Reviews of nOrh Products - Customers

Note: Latest reviews are at the bottom, so scroll down.

Peter Thompson--Audible Technologies Limited (manufacturers of Plinius Amplifiers) (New Zealand) (nOrh 6.0)

"The overall presentation of music from the nOrh [6.0 loudspeaker] is not to far away from what I call ideal, in that female voices and violins sound pretty real. This is my main area of criticism with most other designs.

The midrange voice area has no 'honk'--something that most 2 way designs suffer from. I have found that the bass while certainly not plumbing the depths has great definition and the leading edges of bass transients are very well defined.

There is an overall warmth to the presentation which I like and it complements our electronics very well. The soundstage is realistic and there is a great impression of a boxless seamless musical event."

"It sound very good, it's clean, clear and articulate"

Steve Frazzini--first customer for nOrh 7.0s (Thailand)

"I have primarily used my audio/video system for movies.  My previous pair of speakers were Snell speakers. They weighed over 104 pounds apiece.  Despite their size, the Snells had no where near the bass of the much smaller (and lighter) nOrh Loudspeakers.

I have owned a pair of nOrh 6.0s, nOrh 6.5s and a pair of nOrh 7.0s.  The nOrh 6.0s achieve a level of sound that I had never heard before--that is until I got the nOrh 6.5s.  The nOrh 7.0s redefine audio for me.   I have nearly given up watching videos because the images I see in my head are more vivid than the images I used to see on my TV.  Music has new meaning for me.  I believe that the nOrh 7.0s are one of the finest loudspeakers I have ever heard. In fact, I am going to replace my bedroom nOrh 6.0s with a pair of 7.0s."

Bill Hanson--Customer DIY nOrh 7.0s (USA)

The [nOrh 7.0] speakers have reignited my passion for music and equipment. A quick summary of them with about 12 - 15 hours of music. Bass is very surprising for a speaker that size. There are certain  which frequencies pressurize the room to the point my wife asked if I was running the other speakers also. Until I get my equipment rack I am not able to more the speakers to a better position. As such my listening is done in a more near field position than I prefer (that is all speakers in my room at this time). The high end is very refined and just a little laid back at this time. Previously I had been listening to a ribbon tweeter which was flat up to 40k, those speakers were more detailed, but as such less musical. Women's voices are far more life like with the nOrh's. Dynamics are also very good.

Jim Hoffman--Customer for nOrh 6.0 and 6.5s (USA)

These are the best sounding speakers for their price on the market.  Their depth and breadth of sound are equal to speakers costing 4-5 times as much.  The unique design of the cases makes their visual   presentation in any sound setting very pleasing to the eye. nOrh is to be commended for their design.

Anthony Thomas--Customer for nOrh 7.0 (USA)

The speakers sound very good.   I would give them "*****" (five stars) overall for sound quality.

Michael Greting--Customer for nOrh 7.0 (Sweden)

I got the kit on Thursday last week, and I mounted the elements on Friday. Since then, I can?t stop listening to them! The sound is very clear and natural, I keep finding new details in the music all the time. They are really top quality speakers. Wow! They look pretty cool too.

Independent Lab  testing nOrh 6.5 (England)

the nOrh 6.5 produced 104!!! dB without strain using a modest 100 wpc amplifier.

Audiophile Magazine testing nOrh 6.5 (Thailand) Sound

Five out of Five stars.  The Best. Very musical.   Satisfactory sound from even modest systems. Capable to upgrade the sound to high-end with the appropriate equipment. It achieves a new level of detail.  Both microdynamics and macrodynamics from high to low is natural an detailed.  Can handle lots of volume and create realistic sound levels--but you don't have to play them loud. Click here for the complete review

Kipp Aldrich--Industrial Light and Magic--commenting on nOrh 7.0 (USA)

THEY ARE GREAT!

These speakers are marvelous. I love the sound from them. My biggest disappointment is how bad they reveal the flaws in my other equipment. Now I must begin to upgrade everything! Such a problem to have.

Truly, these speakers are a find. There are pleasing to listen to, and to look at. My wife simply loves the "no-box" design. And I find the sound to be so much above anything comparable in price that I will proselytize about them to anyone interested.

Angelina Kwan -- Hong Kong (nOrh 6.0)

My friend recently bought a set of your speakers and lugged them back to Hong Kong.   I was most impressed with the sound and the design.

Mike Hazen -- Alaska, USA (nOrh 7.0)

I had a chance to listen to the nOrh 7.0 this weekend.  I am very pleased.  I ran the new Rolling Stones, Women of Rock through them and they sounded awesome.

Walter Teal -- USA (nOrh 7.0)

It is becoming apparent that you truly are concerned with building a reputation for quality and integrity...

the sound is everything you said it would be. Even with my modest amplification I think that they sound better than the Apogees ever did. I went out and bought Diana Krall. When you close your eyes it almost seems like she's there in the room with you.

Another CD that I think shows them off pretty well is Roseanne Cash: 10 Song Demo.

...

The 7.0s are awesome.  Everything you said about the clarity and detail seems to hold true.  I especially like listening to acoustic guitar licks on them.  I got Mary Stallings CD that you suggested.  It sounds great.  I really appreciated just how great when I went to a small jazz bar the other day and noticed how much it sounded like my room when playing that CD.  I'm really looking forward to adding the 4.0s to my surround sound system and watching a few good movies.

Barry Solof -- USA (nOrh 7.0)

First, thanks for making such a fine sounding speaker available at a reasonable cost.  I loved hi-fi years ago and finally just plain gave up on it because it got too expensive.  After visiting a couple of audio stores recently, it seems that the cost of gear is just plain silly.The 7.0's soundstage is just plain amazing ... scary at times. Get them setup properly, find a great recording, and you'll get lost in the music.  It's wonderful. They make it pretty near impossible to do anything else while they are on.  Go ahead, put on a favorite CD and try to read.  The nOrh's will win.

Bottom line? I've heard better (and worse) sounding speakers that cost an obscene amounts of money and eat a lot of room real estate. Every speaker has good and bad points (even the really expensive ones).  Up until the nOrh's I thought it would take several grand more for speakers this good.

Mark Nash -- USA (nOrh 7.0)

I am surprised at the changes I notice everytime I play with the Norh's!  Of course the bass is improving, but they seem more live too. In fact, I had them upstairs this weekend playing them, and they sound so real on some of the Jazz and Blues stuff is is amazing!

There is still a little "horny" quality to them on some material - maybe my equipment...  But they are really starting to come alive.

Scott L. Coffee -- USA (nOrh 7.0)

Just a note to say how happy I am with the 7.0's I ordered. I'd written before about a peak in the Freq. response, but it appears to have resolved itself. I'm assuming it was do to insufficient break-in time for the scan-speak drivers. These things just continue to sound better all the time. I'm a big Warren Zevon fan and now I hear background vocal I never knew were there. More surprising is the fact that I cannot only hear these vocals, but I can recognize the voices (Jackson Browne; Glenn Fry; Stevie Nicks, etc.). The sound in stereo is simply tremendous. I can hear the separate tracks laid down in the studio ... amazing.

As to surround, I'm thinking about raising my big screen, b/c once the three front channels are at the same vertical height the sound in Dolby Pro-logic is unbelievable. There in no panning from speaker to speaker, just a coherent sound field. As it is now, I've got the center raised about 8 inches from the ground. The sound is still tremendous, just not quite as seamless.  The most impressive thing about these speakers is the dynamics. They really "snap." Great transit attacks.

Paul Steeves -- USA (nOrh 6.5)

Michael,

I *finally* got my 6.5s installed...(I put a screwdriver thru a woofer on the first go-round... ouch!)

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

*Now* I understand what all that "imaging" and "soundstage" talk is about!

I can only imagine what the ScanSpeak drivers do!... (I guess you can have an "I told you so")

But I'm more than thrilled w/ the 6.5s ... I'm hearing things I never heard before! I listen to a fairly eclectic range of music - so the first several disks I tried to run the gamut...

