Peachtree Audio

I saw the Nova on their site about 6 weeks ago, believe it or not. It intrigued me as well, because I heard the Decco at the high-end store where I bought my Era Design 4's (and D4 LCR) and my Arcam AVR280. In fact, I first auditioned the Eras using the Decco. I thought it sounded great. Very natural, and added a nice warmth to CD's. The Decco has gotten great reviews from all the ones I've seen of it.

As I am intending to use my Arcam primarily for HDTV, I have been thinking about the Nova for music use with my turntable and Dynaudio Audience 72's. One of the nice things about the Decco (and Nova) is that not only do they put out respectable amounts of power, but they put out a lot of current, which is great for the Era's and Dynaudios, as both speakers like amps that put out a lot of current.

Like you, I will be interested to read the reviews of this unit. Sounds like it will have a killer DAC in it, too.

I recently purchased a Decco, but haven't received it yet (Fed-Ex is scheduled to deliver it today.

I like the idea of the Nova however, and will probably put it on my list when it ships in late January.

Not much info on who designed the amplifier, preamplifier, dac as there was with the Decco. I think this is what made the Decco so popular, the cult following of Scott Dixon's great designs, gainclone amp design, and the allure of tube amplification. Put all that together, and you have a best selling product. I'd like to know who are the major design players for Nova.

I'll be picking up a Nova when it comes out. In the meantime, I hope to integrate the Decco into my system, and get a good feel for it before I get the Nova. Upon getting the Nova, I'll be better positioned to make a comparison between the two.

At present, I'm battling a horible ground loop hum, by what I've tracked back to my cable. Yep, its the Comcast Cable box giving me the problem.

Hi Bill, I have a lot of experience w/ the Decco since we are the manufacturers... The Decco was a great first product, but the Nova will be a world-class piece in all areas...
I have been answering questions about era speakers for some time now on the forum and would be glad to provide any info you need on Peachtree Audio.
Also, to answer a few of the questions in the posts above.
We had John Westlake who was a consultant on the Wolfson DAC's and worked for Pacific Microsonics on the HD CD project. He's a great engineer and has worked with Cambridge Audio on the DAC Magic and orig 640 CD player, Pink Triangle DiCapo and Audio Lab to name a few. Last month, there was an articale in What Hi Fi (I think, cold have been one of the other UK mags) that covered the best of British Hi Fi over the last 30 yrs or so. John had three products that were picked.
We went far above the Decco design in almost every way. Lower distortion, higher s/n, much higher res DAC, class A outputs on headphone, preout and fixed out, higher powered amp...very similar to that of the Decco, solid aluminum volume knob w/ a better volume pot etc.
We see this as a great alternative to those who are looking at $3500 DAC's as the Nova for $1199 should best almost any DAC on the market regardless of price... Also, most of the DAC's on the market (for whatever reason) have only one input... go figure.
The Nova will also be addressable w/ any learning remote and with5 digital inputs.
Most DACs don't let you know about their output section either. We'll have a low impedance class A output section on both pre and fixed outputs, so using it as a DAC only is still a really good buy.
I'm attaching the info sheet that should answer most questions, but
please write any time if I can be of assistance.
Best wishes,
David Solomon
dsolomon@signalpathint.com

 

Nova web page.pdf 211.07421875k . file

Hi David,
Does the HT bypass also route to the preamp outs, or is it limited to the internal amp only?

Thanks

Hi, The pre-out will be active while using HT Bypass.
David

Hi Bill,
The Pre/Dac should be better, but haven't designed it yet.
I can say the Nova can be used just fine as a pre/dac since the outputs are all class A and the digital in's are all transformer coupled.. We spent as much time on making sure the dac only section would be 2nd to none.
Iit has arounf 480 parts to the board and 11 regulated power supplies.
For $1199, it should rival the best dacs built period regardless of $$.
Willkeep you up to date on the progress as it unfolds.
Best wishes,
David Solomon

Hi Bill,
We'll try for this summer. But I'd bet 3rd quarter.
David

Thanks again David! The Nova looks VERY interesting.

Regarding the pre-amp version Bill is asking about... Do you have any information you could share on a target price-point? I'm curious whether we are looking at something substantially more expensive than the Nova (as "separates" often are) or perhaps similar in price?

Hi Natural,
Should be around the same price as the Nova, but hard to say. Typically, toward the end of a project, Jim and I upgrade as much as possible w/available technology... We "what if" alot... it's fun and always improves what we output, but always results in higher cost.

Will keep you guys all posted as we get closer.
Right now, I'm really excited about debuting the Nova at the CES next week...
Will post some pictures when I get back. Wish I could post the sound.
Best wishes,
David Solomon

David,
I too am very interested in this integrated as it has a high current output, which will work well with my Era D4's. Is my understanding that it will also work well with my Dynaudio Audience 72s? I've heard from Dynaudio that they like a high-current amplifier.

