Nord One Up Ncore NC500 amps, Class D ready for prime time .....

In my opinion, the amps need to be left on all the time to sound best. I think that's the nature of the beast. I'm preferring a tube preamp with the 994 op amps. I think this combo offers the best of both worlds and gives me the balance I desire.

Ron,

Please let me know what you end up doing. I'm so curious. I can only imagine how great these would be in a HT setup, not to mention how quiet and efficient they'd be as well.
 
cellardoorguy said:
Hello again everyone. Since I am new at this and find it difficult to navigate anything 'computer' oriented, I hope you visit version3mods.com and view a few pics of my life support system. They are under Products and Legacy Audio Custom Crossovers. My system consists of a PS Audio P10 power plant/regenerator, 432evo music server, AudioQuest jitterbugs, Schitt Wyrd, W4S Reclocker, Uptone Audio Regen, 3 Uptone Audio JS-2 power supplies, PS Audio Direct Stream DAC, Tortuga Audio LDR preamp made specific to my needs, 6 Emerald Physics SE amps, Version3Mods custom external crossovers, Legacy Focus SE speakers, all cables, power and XLR provided by the amazing Marcus Tunis and Audio Magic bees wax fuses throughout.



My amps have proven themselves to be unreliable and thus my hunt for new ones. Given everything I am reading about 'The Nord' amps I think I am going to go ahead and order 6 of them some time next week. Thank you sooo much everyone for all that you share. I feel this to be a very sound purchase decision based on damn good information. But I do have one question: how close to the crossovers and speakers should I get
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Are the Emerald Physics 100.2 SE amps stock from the factory, or have you made any mods? I have found them to be very reliable and quite good sounding, the first and still really good sounding Class D amps. I'm anticipating trying out the new EP 200.2SE amp, essentially it has 2 bridged 100.2SEs but has a 3rd transformer powering the input circuitry so it could sound even better.
 
USA price of the SI 994 op amps?

Colin advised you State-siders to buy them locally. I'm in the USA in September and October and wondered about buying some SI 994s when I was there. I can only find them for $94 each + $3.95 delivery (direct from SI or on eBay). What price are you Americans paying?

Given that US prices are usually much lower than here in the UK, I was expecting to find them much cheaper.

What can you tell me about US prices?
 
Hello KLH007. Yes they are the 100.2 SE. Stock electronics and transformer. The mods are very modest. I HIGHLY recommend you do these things. Beezwax fuss from Audio Magic. Don't laugh! One was tried out in a 100.2 SE amp at Newport and everyone was blown away. Including Walter. Even a very good friend of mine who had been a long time friend of James Bongiorno. Between the transformer and electronics place the thickest piece of copper you can get. Make it fit the space as tightly as possible and make little cutouts for wires. Do not remove any wires. Remove mounting bolt on transformer and set transformer on 1/4 or 3/8 inch gap filler foam insulation. Place the same on top of transformer and close the lid. Place Walker Audio E-SST Contact Treatment at ALL contacts at back of amp and at fuse. I already know what your emotional reaction will be upon hearing the changes but I look forward to hearing of them non-the-less. I have an IT guy who does this work for me and he is highly skilled and knowledgeable in such matters. One of the biggest issues I have with the amps is that while in mono mode they are NOT stable below 4 ohms. My speakers woofs draw a 2.5 ohm load. Walter told us it needed to be run in stereo and not mono. I lost a lot of bottom end love doing this. And for some reason 2 amps just stopped playing. Power came on but no sound was produced. And one amp failed to enter protection mode and well you know what happened. Of course this does not fully explain my complete turning away from the EP. There were other "issues". I sincerely hope you try these modest mods. I am in dealings with Colin regarding 6 of his amps to continue tri-amping my speakers. I have a very good feeling The Nord' will be a set of possibly ten year amps.
 
Nevalti

You might want to contact Colin and see if there is some arrangement in place with SI for his customers to buy directly rather than having them go back and forth across the Atlantic.
 