Pablo Casals ... beautiful tones - although they betrayed the age of the recording... now I need an equalizer..(you've created an audiophile monster!)

Erasure ... Hearing all kinds of spatial effects they put into their productions.

Chet Baker... Wow ... Wow.

The Clash ... Their first album (my favorite recording of all time ...it totally changed the sound... I heard detail in the background singing where I didn't even know there was background singing! And I must have listened to that song a thousand times!

I'm ecstatic.

Jos Hoffman Holland (nOrh 7.0)

Dear Michael,

This week Monday I received the speakers and I must say specially the Norh 7.0 sounds even better then I expected I tested them in several configurations ; Cambrigde 3 cd player , Quad 66 and 606 ; Meridian cd , Audio Research tube pre and van Medenvoort poweramp and its great.

Yip-Sup Kim -- a Zen Amplifier user now, (nOrh 7.0)

Hello Mr. Barnes,

I have been listening nOrh 7.0 for five months now and you may surprise to hear that I'm listening it with 5 watts per channel Zen amp by Decware. Since 7.0's sensitivity is rated as 87 dB, I did not expect full sound without clipping. By surprise, so far I have never experienced clipping sound at all. Of course there is limit to loudness but I always get more than enough loudness. Many Zen amp users (there are about two hundred of them now) say they experienced clipping sound and they confess that they still love the sound. I did report my experience with 7.0 to the designer of Zen amp and I think he post nOrh 7.0 as a recommended speaker. I do not understand the reason that while some more sensitive speakers than 7.0 makes clipping sound, 7.0 works fine with 5 watts amp. I personally recommended 7.0 to SET users but I also warned them if their main music is rock rather than jazz or classic, and their listening room is very big better look at other speakers such as Klipsch 20 and etc. So, I'd like to ask you to build a very sensitive speaker: 97 - 100 dB or more. I realized that there are a lot of SET users and the number increases rapidly...

Again, I really appreciate your fine work of nOrh 7.0. The sound of these with Zen is fantastic.

Ralph Lueth -- Portugal (nOrh 7.0)

Congratulations! After around 100 hours of music, the nOrh 7.0 loudspeakers sound clear, transparent, detailed, dynamic. The mid range is impressive and the soundstage and bass are improving steadily as the playing goes. They are stunningly good, performing way better than I expected. I'm elated!

Tim Voitetsky -- USA (nOrh 7.0 and audioform 5i integrated amp)

Dear Mr. Barnes, Everything you said is holding true -- these speakers (and the amp -- give my best regards to Verner for me, will you?) are unbelievable. When I turned on the system for the first time, I thought to myself that the sound is already pretty close to perfect out of the box (although there weren't as much air and headroom as there are now). And it continues to improve! I am listening to the CDs I haven't touched in ages. Yesterday I listened to the 1st concert by P.I. Tchaikovsky.... ah! I can even listen to the system at ultra-low volumes and still hear all the details. Please give my thanks and best regards to everybody involved in the process, I appreciate your great work. Also, please thank Verner on my behalf, his first amp on the American soil is a hit! I expected a lot from both products, but the reality proved them to be even better than you claimed :). It's probably my most satisfying purchase I have made in years. Thank you very much!

Most sincerely,

Tim.

Fulco Dekker (Netherlands) nOrh 4.0

My friend is delighted with the Norh 4.0's too, they sound very good. Bass is restricted, but not bad at all for a speaker that size. And they look great! We noticed that the binding posts on the Norh 4.0 are now gold too, not the plastic ones on the pictures of the website, very nice. He is thinking of trying to convince his brother to get a pair of these too, maybe his wife will accept these speakers, the way they look. I might want a pair too, as rear speakers to complement my Norh 7.0's. On the other hand, I might want a dedicated music setup and a separate surround system. Music is much more important to me than surround sound for movies. I might take the speakers to the local audio(phile) shop, where they do listening sessions now and then. Let's see how they like them.

Fulco

John David Duke, Jr., USA, (nOrh 4.0)

Hello,

It gives me great pleasure to write this email. I have only recently received my nOrh 4.0 speaker pair and, already, I'm amazed by the sound. Bur I must relate this tale to you.

I was waiting anxiously for them, and when they came, I asked my colleagues to help me get them from our post office. Well, they picked up the boxes before I arrived, so there they were --the boxes from Thailand, my two colleagues smiling at me, and a pair of scissors. I had been talking about these speakers for a month, you see, so my colleagues were just as anxious as I was to open the boxes and witness sonic excellence. Suddenly, one of them had to use the restroom and the other had to make a phone call, so they both left the room. But I didn't wait for them to come back. Well, I opened the first box, and don't you know, I found only the packing material. A speaker had obviously been there, but in between Thailand and St. Louis, Missouri, it had been removed.

"Hmm," I thought, "Something's, amiss here." It had already been a pretty bad week. The computers in our studio had all crashed. I, as the computer guru, had been unable to resurrect them from the dead, so the studio had been down. I love to do studio work, so without a studio, I had nothing to do except print CD labels, which is poor work for a studio engineer. I opened the other box. Same condition. Packing material, but no speaker. Oh! I was devastated! Where were my 4.0s?!? I had been waiting to order them since May, I had been waiting for them in the mail for a week, and now they were stolen! I didn't know what else to say but, "Something's amiss here." I knew I had to email Namphung to tell her that they were stolen, but what could she do? She's in Thailand and I'm in Missouri. My colleagues didn't seem to be very helpful, either. "How much did they cost?" said Al. "$350" I said. "Each?" "For both." I just sat there, looking into the empty boxes. "Did they have woofers?" asked Gretchen, "I have a dog that goes 'woof!'" She laughed. "They have 5 inch woofers, I think," I replied. "What did they look like?" asked Al. "They look like a Thai longdrum," I replied, very patiently. I'm sure that if I had been 10 years old and Christmas had not come on December 25th like everyone promised, I could not have looked more distressed then than I did at that moment. Suddenly, Al disappeared again. I thought he had gone to use the restroom again. I inspected the boxes and found no evidence of tampering. But a second later, Al came back into the room bearing in his arms a single nOrh 4.0.

"Did they look like this?" he laughed. I could have killed them both.

Anyway, I'm listening to one of my favorite CDs at work right now, because the studio is still down. I disconnected our JBL SM 4408s and put the nOrh 4.0's on top of them. I honestly can't believe the sound. If I hadn't been the one who disconnected the JBL speakers, I would swear that both sets of speakers are playing. The high ends are high, the low ends are low and the mids are pristine. Listening fatigue is not an issue after an hour of relatively high volume. Amazing. And my wife loves the natural color. It will go nicely with my personal home studio when I finally get an amp to power the nOrhs.

We have a technical consultant who is somewhat an audiophile. He has designed his own speakers trying to solve the problem of parallel surfaces. Naturally, he was intrigued by your solution. He understands the problem of porting the energy out the rear of a cylindrical cabinet, so he has one question. What is the design reason for the size of the port in the rear? If this is a trade secret, he completely understands. He's the nicest guy I know. I'm not sure he would even appreciate the fact that I asked on his behalf. He would feel like he was intruding on you.

So that's my experience with the nOrh 4.0s. I am very happy to have stumbled across your web page in late May. That experience has opened a small door into the world of hi-fidelity that I was previously unaware of.

Yours,

John David Duke, jr.

Ken Pan, Malaysia (nOrh 6.5)

Hi Namphung

I have been running in the above since I received them last month. The sound has change completely. Using my naim 250,the bass is incredibly tuneful and dynamic. The soundstage is also very wide as compared to my epos 11. Good work,keep it up and I will tell my friends about your 'drum' speakers.

I have the epos 11 before I got your splendid 6.5 which is a VAST improvement over the former which wasn't a bad speaker too.

cheers
ken pan

Pedro Soutinho, Portugal (nOrh 6.5)

They're real beautiful and i think the sound great, clear and detailed but is a little bit to brillant. Probably they still need to "burn" a few hours more but i want to ask you if there's a recommended type of cables. I use a pair of Flatline copper cables from Nordost.

