My name is Michael C. Barnes. I have been an audio enthusiast for over 20 years. When I was in the Army, people used to jokingly call me "Sergeant HIFI". For years, I had the nick-name HIFI. Eventually, I (as most adults do) outgrew my nick-name. None-the-less, I never lost my passion for HIFI.

While I love the hobby, I have always hated the business of Audio. There are so many claims and counter claims, how can anyone know the truth? The fact is, most audio companies have something to sell and they want you to buy. At the same time, they want to make money (as we all do). I believe that every business has a right to make money. Profit is needed to offer customer service and it is needed to develop products. The problem is that many audio companies demand profits beyond what any other industry would allow. For the person trying to get a simple receiver to set up an A/V system, the Japanese make products that offer good value. You can buy a DVD player now for under $300.00.

I believe that loudspeakers when put into the home should become part of the furniture and art. I feel offended paying over $1000.00 for a loudspeaker covered with contact paper. Loudspeakers should accentuate the home. It should show you have style as well as taste. It should also be affordable.

nOrh's goal is not to build outlandishly overpriced audio equipment. Our goal is to challenge the rest of the industry to clean up its act and offer value. We don't make cheap products. Our products are all made by craftsman using the best materials and the best technology available.

I moved to Thailand in 1995. I still work full time for in the computer industry so I don't take any money from nOrh Loudspeakers Company, Ltd. I invested into nOrh because I was here during the Asian economic crisis. I saw many people I know loose their jobs. My money (USD) also suddenly became very valuable. I decided to get into a business. My first idea was to build loudspeaker cabinets to ship to the United States to companies building loudspeakers. I contacted several companies. The answer I got back was that it wasn't necessary to have beautiful cabinets to sell loudspeakers.

I had this idea in my head--building cabinets when I saw a performance of Thai children playing the Thai long drum. I was amazed because we were all in this huge auditorium but the sound of one small child playing this drum was loud and clear throughout the theater. I started to wonder about the acoustical properties of the drum. Here was a device operating a 0 watts per channel filling a huge room.

I moved to Thailand in 1995. I still work full time for in the computer industry so I don't take any money from nOrh Loudspeakers Company, Ltd. I invested into nOrh because I was here during the Asian economic crisis. I saw many people I know loose their jobs. My money (USD) also suddenly became very valuable. I decided to get into a business. My first idea was to build loudspeaker cabinets to ship to the United States to companies building loudspeakers. I contacted several companies. The answer I got back was that it wasn't necessary to have beautiful cabinets to sell loudspeakers.

I had this idea in my head--building cabinets when I saw a performance of Thai children playing the Thai long drum. I was amazed because we were all in this huge auditorium but the sound of one small child playing this drum was loud and clear throughout the theater. I started to wonder about the acoustical properties of the drum. Here was a device operating a 0 watts per channel filling a huge room.

I asked about the long drum and I learned that it was used by villages to signal to one another over several kilometers. Wow!!! I thought about using that shape for a loudspeaker.

At this time, a friend of mine told me her son was graduating from engineering school but couldn't find a job. I told her that I would hire him to test out my idea of using a long drum for a loudspeaker.

We spent six months trying to come up with the right design. Once we did, we were amazed. At the time, I didn't neither of us knew how to design crossovers. We simply knew how to calculate the volume for the cabinet and how to calculate the tuning for the ports. We didn't have the equipment to test and measure at that time.

We decided that the easy way would be to buy used speakers. This was easy to do as the economy was bad in Thailand. We bought some used loudspeakers. We mounted the woofer, tweeter and networks from one speaker in the drum and we left the other speaker alone. Simply by changing the cabinet, the sound improved dramatically.

As we did this, we were surprised how many really cheap drivers were used in these well known loudspeakers. We were also surprised to see the low quality parts that were used in many of the crossovers. Most used electrolytic capacitors and iron core coils.

I thought about opening a store and selling audio equipment. My original idea was to bring in Chinese tube amps and sell them with our loudspeakers. I thought that I would put the store on the website and that it would help our store sales.

