Empirical Audio & Vapor Audio

[Stereophile]

<p><img class="story_image" src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/060213-Empirical-600.jpg" /></p> I was completely unfamiliar with the Vapor Audio Nimbus speakers Empirical Audio’s Steve Nugent was using, which combine a 15” woofer with an MTM array based on a Raal ribbon tweeter, nor did I make a note of their price or the cables being used. (It was getting near the end of the first day and I was pooped.) But with the speakers driven by 40W single-ended, class-A mono amps each using an 845 output tube, vocals, whether it was Frank Sinatra singing “What’s New?”, Julie London “Cry Me a River,” or Diana Krall “Girl in the Other Room,” sounded effortlessly real, with an ease to the presentation. (Note the corner traps and RPG Diffusors used to tame the room’s acoustics in the photo.)
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I have been a fan of Steve’s Empirical Audio digital products since I reviewed the Off-Ramp 4 format converter in <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/content/empirical-audio-ramp-4-usb-format-converter">December 2011</a>. Steve was using the latest version of the Off-Ramp with his Over Drive DAC, fed data from a Mac mini powered by a linear supply (the center unit on the bottom shelf in the photo.) Transformer coupling with the Empirical Final Drive (the two units either side of the Mac’s supply, meant that the DAC’s ground was physically isolated from the amplifiers’ grounds.
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[Source: http://www.stereophile.com/content/empirical-audio-vapor-audio]

 

[NorthStar]

They look like serious 'bass' reproducers. ...Large cubic volume behind the 15" subwoofer driver.