I-Ping Chen, Taiwan (nOrh 7.0 and Subwoofers)

When we listened to a passage of double bass solo the other day (with only one subwoofer), my wife said,  "To my ears, I cannot imagining anything closer to the real thing......". With that comment, I'd like to congratulate you on fulfilling every single promise you gave on your web pages.

Thank you for bringing such a wonderful system to the often over-priced hi-end circle.

I-Ping

Drew McAuliffe , USA (nOrh 7.0 and Subwoofers)

Everything is working out fine with the new speakers and the fixed subwoofer. Putting the driver into the subwoofer was very easy and now I have a working system!

I wanted to thank all of you for helping me out with my order. I hope for your sake that all orders aren't as troublesome as this one. UPS screwed up and made an otherwise routine process quite complicated. Throughout the whole process, however, every one of you was tremendously helpful, responsive, and informative. There is always a risk involved in ordering mail order, but to me that risk is neglible when people like you are on the other end of the order line. I couldn't be more pleased with the product you built or the service you have provided.

Please tell your customers about what happened in this situation. You took what could have been a nightmare and fixed it so that everyone was happy. I especially liked the fast response I got to my numerous email inquiries. I will highly recommend Norh speakers and products to my friends.

The 7.0s are absolutely fantastic. Clear and liquid don't do them justice. The subwoofers are incredibly tight. You can crank up the bass attenuators if you really want to, but they work best when they don't dominate. You can tell they are definitely not designed to "boom" like typical subwoofers which distort signals to give the impression of deep sound. They stay tight and low and really open up the presence of the 7.0s.

Thanks again,

Drew McAuliffe

Jack B. Goldberg, USA (nOrh 6.5)

I got the 6.5s up and running. WOW! I haven't had time for extended listening yet, but it is wonderful. I think Anita Baker's "You Bring Me Joy"(Rapture cd) made my wife cry. I know Richard Elliot's "In Your Face"(On the town cd) made me cry.(we have different tastes in music)

I'm still using a low end receiver, but am getting amazing mid range and hi end. The clarity is incredible. The bass is there, just not in those crisp waves of compression you describe you get with quality amplification. I am going to try using the woofers only in my AR2ax as as a stop gap measure until I can afford your powered sub or what ever you develop next. If I remove the link/bridge between 2 of the terminals, the woofer only will operate. Then, if I get a receiver with a subwoofer output I may get more. Next, would be to rehabilitate my Dynaco ST70 for music and use solid state for movies. Web sites like triodeel.com have sections dedicated to Dynaco. Failing that someday I'll try to get your Multiamp.

I'll continue to check the web site for what's new and tell everyone I know about Norh. Thank you for bringing extraordinary quality to the market at fair prices.

Ludwig D Dumaplin, USA (nOrh 6.5)

I received my loudspeakers 4 days after it was mailed and I was impressed with the appearance and the beauty of the workmanship. It feels very solid. Felt like a lot of manhours were spent in the production of each of them. It is a real work of art and I'm glad to own a pair of them, maybe more in the future. My Dad was visiting from California when the packages arrived and he too was impressed by it. I tried to connect it to my system with the silver speaker cable that you sent me through the kindness of your heart but was short for a couple of inches so I connected it anyway via my old speaker cable and the sound that emanated from it was truly amazing. My wife couldn't believe it either. There was virtually no distortion detected. Music came out very detailed and crisp. My Dad said it was excellently balanced and comparable to a live performance. The Phantom of the Opera sounded very lifelike and it was like hearing it again for the first time. Vocals and instruments were very pleasing to the ears even at higher decibels than I was accustomed to listening. The clarity doesn't seem to fade or start feeling "cluttered" with higher volumes. It was truly what I've been expecting and more. I can't wait to use silver speaker wires to be able to harness its maximum potential and I know I'm not going to be disappointed. By the way, you've also turned my wife to a believer. Needless to say. we are very satisfied with our purchase and proud to own a pair of nOrh 6.5 speaker .You and your staff have been very helpful and prompt in giving information. That is well appreciated. I will recommend nOrh speakers to anyone who is in the market for one and please post this message in your website to help them decide to choose nOrh speakers. It is a decision they will never regret. Thanks for making "high-end " music appreciation affordable and enjoyable. More power to you.

Don Couture, USA, nOrh 6.5 and nOrh 4.0

Hi Michael,

I have been living with a pair of 6.5's and a 4.0 center now for a couple of months and am finally ready to give credit where credit is due. I made sure I allowed ample time for break in and for the excitement to die down before writing my thoughts on your speaker. Wouldn't want any outside factors clouding my review. I must say I am amazed! I really like the speakers for HT, the 4.0 is excellent as a center dialog is crisp and clean but where the 6.5's truly shine is 2 channel stereo. It's unbelievable! I have never heard such clarity and detail in any other speaker. I have almost had a rebirth in my love of music (much to the dismay of my HT) I spend hours listening to CD's now which in the past would have been spent watching a DVD. I can turn off the lights close my eyes, and get lost in the music. I am not a huge techno babble guy so I won't even try to explain what I hear I just want you to know I cannot possibly imagine (on my budget) enjoying music anymore than I do when listening on your speakers.

I have had numerous friends inquire about the nOrh's, whether from my non-audio friends for the look (I got gloss black it took a little longer but was well worth the wait, they are beautiful) or my audio friends for the sound. Hopefully soon one of them will take the plunge and the nOrh family will get a little larger.

I have been reading about the recent changes to the 7.0's someday when I can afford it an upgrade to my audio only system is in the cards... someday.

One happy customer for life,

Don Couture

P.S. I hope I did not ramble too much but there is so much excitement when I think about your speakers I have a hard time containing myself.

Jennifer Brabason, USA, nOrh 4.0 and 7.0

I received my speakers this morning They are sooo cool!!! And sooo beautiful!!!

I had a funny experience last night. I apparently hooked the 7.0s up wrong (connected the wires to the wrong set of terminals). I started up one of my movies and was really impressed with the sound and then suddenly realized that the 7.0s weren't even on (I was listening to the 4.0s) So, I hooked them up the correct way and was then blown away by the sound quality!

Rob Curtis, USA, nOrh 7.0s

I finally received them on thursday, but I was in Chicago until Friday night. They look beautiful, a nice dark walnut type color. 

.......................

I have listened to them for much of this weekend and ABed them to my floor standing Klipsch 10.5 and also my B&W 601 s2. There was not much competition with either of my existing speakers. nOrhs had greater soundstage and imaging then Klipsch's, and much better bass then B&W's. They sound Great!! My wife thinks they look classy too. (High wife acceptance factor) Now my problem is what to do with the Klipschs. I judged bass on Jennifer Warnes The Hunter and they went way way down way down deep! The reason I compared them to my B&W's was that it would give me a reference to the B&W Nautalus 805.

From what I remember from the comparison of the 805 to the 601, the nOrhs sound at least as good and probably better. The B&W's were ranked as Stereophile A for LF (limited frequency) speakers. I think the nOrhs are better, but without a direct AB comparison I wouldn't say that, only that
they are at least as good.

Thien Pham, USA, nOrh Subwoofer and nOrh 5.1

Hi Michael,

I am watching Desperado on with the three nOrh 5.1 at the front with the single nOrh subwoofer, and I must say that this setup already beat my previous speakers for home theater. The nOrh subwoofer is truely amazing for its size. For the first time, I actually hear seperation in sound below 80 Hz. All this time, listenned to the lousy bass the Sunfire True Sub put out with so much noise which I was mistaken for loudness. The Sunfire True Sub retail for $ 1250.00, and I paid $760.00 for it (I got a very good deal for this one). I paid a little bit more for your sub but there is no comparision between the two. Your sub puts out quality bass, and is a fine piece of furniture that I am proudly to own.