While there's been a lot of discussion about the DAC, I am more interested in your evaluation of how it will sound used as an integrated amp, as a preamp only, or as an amp only with a separate pre-amp. Any comments?

Thanks,
Stephen Scharf aka Puma Cat

Hi Stephen,
The amp section will be very similar to that of the Decco, but w/ 30wpc more. Even the Decco pushes the D4's fine and they're only 83dB.
The Dyns are 86db, so the Nova should do very well.

As you'll see in the information sheet attached to an earlier email, the preamp section and both DAC outputs are class A, so as a preamp or stand alone DAC, we're expecting world class performance.
As far as separate amp goes, it should do well with the HT bypass. It's not going to win a loudness contest, but if you're a normal to moderate SPL guy, the Nova should do well.

Hope I've answered your questions to your satisfaction. If not, please write back any time.

I will be at CES next week, so if there's a delay, please forgive as I will be going hard from early till late. I'll get back w/ you ASAP.

Best wishes,
David Solomon

Hi David,
A very helpful response, many thanks. I am very interested in the Nova at this point, particularly with it's functionality/feature set and it's high current output capabilities. If I understand correctly, I could use the Nova as a high-current stand-alone amp by using the HT bypass function.

I have to say, David, that as an owner of Era Design products, and having auditioned the Decco, I think Signal Path is offering some very, very impressive products that are spectacular value for money.

I am confident that Era, Peachtree and Signal Path will have a very successful CES.

Cheers,
Stephen.

I thought Nova was the most innovative product I read about that debuted at the show. I also made some several requests to the editors at Stereophile to please cover the Nova as I thought it would be of interest to readers, so I am pleased they covered it. It was clearly one of the best values, as well, because most of the stuff they covered was ridiculously expensive, talking about amps that cost $130,000, speakers selling for $45,000 and the Blue Smoke music server which has no DAC, no monitor, and no hard drives, but contains some interface software, a CPU running Vista, and a power supply and sells for.....$7000.

Hello all,

First post on AVS so go easy.

David, I was googling the Nova looking for info when I found this thread. I was quite surprised and impressed that you were actively participating in this thread. Kudos, I think it is great when the mfg's actually get down to our level. I have two questions; first will the amp in the Nova be enough to drive my fairly inefficient (84dB) B&W CM1's? Second, do you have a Canadian dealer? If not will the warrenty still be vaild if I buy from Musicdirect.com?

Thank you for your info, also, due mainly to your testimony (as I am unable to hear one in person) I am 99% certain that the Nova will be my next purchase (when it is available)

Regards,

Greg

Hi Greg,
Much appreciated.
The Nova will do fine w/ the CM1's and based on what I know and actually like anout the CM1 should be a good sonic match. They are the same efficiency as our Era D5's and the Decco does a fine job driving them w/only 50wpc. The Nova will have 80 wpc...not really much more output and won't reach concert levels, but will be very musical and play plenty loud enough for most.

The Nova has been delayed a few weeks and am told it will be in our warehouse in mid to end of Feb in short supply and will be receiving them on a regular basis by mid March.
We'll be signing up Canadian dealers and exporting as soon as the Nova back orders are filled, so you can buy from MD and all warranties apply.
Best wishes,
David Solomon

David,
Thanks for the follow up post. I had sent you guys a question a bit back asking about a specific configuration and I don't think you were sure.

I'd like to use the Nova as strictly a 2 channel pre and DAC with home theater bypass. Is is possible to use the HT bypass and well as the pre-outs and completely avoid the internal amp while taking advantage of the tube pre and DAC?

ChicagoTC,
See post #9 above. The answer is yes.


EDIT:

David,
I think it might be good to state that fact in the "Home Theater Bypass" section on the Nova website page? Seems to be a popular question already, and a good selling point as well.

Who is making the unit for you?

Thanks I figured that was the case perhaps my questions to them weren't clear but there was some "double" checking going on.

HT Use
SSP-Nova(HT analog input-preout)-amp-speakers-->yes

This bypasses everything in the Nova.

2 channel use
CDP-Nova(Optical input-dac-preamp-preout)-amp-speakers-->wasn't positive from what I understood.

This only bypasses Nova amps

Sorry TC, This dropped from my RAM.
This will work fine. By the way...great idea.
David

AaaGggHhh. Another oversight... Thanks for the heads up!
After I look at copy for hours on end, it tends to run together.
Thanks for pointing out the missing text.
David

David,
Any idea when Music Lovers in Berkeley might be receiving a Nova or two?