Firstly I own a pair, and enjoy them very much so any groveling over how great they sound is just fine with me.  8)

In light of the NFX plans that have been made available, I'm getting serious about building a pair this winter. And since they were designed to mate with the SO, which I WILL build or have built sometime in the future, I feel that building the NFX's soon will give me a headstart toward having a truely world class system. Course the jury is still out on the NFX, as very few have heard them. I trust Steve and Paul, and they are saying some very nice things about this speaker.

I find it very interesting that many at last years Decfest seem to have felt that the Parker/Imperial combo was the best sounding of the evening. To be honest, the Parkers are the only high end speakers I've had any experience with. Steve's description of the NFX design has me wondering how much effect the ported box design of the Parkers effects it's openness and color. I guess I'm just fishing for some insight from those who had the opritunity to listen to both. I have a feeling that both speakers would have certain strengths. How did the NFX constrast with the Parkers in concert with the Imps?

-Brett

Hi Brett,

I did not hear the NFX speakers mated with the SO Imperials at last year's DecFest ..... so I can't comment on how they compared to the Parker Audio speakers .....

However, I did hear the Imperial / Parker Audio combo and it impressed me enough to have a pair of SO Imperials built for my system.

As to why this pairing worked out so well ..... I have a few guesses that probably have some merit.

The Parker Audio speakers are not a typical "box" speaker.  Since they have such a small footprint and are so compact and solid, they keep box resonances to a minimum and disappear into the soundstage very nicely.

The 2 ohm impedance of Parker Audio speakers paralleled with the SO Imperials shows a 1.6 ohm load to the Decware amplifier which makes it as happy as a pig in slop .....

The particular model of speaker that was paired with the SO Imperials was the Crusader.  The very high quality ribbon of this speaker has a wonderfully extended and clean top end ..... which balanced the excellent low end extension of the Imperials.

Of course, the dome tweeter used in the standard 95 and the Fostex tweeter used in the 98 are no slouches either ..... so I would think that any of these speakers would mate well with the SO Imperials ..... ???

Since the 2006 DecFest is right around the corner, it seems likely that Steve will be providing an opportunity to hear the NFXs with the SO Imperials .....

Randy

I like my Crusaders very much.  Even out in my smallish pool table room hooked up to solid state (kept in 2ohm matter of fact with Hovland Caps).....they stop you to listen with there openess and speed = not running through a bunch of crossover grunge.  When I want Rock!?  They Rock.  

Stone of Tone