George Heidweiler, nOrh 5.1 Netherlands

They’re earthy yet ethereal. I love their sexy shape: they’re very lovable and easy to hug - try that with the standard audio coffin! Thank you and your crew for the outstanding product that is such an asset to my quarters. Everybody loves them! I realise you are a very busy man, but there’s one more thing I’d like to communicate with you. For me it’s very encouraging to see it is possible to run a business on your terms, which seem quite unique in the business world. As I see it, your unique selling point is integrity, which is so strong customers don’t even need to touch the merchandise to know they’re gonna get exactly what they read. In my humble opinion you have created a most inspiring example for this world that seems to be ever more ruled by deceit and phoney values. Norh’s heartwarming blend of personal obsession, care for others and an excellent product deserves wider attention. Regarding this I hope to contact you later on. The only drawback is, I have to upgrade now. I thought my Onkyo top of the range receiver was about the most refined my hearing would be able to perceive. But the 5.1’s proved me wrong. Thank you again Mr. Barnes!

Thank you for your time and keep up the good work! Yours sincerely, Jan Sennema PS – In case you feel inclined to use any of this, please feel free to quote, copy or use in any way (part of) this letter of recommendation

eR

J teoh, nOrh 4.0 Malaysia

Dear Michael,

Thanks for your instant response. Being the impatient hi fi nut and my curiosity getting the better of me on a Sunday morning, I subsituted my Extremas with the norh 4.0 and my first impression is that the speakers does extremely well from the mid-range to the upper frequencies. Its imaging qualities are rock solid. Everthing is spot on. It has good tonal quality and the mid-range is among the best in its price range - vocals are quite life-like. As expected, the bass doesn't go deep for its size but if it's there, its rythmic. These impressions are based on pop, country and rock music.

Then I decided to pull out the Classic re-issue of HI FI LA ESPANOLA on vinyl - I was stunned! The norh 4.0 managed to reproduce the large soundstage and scale of the orchestra with adequate heft and weight! I listened to the whole side of the vinyl - which really says something.

I tell ya Mike, I could forget about the bass and live with these speakers. AFter all, the designer of Sonus Faber, Franco Serblin has this to say about bass: "When you don't have it, you want it. When you have it, it disturbs you."

And how does it compare with the Sonus Faber Extremas? YOu must bear in mind that the Extremas cost more than 10 times the norh 4.0. So its a non issue. But I can tell you that your norh 4.0 has got the mid-range right on the money. Great. Congratulations. I suppose adding in a pair of sub-woofers would balance the equation somewhat closer.

Actually it may be too early to really critically listen to the speakers since it only clocked about 10 hours of duty so far. How long does it take to run in these speakers to full potential? I may do another critical listening 3 months down the road. Any way I intend for these speakers to be hooked for our family tv system as it fits in very well with our decor. So far the sound from the tv broadcast is almost 'high-end'. It is well controlled and noise-free. Vocals are more life-life. Bass are good enough for watching tv.

There's one thing that bothers me though - Mike, you gotta think about designing some appropriate speaker stands to make it more stable. It seems a bit filmsy and dangerous for these speakers to be just sitting on top of any standard stands. I mean, one could easily brush or knock on it and it will topple over. Maybe you could use some of the same wood for the stands and preferably able to lock-on the speaker so that it won't fall over even if accidentally knocked against.

I sure hope to be able to listen to the norh 9.0 sometime in the future. But from what you are telling me, it ought to sound great.

Best Regards, j teoh

Rob Curtis, USA, Multiamp, nOrh 7.0

I was always happy with the Bass I got out of my Pioneer Elite receiver and I loved the sound (it has MOSFET amps), however I always thought that the very upper end of the sound spectrum was muted. Boy was I right. The first thing I did was to hook the Multi-amp up in stereo mode to my nOrh 7.0's and ran the CD player (AH! Tjoeb) through the Pioneer and used the preouts to the multi-amp. The Bass I got on Jennifer Warnes The Hunter CD floored me. I thought that the bass I had heard from the 7.0's was deep before, but I could feel the bass and it wasn't turned up very loud. Very impressive! The rest of the sound is just how I like it, very smooth, not harsh or fatiguing. Then I hooked up the Morisson pre-amp. I
was right about the muffled highs (mainly cymbals and very high bells). I liked the tweeter in the 7.0's before but I absolutely love them now. All sounds made on a CD come through as intended, the shimmer of the lightest touch on a cymbal, or the lowest note on an organ, or a singers voice all ring true. I don't see how speakers could get much better then this. But after hearing how much better the 7.0's are with quality electronics I can't wait to try the 9.0's. I also can't wait to hear how the Multi's work in "active mode"

Tyson Neidig, USA, nOrh 7.0

Right out of the box, without the drivers broken in they already sound better than my last speakers - a pair of Monitor Audio Silver 5's. Once the 7.0s are fully broken in I will write up a full review of
them on audioreview.com - probably in about 2-3 months. BTW, the enclosures are gorgeous - the pictures on the web site really do not do them justice. 
Thanks again

Robert Curtis, USA, nOrh 9.0 and pair of Multiamps

I finally had a chance to hear the Multi-amps and the nOrh 9.0 speakers in active mode. Both Werner and I listened to Jennifer Warnes The Hunter CD many times. Without being broken in they SOUNDED AS GOOD as a system I just heard with the same CD. That system cost $30,000 and consisted of B&W Nautilus 802 speakers, MacIntosh MC1000 amps, EAD TheaterMaster pre/pro, a Proceed CDP, and (they said) about $2000 worth of cables. When those Revelator woofers break in I think that my system may sound better than that system, but for now I am glad that it sounds as good.

I know there are systems out there that sound better than the 9.0's, the nOrh subs, Multi-amps, AH! Tjoeb CD player, and Morrison preamp, but I have never heard them.

I am especially pleased with the sound of the speakers and the multi-amps. For the last month I listened to the multi-amps in stereo mode with the nOrh 7.0's, and it was very easy to set them up for active mode. I had them down seven decibels, Werner set them to -5, I liked that setting just a touch better so I left them there. The amps have a very full sound that I have to pull myself away from to go to bed because it makes me stay up too late listening to them (no listening fatigue) in fact they are kind of addicting to listen to. 

Hungsen Hsu, USA, pair of Multiamps and nOrh 9.0

Multiamps are extremely fast. I believe it's the fastest amp I have heard. 
The 8530k00 is amazing. I can still be surprised by its bass.
Overall, I am very satisfied.

Tyson Neidig, USA, nOrh 7.0

Peter Tran, USA, nOrh 9.0

We are all quite pleased with what we got. Yesterday, I brought one of the two 9.0 pairs of mine to a local dealer who carries many of the top brands speakers including the B&W Nautilus and his comment for the Norh 9.0s as "transparent as hell!!!". At this store, we were able to compare mine to many other speakers which cost a lot more and the Norh 9.0s outperform most of them. 

Aram Compeau, USA nOrh 9.0 and Multiamp

I *really* like the sound of the multiamp. I can't say I've compared to a Plinius, but everything else is paling in comparison (an inexpensive Carver just for kicks, and a reasonable Musical Fidelity A3 CR). I had been considering the Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300, but I think I'll be ordering a few more Mulitamps instead (I cannot WAIT to use a pair to drive the nOrh 9.0's!).

For that matter, let me say for the record that I absolutely love the nOrh 9.0 as well. Tossing price out the window, they have phenomenal sound. When you factor in the cost, they are unparalleled. I'm really looking forward to hearing the marble 9.0's!

Anytime you order something that you haven't listened to, you're never sure what you'll be getting. In this case, you greatly exceeded my expectations.

Please extend my thanks to everyone at nOrh for producing such fine equipment. :-)

Best Regards,

Aram Compeau

Pete Dare, nOrh, Canada, nOrh 4.0 and 5.1

I'm ecstatic! My speakers arrived safe & sound. And boy do they look good & sound good. Hooked up to my Marantz sr-4000 receiver and old-time Hitachi Tv...just feeling my way. My DVD arrives soon and then we'll really see some action. I haven't listened to the radio this intensely in years!!! Thanks again for fabulous service and I'll be spreading the word in my corner of the world, Mystic, Quebec.