We had three products--the 5.0, 6.0 and 6.5. All of these used Vifa components. Our speakers sold pretty well in the store. We were planning on selling 10 pairs a month. What surprised me was that our Internet sales started taking off. We didn't have the ability to accept credit cards then. People would wire money to us. I was amazed.

One of our customers wanted us to build a really special loudspeaker. He asked us to use Scanspeak drivers. I had to order two pairs from Scanspeak because that was the minimum they would selll. We built our first 7.0 and sold this to the customer who special ordered it. We were amazed how great these Scanspeak drivers sounded. I had never heard such detail or imaging. We decided to offer the 7.0 as a kit because we didn't want the expense of bringing expensive drivers into Thailand.

The kits started selling very well. We started getting Internet magazines contacting us for review samples. Some customers complained that they couldn't buy Scanspeak in their countries. We decided to import Scanspeak drivers and offer the full version of the 7.0.

I felt that we had our flagship with the 7.0. I didn't think a better two-way could be built. I then decided to focus my energy on creating the least expensive high-end speaker that could be built. This turned out to be harder than I ever imagined. It is much easier to buy expensive drivers than it is to find the right combination of reasonably priced drivers that have a great sound. After six months of experimenting with several combinations and very careful computer modeling (remember, I am from the computer industry), we came up with the nOrh 4.0. The 4.0 was a hit. Everyone liked the looks and was amazed by the sound. We built the 5.1 as a replacement for the original 5.0 and as an upgrade to the 4.0.

We were in a pretty good position because all our products were selling pretty well. Our biggest problem was keeping up with demand. It takes a month to make our loudspeakers and we simply couldn't scale to meet the increasing demand.

The only drawback we could find with the 7.0 was that it didn't go down as deep as we would like. We started a subwoofer project. This is outlined in our subwoofer section. This is how we started building the original nOrh subwoofer using an amp. It was a hit.

Scanspeak came out with their Revelator woofer. We tested it and fell in love with it. Few companies are using it because it is very expensive. We decided to build a speaker using the Revelator tweeter and the Revelator woofer. We decided to offer this as a kit first. This was one of our most successful products. As with the 7.0, we wound up buying the drivers and selling them as completed units.

Creating crossovers is a very challenging effort. Each modification requires soldering and testing. I asked if it would be possible to build an amplifier that had a crossover built in. My idea was to have an amplifier that would allow me to quickly test drivers. The idea turned into a product called the Multiamp. The Multiamp was a very good seller.

We began looking for wood substitute as soon as sales started. The process of making the nOrh loudspeakers takes over a month. The speakers are hand crafted from logs. They have to be carved, baked, sanded and finished before we can turn them into loudspeakers. The number of craftsman that can a log into a drum is quite limited. We thought about using resins. I didn't like the look of resins for expensive speakers because to me, the finish looks like a bowling ball.

Our former employee suggested we try marble. I would have thought the idea was impossible. He told me of companies in Germany that charge over $20,000 for a pair of marble loudspeakers. He said it was absolutely the best material for building loudspeakers. I told him I was interested. He showed up a month later with two samples. They were absolutely the most beautiful speakers I had ever seen.In fact, we decided that if we were going to build speakers out of marble, these were going to be the most beautiful loudspeakers ever built.

He always built loudspeakers without grills. He felt that most grills were not acoustically transparent. He felt that the hardware to mount the grills took away from the natural finish of the product so all his loudspeakers were bare in front.

I felt that a grill was absolutely necessary. I felt that it finished off the speaker and it also provided protection against people touching the speaker. I asked him about using string over just the drivers. Yuths drew a picture of what he wanted. He arranged to have the pieces cut out of steel using a computer controlled laser. He is a big fan of stainless steel. Anyone who has bought our amps notices that all the knobs are made from solid stainless steel. He simply feels that their is no better material for building a quality product. He wanted to make the feet from solid stainless steel. I didn't quite know what he had in mind but to everyone who has seen our marble loudspeakers, they always comment on the beauty of the feet.

So here we are several years old and still growing. To contact me directly, use this form.

Michael - 1979

Michael - Present