Summary:
Please see my review of the NuVista Power. I think these products go together exceptionally well. A previous reviewer mentioned that the pre sounded poor in his set up, but when matched to its power partner, this is an unbeatable product.

Strengths:
Amazing stereo imagery; perfect partner for NuVista Power

Weaknesses:
Remote is a bit unreliable at times

Similar Products Used:
Chord, Arcam

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from Sounds Perfection, Cornwall UK

Summary:
Sorry to spoil the party on this one !! Everyone else here (as well as numerous hifi publication reviewers) seems to think it's a wonderful piece of kit.

I bought one mail order on the basis of all the raves.

Luckily my dealer was happy to take it back, as he had a queue of buyers who were interested.

All I can say is that if you have the opportunity to buy one used (all production has been sold) then TRY IT FIRST !!

Perhaps I had one that shouldn't have got thru the QC.

It sounded AWFUL !! - and the remote volume was incredibly imprecise, and always (very irritatingly) over/under shot the right volume.

Strengths:
Not a lot. Sounded really poor in my system.

Weaknesses:
Poor focus, noisy, smeared, overshooting remote volume.

Similar Products Used:
Loads. Linn Kolector, Audio Research SP11/2, Rowland Consummate, Musical Fidelity F22, Sunfire the Valve Preamp

Summary:
My previos Nuvista review has somehow disapeard from this site so I try again.The Nuvista preamp make use of the Nuvista tube. The tube is vary rare and MF has bougth the whole world stock and use it for 500 preamps (and matching power amps). The nuvista tube has a lifetime of about 10 to 12 years with normal use and with a spare pair of tubes you can expect to use it for very long time.

I have had the Nuvista for a long time now and I like it vey much. Its an ideal partner to my Nelson pass Aleph 5 pwr amp. The sound is "tubish" with a smooth top end, a warm, but still lively, midrange with no trace of transistor agressivity. The bass is better than other tube preamps I have heard(perhaps not as good as the best ss preamps)Resolution is very good.
All this in a very good looking case and as a bonus a good MM section makes the Nuvista a good buy. A minor setback is the lack of balanced outputs.
The Nuvista got very good reviews in HiFI News aug 1998 and HIFI World sept 1998 and I quot from HIFI World verdict " A truly competent preamp whose high end sound comes with a very reasonable price tag".
Since there are so few Nuvista owners I would be happy for email contacts to share experience!

Summary:
I'm not going to waste time with superlatives and meangingless adjectives. I'm just going to try to describe the difference I heard between this pre, and a Sunfire Vaccum tube Classic.
The first thing I noticed was a slightly "colder" sound. I assumed that this was and indication of more neautrality, as my old adcom pre sounded similar... at the time, I had liked the warmer sound of the Sunfire. However, with the Nuvista, I began to appreciate the detail that was revealed, previously burried and hushed by the warmth of the sunfire. I guess it's fair to say that the Nuvista doesn't have the glaze that tube preamps are know for. On the other hand, the midrange seemed just as crystaline as it did with the Sunfire. I immediatley noticed more "musical" bass respones in that I could hear lower notes as notes, not just duh, duh, duh, duh... The highs sounded a little more harsh, again, probably an indication of accuracy. I'm not talking about fatiguing sound here, but certainly less soft than the sunfire. Listening to Elivs Costello's "king of america", it strangely sounded as if the musicians were playing faster. strange. I guess that's what they mean by musical tension or immediacy. Sonically, in comparison to the Sunfire, I was hearing more info, more detail, more notes with the Nuvista. The sunfire, though, is great for a listener who wants a warm, laid back sound (as i once did). Note also, the soundstage was smaller (but more focused) with the nuvista.

The unit is beautiful too. I like the remote feature alot. The dials (switching and gain) are both motorized and easy to control. Very good quality.

Notice, the power supply is in a completly seperate chassis. Perhaps this is responsible for the fact that it is so quiet and throws a really focused soundstage. Whatever.

The phono stage is fairly quiet, but not any thing spectacular. It's fine for me, as I listen to vinyl only occasionally. serious analog nuts will want a dedicated phono stage, I'm sure.

Fantastic, pure and neutral sounding amp. Plus, with only 500 of them around, I feel like I own a little piece of history.

Summary:
I bought this pre-amp after reading positive reviews and listening to a demo of it being used in a high-class ATC-based system. At the moment it is being used with a Naim power amp while I save up for the next stage of system development.
I'm not an audiofreak and in the past I have had some difficulty in hearing what others claimed were for example "massive improvements in top-end clarity and bass extension and slam" brought about by using a different cable or shelf or changing their brand of cat food. I don't have time to listen to many different systems or components and I do not upgrade every five minutes.

But what I heard in the demo was quite extraordinary. Classical and jazz CDs were used, through the Musical Fidelity X-Ray CD player. At the first level I heard the new ATC integrated amplifier through ATC 20 passive speakers (can't remember exact names). There was a depth and solidity to solo piano especially which I had not heard before, especially in the bass lines. It was quite easy to hear the differences between the CDs in terms of the "scale" of the sound and the separation between the strands of the music.

The next stage of the demo involved removing the ATC integrated amp and inserting the ATC 200-something power amp, used with the Nu-Vista. Speakers and player remained. Immediately the jazz tracks sounded as though the musicians were playing faster, with greater impact and drive. Cassandra Wilson's voice floated three-dimensionally in front of the complex small-group jazz arrangements accompanying her, and the words could be followed even when the register of her voice was at the same level as the other instruments. On the first system this was not the case so that some lines were difficult to follow. Now I can't say whether the NuVista did this on its own, and it might have been interesting to swap it for ATC's own pre-amp to see if there was any difference, but time did not allow.

What I can say is that the Nu-Vista seemed to work superbly well in this high-class system and sent to the amplifier huge amounts of information in terms of clarity and dynamics: all this then emerged through the speakers. Given that the NV is half the price of the ATC pre-amp, I parted with the money and bought the X-Ray as well, since that combination was obviously providing the superb front-end signal mentioned above.

I have since read some luke-warm reviews of the X-Ray and even of the Nu-Vista, but in my (currently) modest system I can hear obvious improvements over the previous components (Naim 42 pre-amp and Arcam 6 player). My dilemma is whether the proposed MF Nu-Vista 300 power amp will deliver the sound I heard through ATC gear, or - more adventurously - whether ATC active speakers would work with the Nu-Vista pre-amp. Any views or thoguhts from others much appreciated! Meanwhile, 5 stars on this showing - and not just because I bought one...