Rodel, USA, nOrh 9.0 and Multimap

The Multiamp and the nOrh 9.0s have broken in and they produce the most wonderful sound of all stereo systems.

Tyson Neidig, nOrh 7.0 and nOrh Subwoofer

Just wanted to let you know I got the subs on monday, safe and sound. They were incredibly well packed and it is a good thing - the UPS man dropped them while unloading the truck, but it did nothing to harm the subs. And yes, the subs kick major jams! I was worried that they would not match the quality of the 7.0's, either in finish or in overall sound. Let me tell you, the subs are even better overall than the 7.0's from both an appearance and a performance standpoint (and I absolutely love the 7.0's) - the subs are stunning. The bass is of course deep and powerful, as you would expect, and I have used other subs in my music system before, so that is nothing really new. But what is new is how controlled the bass is. When a bass note stops, it STOPS! No overhang at all, which is what makes most other subs sound like they are reproducing mush instead of musical instruments. But the most amazing thing is what has happened to the sound of my system in the mids and highs - they became more 3 dimensional, and "fleshed out". The whole system just took a giant leap forward in realism. My wife, who is definitely not a fan of "boxes" in the living room told me last night (while we were listening to a Sara McLaughlin CD), "You know, I do like having Sara in our living room singing to me." How is THAT for an endorsement? She has always appreciated my hobby & the "system" in the past, but this is the first time I have really seen her "get in to it". I can hardly wait to hear it all hooked up to the nOrh preamp and a pair of nOrh multiamps. But for now, I am just enjoying the best speaker system I have ever heard. To me it is a cross between the precision and power of the Wilson Watt Puppy 6 combined with the musicality of the Sonus Faber Amati Homage. To my ears the 7.0/Sub combo keeps some SERIOUS high end company. Thank you for allowing me to have the audiophile "dream" at a price that is still attainable to normal people.

Niel Rosenston, USA, nOrh 7.0 and nOrh 4.0

Hi Michael,

I really like the sound and look of my 7.0/4.0 setup. My friends and family all like them too surprisingly more than the magnepan 1.6s they replaced. I have noticed on the various HT/audio threads more and more people talking about nOrh.

Karl-Heinz Hahn, nOrh 9.0

Dear Namphung,

after the first 2 hours of listening, I would like to give you first feedback. First of all, I think that the Pass Aleph 3 is definitely able to drive the 9.0. I also agree with Michael that the more they break in the louder they get. There is also a big change in sound quality. While during the first listening session I thought that they sound much better than the B&W CDM1, already on the second day, I thought that this is another class (and it got better every day). The bass extension is unbelievable for a speaker of that size ! Imageing, midrange,... amazing. Each CD/record sounds better, also the bad recordings, but like with many good components, the big difference shows up, if you test it with really good software. I played Rebecca Pidgeon's "Grandmother" on Chesky Gold CD or Beethoven's 5th symphony on a Karajan Record of Deutsche Grammophon of the early 60s. The sound is so close to the real thing that I can't think of anything to improve. Congratulations to Michael and the Norh team.

E.S. Wee, Singapore, nOrh 9.0 marble

What an incredible pair of speakers! I was listening to a CD titled "Songs Building Bridges" by the Tapiola Choir, the voices were just angelic I got goose bumps.

I could hear more details from my CDs that I did not know exist before. Incredible solid bass too. My living room would need some re-d?cor. Choir pieces were simply superb when play through the 9.0s. The voices were so distinct. The last movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 came through beautifully. The Jolida does a pretty good job driving the 9.0s but I think I may need more amplifier power pretty soon. The 9.0s seem to demand more than the 100 watts per channel that the Jolida hybrid was pumping out. Is your pre-amp going to be ready soon?

Cruz Clark, USA, nOrh 7.0 and Multiamp

I have had my multi-amps for about 4 months. After a fair bit of use, I can honestly say I enjoy them more now than when I first brought them home. The multi-amps and 7.0s have reminded me just how good music can sound. My wife and kids are even hooked now. We are all looking forward to the pre-amp and CD player.

Aram Compeau, USA, nOrh marble 9.0

Hi Namphung,

I just wanted to let you know I got the speakers from Mr. Neidig the other day. I finished hooking them up last night and they sounds incredible. Thanks for going through all the trouble of switching from wood to marble on those two speakers, I do appreciate it (& my ears really appreciate it! :-). The next time I'm in the area, I'd love to stop by and say hi. I'd also like to say thanks for doing what you do. That's vague until I clarify by saying this is what I think you do:

You are craftsmen who are interested in workmanship (a vanishing quality these days)

You make great products where the goal is producing top quality for a reasonable price (no cheap shortcuts, no "brand name" premium)

You back up your products with honesty and service.

Bryan Kuhlmann, USA, nOrh 4.0

I received shipment of my pair of nOhr 4.0's in April and have spent the summer breaking them in. I absolutely love them!!! The real tribute is the huge swing in their "spousal acceptance factor". My wife has gone from, "they certainly are different, don't put them in my family room" to wanting to build our home theater system around them. I had planned through this summer to build a home theater system around a set of Lynn Olsen's Ariel and ME2 speakers I would build myself (utilizing Corian baffle boards and a few other neat tweaks), but after replacing our normal family room speakers with the 4.0's last week (I had been using them in the den), they sounded so good my wife said, "why build other speakers, didn't you say you could order bigger round ones as a kit?" That's all I needed to hear!!!

Neil rosenston, USA, nOrh marble 7.0

Marble nOrh 7.0 up and running!!!

I've had the marble 7.0 for about 3+ weeks. It was one of the first pairs. First off, it is the best looking speaker I have ever seen. It is a very classy speaker that adds to the room (unlike my maggie 1.6s.) The pictures on the website do not do it justice. My wife told me I better not sell these and get some ugly box (she doesn't have to worry!)

E. S. Wee, Singapore, nOrh marble 4.0

I received the 4.0s this evening. They really look very good and sound very good indeed. They are very much an improvement over the wood model. The sound is much cleaner; the bass is stronger and deeper. I like them and they match very well indeed with the modified Jolida.

Rick Lavine, USA, nOrh marble 9.0

I love 'em! I do not know the right terms or categories that audio reviewers use to describe sound qualities in loudspeakers, but I'll do my best to describe what I hear. First, the instruments and voices sound very accurate and very present - close to being in the room. I like what I think is referred to as imaging or soundstage -that is, there's a nice dispersion of the sound across the room and good separation of the instruments across the space. And a fair amount of depth, as well. I particularly like what I can only describe as neither an excessive warmth nor an excessive crispness. That continuum seems to disappear because the sound is very pure. With more volume, they seem to get better and better.

Barry Chung, USA, nOrh CD-1

I received the CD-1 CD player and it sounds great!

Bryan Pedersen, Canada, nOrh marble 9.0

I am writhing a short note to tell you how much I am enjoying the Marble 9.0 speaker I purchased from you. They are simply out standing in performance and value, and I believe I know what outstanding means. I spent 23 years in the Audio business in Western Canada before I retiring. I have owned many great speakers over those years, put nothing that even comes close to the performance for the dollar, that the nOrh marble 9.0 gives you. I am using a pair of Atma-Sphere M60 MK11 to drive the nOrh's and this is a match made in heaven. Atma-Sphere amps need a very benign impedance curve to perform well which the nOrh's have. The quality of the marble cabinets is beautiful. My wife thinks they are the nicest looking speaker I have owned.

Thank you again

Bryan Pedersen

Tyson Neidig, USA, nOrh marble 7.0

Just wanted to let you know that I got the marble 7.0's up and running a couple of days ago - I have to say they are stunning, both in appearance and in performance. I think the marble cabinets are allowing the drivers to operate in as close to pure pistonic motion as possible. This has the result of making everything sound more precise and giving the 7.0's a more dynamic overall sound. Considering that the wood 7.0's are the best 2 way speakers had ever heard, this is quite a compliment.