FYI: I want to give a big shout out to Colin from Nord for posting the link where my fellow audio travelers can journey to see pics of my system. THANK YOU COLIN! Peace and a good cup of coffee: J2
 
Hey Jack. I had an emailversation with Colin regarding your question and the answer is no. Not only does the manufacturer require consistency in quality, but more importantly Colin has earned the right to be paid well for the gifts he brings to our audio table. Peace and and ice cream cone: J2
 
Jack I apologize. Once again I have gone full blown computer/forum tarded. This time for everyone to see. I realize now the reply should have been directed to Nevatili. I thunked it was regarding DIY stuff from Nord. Clearly I got that wrong as well cuz I have not a clue as to what SI means. Please accept my humble appology Sir. Peace: J2
 
No problem he was asking about buying additional op amps that Colin doesn't offer for sale on his website.
 
I have some opa 627au op amps and brown dog adapters. Will these work in the Nord amps? It doesn't seem that they have been tried yet.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk
 
Not tried them though I know a customer who has tried many Op Amps and says the OPA827 is excellent. We try not to encourage to much in the way of Op Amp rolling as it can lead to potential issues.
 
After a little over a month with the Nord One Up amp with the tubed Modwright preamp decided to swap the W4S STP-SE back in the mix. It is still just as good as I remembered it being, plus a bonus of more bass definition and a slightly wider soundstage. One of the real bargains available in terms of both sound quality and flexibility.
 
Excellent news Jack. That's what I love to read.

I went back to the 994 op amps with the VAC preamp from Mike and I have to say that it's awesome, especially now that we are having a bit of a heat wave. I am sure the STP-SE will be great too.


Jack said:
After a little over a month with the Nord One Up amp with the tubed Modwright preamp decided to swap the W4S STP-SE back in the mix. It is still just as good as I remembered it being, plus a bonus of more bass definition and a slightly wider soundstage. One of the real bargains available in terms of both sound quality and flexibility.
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Joe

The STP-SE is just one of those pieces you keep around to use as a comparison piece against the other costlier contenders. It will tell you if something is wrong somewhere else in the chain. Apparently the Hattor is similar but lacks the name recognition and re-sale value if you you would ever consider selling either one due to their cost to value. It sits along with the Music Reference RM-10 as pieces that are here for the long run as they set a standard of what is possible for a reasonable price. Since it's introduction over seven years ago to my ears it is still the flagship piece in EJ's lineup. It is just that good.
 
I tried a new combo tonight.....my balanced Golden Gate dac (w/ volume control) direct into the Nords. WOW....what a combo. I also tried the Nords with the new PS Audio Bascom King preamp, and got excellent results. And that preamp only had a couple of hours break-in. These amps can be seriously good, if you search out the right combination.
 
That's great Jerry. There's no reason not to keep a pair of Nords in the arsenal, especially if you love great sounding gear.
 
Jack said:
Joe

The STP-SE is just one of those pieces you keep around to use as a comparison piece against the other costlier contenders. It will tell you if something is wrong somewhere else in the chain. Apparently the Hattor is similar but lacks the name recognition and re-sale value if you you would ever consider selling either one due to their cost to value. It sits along with the Music Reference RM-10 as pieces that are here for the long run as they set a standard of what is possible for a reasonable price. Since it's introduction over seven years ago to my ears it is still the flagship piece in EJ's lineup. It is just that good.
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Hey Jack, Nice to read what you said about the STP-SE. Although I love mine I had been considering getting another pre for a few reasons, and then I listen to the STP again and feel it is an excellent sounding pre-amp.

The reason I have been thinking about another pre is because of the inconvenience of having an external DAC. Yes, I know that it is more flexible that way but having it internal where switching one input versus setting the correct combo on two machines would be handy. The two top contenders were the McIntosh C47 or the matching SST Thoebe. Another thought was waiting for EJ's new Statement pre which is going to be totally modular so gaining flexibility for future improved DACs for example, will a benefit. But then the sound of the STP-SE is so darn good and I would not want to loose anything there :)...

Anyway, sorry for the sidetrack thoughts here. Back to the Nords :).... thanks for the vote of confidence on the STP-SE.

Oh, one quick side note that you might find interesting, 2 weeks ago I hosted our local Audio Club Meeting. EJ and a gentleman who writes for Stereophile mag both came by. It was a great outing! The MC speakers were a great hit and we did a few small tweaks and all loved the sound and the tone quality of the STP-SE.
 
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