance music reproduction.
         One more important fact you should know: in traditional amplifiers, even very high-end Class-A amps with huge cans of filter capacitors and highly regulated output, there is measurable 100/120Hz ripple voltage, which generates noise.
         There is also transformer haze, and the electronic “grit” caused by the pushing and pulling of conductive devices.
         NuForce provides unequalled, fully regulated output without this ripple voltage, and without the noise. With this electronic smog gone, music emerges from a pristine black background, with delicate details and nuances intact. Purity has a sound, and it is beautiful.

NuForce is not a Switching Digital Amplifier.

Switching Digital Amplifiers (commonly known as Class-D) were introduced some years ago. Right from the start, Class-D had enormous potential but some significant shortcomings.    For example, they have limited usable bandwidth, and they use a fixed sawtooth waveform to modulate an audio signal. This is a source of audio pollution, because the waveform causes inevitable jittering that can mask or corrupt low-level music signals.
         Instead of a sawtooth digital signal, NuForce has developed and patented a naturally occurring analog modulating signal that flows with the music and adds no noise or jitter into the system.
         Rather than using imperfect off-the-shelf solutions, NuForce has developed and patented a series of breakthrough advances that have unlocked the huge potential of switching amplifiers, without the problems that pure digital switching amplifiers have been unable to solve; in other words, the best of both worlds.

Goodbye, heat. Goodbye, hernias.

          Heat and bulk used to be the badge of amplifier status. Today, it is the badge of old technology.
         NuForce amplifiers switch at 500,000Hz – more than twice the highest CD sampling rate. At these higher frequencies, transformers and capacitors work far more efficiently and can be much smaller. In conjunction with a switch mode power supply, the entire NuForce package is shockingly small and hugely capable.
         Traditional linear power supplies are not just massive and heavy. They are also highly inefficient. Class-A amplifiers typically utilize little more than 15% of the power they draw, with the rest wasted as heat. High operating temperatures also shorten the useful life of the electrolytic capacitors used in abundance in these amplifiers.
         The comparison with NuForce amplifiers is stark.
         A NuForce amp is small enough to sit on the palm of your hand, and is highly efficient. Typically, 85% of the power is utilized, which means it runs very cool, barely warm to the touch, even when driven hard for long periods.

Power: 160W at 8 Ohms, 300 W at 4 Ohms, 250W at 2 Ohms
Damping Factor: Greater than 4000
Input Impedance: 47k Ohms
Gain: 26 dB
Signal to Noise Ratio: 120dB at 100W

For only a few Dollars more, NuForce offers three upgrades that we feel are very much worthwhile:

• Eichmann Cable Pod Binding Posts
• WBT Nextgen RCA Input connector
• Input capacitor upgrade (doubles standard value)
• Price with all the goodies - $2650 per pair

 The NuForce amplifiers have just been named as an Editor’s Choice by The Absolute Sound magazine, this on the heels of rave reviews from around the World. Click on some of the links below then call me to order a pair!

The Absolute Sound Editor's Choice Award 2005

"The best affordable amp on the planet?"
---> Read full review by Chris Martens, AVGuide & TAS

"...The NuForce amplifiers have stolen my heart. They will no longer leave my house. I will use them as my reference amplifier from now on. Every amplifier that I will listen to in the future must be compared to NuForce."
---> Read full review by Erik Vermeulen, hifi.nl

"...With the latest upgrade, we just have to purchase the reviewed amplifiers. At the moment it is our new reference power amplifier""
---> Read full review by Pär Hörnell, component.se

"...The Ref 8s are so skillfully balanced and transparent that the listener begins to forget about the equipment to become immersed in the music instead."
---> Read full review by Edgar Kramer, 6moons.com

"...I consider the Reference 8b a standard-setter equal to the Mark Levinson ML2 of the 1970s or the Bel Canto eVo2 of the 1990s..."
---> Read full review by Jim Saxon, soundstageav.com

"...The NuForce Reference 8 amplifiers have solidly met all my criteria for a true breakthrough product. Namely, they perform better than any other amplifiers I’ve tried in my system..."
---> Read full review by Frank Alles, stereotimes.com
 

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