R. E. Mulford, USA, nOrh marble 4.0

I received my nOrh 4 black marble center channel speaker yesterday. I am completely satisfied. What makes the purchase even nicer is that my wife likes it also. I have listened to it for around 15 hours already. I really like it.

Darko Anderluh, Crotia, nOrh CD 1

I am very impressed with the CD-1 I make some listening paralelly with ROTEL cd 991 , Copland 266 , Naim CD-5 and I must tell You that Norh CD-1 is in class of his own. Major diference between CD-1 and other cd-players which I have at home is that with CD-1 You listen the music; not digits.

Cd-1 is also able to resolve fine details which for me is not posiblle to hear before. Beacuse of that now I listen my cd,s with more pleasure.
I also change Ecc-83s in Cd-1 for Valvo ECC83 and I must tell You that sound is even better ( especially in bass region)

Best regards, Darko

Neil Rosenston, USA, marble 9.0

The 9.0 marbles are fantastic. You are right about the revelators, they are amazing. I am going to do an A/B comparison between the 7.0 marble and the 9.0 marble and post the results as well as right a review on the 9.0s once they are broken in.

Jeff Lyons, USA, Prism 5.2

I received my 5.2-rosewood speakers yesterday, one week after they were picked up in Thailand. They are absolutely lovely to look at and a joy to listen to. Until the remainder of the order arrives, they will be connectedto my music system. I have them coupled for the moment with an 8", Cambridge SoundWorks Powered Subwoofer Jr (only 75w) but this adds the lower end down to about 30 Hz, and matches up fairly nicely with with the Prisms. I have the crossover set to 60 Hz. Overall, I'm very impressed with the finish, sound, and overall workmanship. They play much louder than I anticipated and are very clean & tight sounding.

Alex Lam, USA, Ceramic 4.0

One thing REALLY stands out is the percussion/drums. The snare drum sound just totally real. It's scary.

The bass is really very good for the small size, and with better amp , it's very authoritative, powerful, and tuneful. In my bedroom, (about 15x18ft. The bass is good enough for most jazz, pop/rock, and light classical music without needing a subwoofer. The overall sound is very balanced. Even without the sub. Kick drums and bass can be felt as well. Electric guitar and trumpet sound very real. With Miles Davis "Tutu" CD, his trumpet was reproduced with a very good bite. These little piggies are VERY DYNAMIC. And love to play loud.

One thing is really funky... Okay. If I sit in between the speakers, the soundstage is not that wide, just in between the two speakers, but with good depth.

Then, if I sit about 3-4 ft to the side (about 20-30 degree diagonal to the front plan of the speakers. The soundstage then becomes as wide as my whole room! And the sound is very smooth as well. And with huge depth. (By the way. My bedroom is kind of irregular pentagon shape. Has 5 corners.) So. You might try to check this out.

.....

But for the money, the size, and ease of positioning. I think you have a winner here.

The nOrh ceramic has some of the cleanest sound I've ever heard.

J. Bruin, USA, Cermic 4.0

Here are My initial thoughts of the 4.0.

Short Version:

NOrh service ­ excellent
Fit and finish ­ think ceramic artwork rather then ceramic coffee mug CD
Sound ­ Clear, clean, transparent.
DVD ­ good transitions from left to right and from front to rear (EDIT ­ didn't have center speaker on so I will look at these again)

Long Version:

Initial opening:

Lets start from the beginning. My wife signed for the packages at 9:00, I HAD to stop in at noon and open them up and look at them. They looked VERY cool… except they had blue grills rather then black grills which I ordered! The blue actually looked good, and matched very well, but was not what I wanted. I e-mailed Mr. Barnes, and he said that there may have been some kind of confusion (they shipped 60 speakers this weekend) with the order. To fix it, he is shipping me a replacement grill. Let me say I am very impressed with the manor in which he handled this incident. The grill color is NOT that major of an issue IMO and yet it was handled very quickly, with out any delay and to my satisfaction.

Fit and Finish ­ some discussion about ceramics:

The speakers were packed very well in custom molded packing material. There was NO way these things were going to be damaged in transit! I would estimate they weigh about 12 lbs each? (just a guess). As I pulled them out I was very impressed with the finish on them. The look as good if not better then the pictures on the website. The finish is like artwork… let me explain with some background. My wife was in several Ceramics classes in college and I slipped in a couple of times to play around with it a bit (they didn't mind too much). The glaze (finish) on the nOrh is very similar to what I saw on my and my wife’s ceramic pots. Not as far as the color is concerned (we didn't use this color blue) but as far as the finish texture and look of it. It has a very glassy look to it. My wife said that it looked like the cabinets were “dipped” meaning that the cabinet was plunged into a bucket of glaze and then pulled back out, the same way it was done in the class. I am not sure if this is true but I would agree that it looked similar. Another similarity was that the glaze “ran” a bit. In the firing process the glaze becomes a liquid and sometimes will “run” or “flow” down (via gravity). The nOrh’s look like they were placed face (speaker side) down, you can see a slight color “flow” toward the speaker near where there is a slight indentation for the binding posts. Also there is a “lip” of glaze around where the face of the speaker is. That is the glaze had a slight flow down and “pooled” slightly around the edge. As seen in, pictures on the nOrh website, (see link - http://www.norh.com/news/0201/darkblue2-l.jpg ) this can cause slight bumps around the outside near the face of the speaker. Each speaker had these bumps but to a varying degree, each one was different. Also you can see just a slight edge of white around the grill (again as shown in the link above) and I think I know the reason for this. When ceramics are fired you need at least one surface to be free of glaze. This is because you do not want the glaze to touch any surface you do not want it bonded to. If you would glaze the bottom of a ceramic piece and the place it in the kiln (VERY hot oven) the glaze would liquefy and then when it cooled it would bond the item to the bottom of the kiln! The only way to get it off is to break it off, leaving you with sharp edges! I know… I have seen it on pieces I have done where the glaze ran too much! There were also a couple of “pits” where there was a very small air bubble in the glaze (< 20 thousands inches diameter - .002 in) leaving an indentation. Obviously only noticeable on close inspection. When thinking of the finish it is NOT like a Coffee mug, i.e. all exactly the same, and it IS like the artwork of my wife’s professor, unique and with character. If you want them all to be EXACTLY the same, you will be disappointed, but frankly I like them the way they are, very slight differences which makes each one unique!

Setup:

Ok enough already how does it sound! First, my equipment. Receiver: HTR-5150, (same as RX-V595), DVD: Panasonic RV-30, CD player: Sony CDP-??? (2 year old 5 disk changer) , Subwoofer: a re-badged Parasound monoblock driving a SVS 25-31CS (all listening was done with Sub on) . I know not it is maybe not “Top of the line” stuff, but I like it and it was a good VALUE (which I think is very important). I hooked everything up with no-name 16 ga speaker cable. I should probably get 14 or 12 ga for my longer runs (rears) but 12 ga does not fit into the rear speaker connections for my receiver and I had 16 ga. available. I placed the nOrh 4.0’s on top of my existing 5 year old Sony floor standing speakers, center on top of my TV and rears to each side of the couch on the two of the boxes the nOrh’s came in. Obviously not a permanent setup, but that will change soon (hopefully!) I first ran through AVIA and did a rough calibration, it looked good and I was not in the mood to sit and play test tones on my brand new speakers all night! I can say I didn't have much trouble at all, and the transition to the sub was very smooth. My wife said, “How can you tell when it goes from the speakers to the subwoofer?” As we were playing a 200Hz to 20Hz sweep. I just smiled and said “Exactly, your not supposed to be able to tell!”

CD’s

Next was, Mozart, I don’t remember what piece or movement, we tested several and my wife was at the control for picking what to listen to. The sound was outstanding! Very clear and clean. The stereo image was very good, you could tell that the instruments were in the correct place (left, middle or right) of the orchestra with great accuracy. (Sorry, I don’t know what goes where but my wife does and she was impressed!) The vocals were very clear and natural sounding, both male a female vocals. On one of the tracks we noticed what sounded like page turning, or a slight clicking. You definitely hear EVERYTHING on these speakers. I went back to the old Sonys and if I listened for it I could hear the “page turning” but it was not as clear or noticeable. I have a feeling on good recordings these speakers will really shine, on poor recordings, it will show every fault! Next we listened to Page Plant, Nobody’s Fault But Mine, off there No Quarter CD. I have always liked this song, recently appreciated it more fully with the SVS sub (now hearing a bass line which I could only hear half of before!) and now enjoy it even more! The sound is so incredibly clear and clean (sorry I am having a hard time thinking of other words to describe the sound!) Robert Plant was singing RIGHT in the center, VERY stable, and the stereo image (soundstage?) was very well placed and evident! I switched back to the Sonys for comparison (not much of a comparison really) and it sounds like Robert is singing through a dust mask or that the entire band is playing with a blanket over them or something. The image was terrible, Robert would kind of wander back a forth, not even comparable (sorry it is all I have to compare it to!) .

DVD’s We then popped in Toy story, listened to the opening THX where the Robot flies around and “fixes” the rear speakers… Cool… The sound didn’t’ quite match up with the video, so I may have to tweak some delay times (which I didn’t mess with yet) but the rear transition (left to right) was very good (considering the speaker placement) . Next we put in the opening sequence for Toy Story 2. This is more a test for the Sub (which the SVS passes with flying colors by the way) but it has some good surround effect and the nOrh’s did a good job of enveloping us in sound, from front to back as the opening credits pass over our head. We also skipped to Next was The Matrix. We started with the “Lobby Shooting Spree” the effects were impressive, yeah things exploding and whizzing by my head… way too much fun! Good example for this is when he is on the roof and dodges bullets from the agent like agents move. Very cool bullets passing by you. But this is really more of a DVD DD thing then Speakers. I will say having the exact same speaker all around it very nice. You do not hear any tonal differences when passing from front to back or left to right. …

EDIT… Well I may have to go over these again… I was going through calibrations again, and noticed that my center speaker was not even on!! I will go back and look at these again (sounds like fun!)

Conclusion:

The Ceramic nOrh 4.0 is extremely clear and clean. The finish is like fine artwork. The stereo image is very stable and unmistakable. I am withholding final judgement until I finish breaking them in and get everything set up correctly (may take a while as I am planning on re-arranging my living room) . None the less I do have to say these speakers are great and I really enjoy them.

Addendum: I did crank it up a bit this morning when playing Squirrel Nut Zippers, Hell, off there HOT CD. And they can play LOUD if you want them to. I measured a constant 100dB on one passage… then I tuned it down, too loud for me!

Solange Ho, nOrh 9.0, 2 Multiamps, nOrh CD-1, nOrh ACA

Now that I have a complete nOrh sereo setup (nOrh 9.0, 2 Multiamps, nOrh CD-1, nOrh ACA), I'll have to say that this is the best sound I've heard from any system. I've yet to heard a better hi-end system anywhere else.

My first nOrh purchase was the wood 9.0 from another owner. I wasn't the original owner. Yet they allowed me to upgrade to the marble 9.0. That type of customer commitment has kept me coming back for more. Now, I'm a very proud owner of a complete nOrh setup.

Thanks for making hi-end audio affordable to the rest of us.

Beng Victorino, USA, nOrh 9.0, 2 Multiamps

I now have the Multiamps (pair) running in "ACTIVE MODE" driving the marble 9.0s. They are mated with Morrison ELAD preamp, AMC CD transport, Monarchy DIP anti jitter and Musical Fidelity X24/96 DAC. All cables are by DH LABS.

I found the overall sound in ACTIVE MODE much better than standard STEREO MODE. The bass is tighter and has more authority. The midrange is more fleshed out and the higher frequency is more detailed and transparent. The sound is more dynamic. The overall sound is just amazing considering the cost of the system. I am very happy with the sound.

I belong to a small group of audiophiles in my area and last weekend I have a few members came over to my house to audition the system, particularly your products. These people own very expensive systems. After listening to the system, here's their verdict. Are you ready for this. They were all very impressed with the sound they are hearing. One of the guys even said, You know what I haven't heard any system that sound better than this for two times the price. Another guy said, this sound equal if not better than some of the most expensive system I've heard and finally the last guy's comment was, You know guys I beginning to feel more stupid for spending so much money on my system the more I listen to this system but hey nOrh was not in business yet when I bought my system. They also said that the sound can still be improved by upgrading the source (CD Player) and I agree with them 100 %. They recommend either: NJOE TJOEB 4000 (Danish modified) or nOrh CD-1. I know that the CD player is the weakest link. So the word is out. Watch Michael, you got to continue boosting your production. BTW they ask me about my experience re: your customer service and if I have any problem. I told them that one of the Multiamps was lost in shipping but you guys replaced it immediately. I'm really very happy the way you take care of your customers. Many thanks to everyone there at nOrh.

RoyChitwood, USA, 3 marble 4.0s and 3 prism 4.1s

I just received 3 marble 4.0s and 3 prism 4.1s. I will be using them in a 6.1 HT/Music system. Both types are just beautiful. Actually I expected the 4.0 to be beautiful but the prisms caught me by surprise. I didn't know if I would really like the looks of the prism shape, but I do - very much so. I think that the combination of the two different shapes in the room looks really great. I know that they are going to be the object of much discussion and amazement by my friends and family. And the finish on the natural teak is fantastic. This is my first quality audio system and I don't have a trained ear, which is why I decided I would trust the opinion of others. However I can say that the sound of the 4.0 is very nice - clear and open with good bass. And I am told by others that own them they will sound even better when broken in. I need to put up shelves to mount the prisms for surrounds so I haven't really listened to them very much but I am sure they will sound excellent also. I must say that the long wait and not really knowing when they would be shipped was very trying on my nerves, but at least I am well rewarded now. Thank you for making these great speakers available for such an affordable price.

Bruce Stewart-Smith, USA, nOrh 9.0

I have finally finished my Marchand XM9 active crossover, and am now running my 9.0s with Nelson Pass Class A mono blocks on the bottom and AES Sig 25 Super Amp(tubes)for the tweeters. The 9.0's are no slouches in passive mode, but this configuration in active mode has provided me with one of the best midrange/top ends I have ever heard. It is a bit of a leap of faith to buy these speakers unheard, but I am very happy with how things have turned out.(Although I am still waiting for a sales invoice from Namphung).

Michel, France, CD-1

I have recieve my CD 1. Everything is allright

I have listen immediatly to him, and I must say he sounds really great. I'm very happy.

At the begining I was a litlle bit worry to buy without listen it (the only information I had was the test of TNT) But now I'm really happy to have follow my "instinct" (and the rewiew of TNT).

You have really done a great thing with these machine, it is a "best buy".

JasonC, USA, Prism 6.9

Ok, here's my take on the 6.9s. I'm no audiophile so I'll do my best. I think I can relay some inherent qualities of these speakers due to the fact that I first heard them with a low powered amp and now the Arcam AVR100.

Here are some constants:

Looks- The short of it, these speakers are beautiful. The theme with nOrh speakers is they look a lot better in person than they do on the website- this is no different with the 6.9s. The craftsmanship is very high quality, no visible seems, very smooth curves.. just an overall impressive appearance. The finish is top-notch. Glossy shell no blemishes, again a look of overall quality. I had several friends over this weekend for St. Patty's and just about everyone commented on the 6.9s both on there sound and there appearance. They really stand out on there own, dare I say as a work of art does. Many questions were asked about the 6.9s during the course of the afternoon (MBarnes I think you'll be getting a few more orders from Boston!).

Sound- I was very surprised with how dynamic sounding the 6.9s were with my lower powered amp(40 watt Denon). I got the 6.9s last Tuesday and 5 days I used this amp. The 6.9s are pretty efficient speakers they're rated at 87dB but strangely they seemed to play louder than my old Mission's which were 88db. I noticed real pleasing sound with the 6.9s after about 2 hours of playing. These are very neutral sounding speakers. Smooth high's, great detail and full low bass were noticeable within the first few days of listening. Naturally these speakers have been sounding better and better every day.

MORE JUICE:
Well, I would have been quite happy with the 6.9s w/the Denon but Tuesday my dealer gave the call the Arcam was in so it was time to step up. As expected the bass and dynamics have improved a fair amount. I have a tough room 19X25Xll(L,W,H). Bass is simply unbelievable with the 6.9s! I can sit 15 feet away and still FEEL THE BASS, it's pretty darn awesome. I will tell you this, you WILL NOT NEED a sub with the 6.9s, the amount of bass they produce on there own is very sufficient and pleasing. Not only does the bass get low but it is also very musical, tight and quick. Hearing this bass will bring a smile to anyone's face I am sure. You can believe what Mbarnes has been saying about these speakers. The overall presentation of the 6.9s is in "in your face", very involving and natural. These are not laid back speakers. They sound larger than they are. They're very easy to place and the "sweet spot" seems to be much of the room. At higher volumes the 6.9s perform magically, you can listen for hours with no hint of aural fatigue setting in. I've also noticed a realistic soundstage, not incredibly wide but nicely deep. I would imagine this will only improve more when the speakers reach there potential, about 50 hours broken-in as of date. They seem to handle all types of music very nicley. I have very wide range of musical tastes I listen to everything from John Scoffied, Steely Dan, Ella Fitzgerald to Jason Faulkner, Smashing Pumpkn's/Pearl Jam/radiohead/Pj Harvey- well not too wide. The 6.9s have handled all styles very nicely and justly.

When I listened to the Arcam not too long ago at my dealers they were mated with Monitor Audio Silver 7is. Comparing the 6.9s to the MAS7s is like comparing the NBA to the WNBA, umm, you guessed it.. not even in the some league! The MAS7s had fine detail but they're overall sound was strident and thin compared to the 6.9s. The nOrh's just far exceed them and out-class the MAS7s in every category... most noticeably bass. I will go as far to say that the 40 watt Denon/norh combo exceeded the Arcam/MAS7s in neutrality and overall musicality. Just goes to show how important good speakers are in the audio chain I'm realizing.

If your at all considering the 6.9s, I couldn't recommend them highly enough. They've far exceeded my expectations just in the past week, .. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Although I haven't been in this game of high end audio that long I can honestly say these are the best speakers I've ever heard to date! These are big time!

Dick Bowler, UK, Multiamp pair, ACA, nOrh 9.0 marble

Michael,

I have my marble 9's, and complete Norh system running active for a couple of days. Very pleased with the sound improvement. Voices are very real, almost scary in the reality. Bass is much more punchy, but better controlled. Treble is extended and very delicate and smooth, even with 0db cut on the crossover. Imaging is rock solid and extremely precise. The whole sound is so tightly controlled I can now enjoy the content.

The first time I have been able to appreciate classical music. The timbre of brass, string and woodwind is now excellent. This is a real challenge for hifi reproduction.

The best sound I have ever heard and a SOTA bargain. Thanks.

Glen L., USA, Ceramic 4.0

I haven't finished piecing my HT system together, as I still need to save for the Outlaw pre/pro that is due out this summer. But, I have connected a pair of the 4.0s to an old Technics receiver that wasn't in use. Let me tell you, even on this cheap receiver, the 4.0s sounded fantastic. Guitars in particular were amazing--songs like Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" and Everlast's "Ends" were incredibly realistic. Also, Telarc's "Surround Sounds" CD indeed came across with a very convincing surround effect from only two speakers. I would have sworn that there were a pair of speakers behind me if I didn't know any better. I also briefly connected them to my parents' Marantz SR-7000 receiver. This is a much better quality piece of gear than the old Technics. I really pushed the 4.0s to see how well they held up at high volumes. Again they sounded awesome--I didn't listen to them for too long as I didn't want to damage my hearing. But I couldn't detect any distortion up to the limits that I dared turn it up to.

Bryan R Pedersen, USA, Marble 9.0

Greeting Michael,

I have been enjoying my nOrh 9.0 marbles more then any other speakers I have owned over the passed 20 year. The marbles are truly outstanding speaker.

Danai Kanchanagom, nOrh 3.0

Dear Barnes,

Following your advice posted in April News, I ordered NORH 3.0. They look "cute". The speakers sound soooo good after 10 hours of break-in. At the beginning, they were bright and the sound appeared to come from the left and right speakers. After 1 or 2 hours, the soundstage was widening and the speakers started to disappear. My room is relatively large. However, the bass was adequate when listening at about 5 feet. Sex Without Body on Chesky DVD Music Disc (not DVD-A) sound terrific. I found that the grille should be removed to get a better sound. There is no comparison between NORH 3.0 and Bose Cube or other like-speakers. They convinced me to order NORH 7.0.

Steve Lord, USA, Prism 6.9

They arrived today in perfect condition; I am listening to them as I write this. Your packaging design is excellent. DHL handled the boxes very well; there is no damage or punctures to them at all.

I have been listening to a pair of Allison Model Two speakers for about 24 years and as one would expect the new Prisms are a dramatic improvement. The most noticeable change is very improved clarity and detailing; instruments and certain sounds they produce jump out at me as they never have before. I have so many recordings to rediscover!

The Prism 6.9 is everything Norh said it was and more: I am looking forward to many happy hours of listening pleasure.

"Sound-wise I am stunned, and will be taking them down to a local store to test on various amps against more expensive speakers. These sound very much like the Sonus Faber Amatis I heard before and excel in the same areas, but my amp just isn't releasing enough of its potential.

...

I was expecting a lot out of them but the rigidity of the cabinet is what really surprised me the most.. even on loud bass-heavy tracks I have to try HARD to detect any vibrations, and I can feel all the air whooshing out of the port. I broke in the raw drivers for over a week so they sound their full potential (well not really, I need a better amp :) and the bass is indeed incredible.. above 30 hz at LEAST as much as my old Hsu VTF-2 subwoofer and faster and more musical. Someday when I do add a sub or subs, as Tyson said, it would require something like an SVS to get more extension out of the 9.0's.. even my VTF-2 would not have added enough (flat down to 25 hz so only add 5 hz extension)."

George T. Cook, USA, Prism 6.9

I'm now listening to the CD you sent along with the speakers-very nice. Next I will have to order the marble cabinet speakers. Great speakers, Great people, Thanks for everything! Hope to order next pair this summer. Again, Great doing business with you and your company.

Alphonso Soosay (recording engineer), Australia, Ceramic 4.0

I am hearing better details of musical instruments & Vocals with wider dispersion. The mid-range is spot-on, better and great transients compared to my present Jamo's 7-4, previous Bose & Infinity speakers. I connected the Jamo's first for 25 minutes then the Norh 4.0's for another 30 minutes. The Jamo's sound good, up to normal level 80dB anything above that, the Norh 4.0's beats it. In all areas. The stage imaging on the 4.0's is much better, that's because of good speaker component and the body design. The overall sound is surprisingly open and very clean. No more buffey compressed effect when played at about 90dB and above levels. This is a standard of high-end speakers. The 4.0's will definitely require a subwoofer when watching DVD movies. Subwoofer not required when listening to music on the 4.0's. What else can I say in a few hours of test & checks. The white noise on 90dB and in 15 minutes did the running-in job. I am quite happy at this stage because of the difference I can hear. Give me more time, after the 4.0's have really settled down and see what happens. I can see that the casing makes a big difference in clean openness of sound.

I personally think that all Recording studios should be looking at this latest invention of speaker system by NORH as their monitoring system. What is normally looked into for a good recording monitor is excellent imaging, crystal clear reproduction and very detailed wide dispersion plus it must be played loud when possible. Now, looks like the Norh's have got it all.. On my next weekend job at Paramount recording studios, when I am required for freelance mixing. I will carry your given 4.0's and use it as my monitor mixdown.

Last night I got home from church and popped in Vince Guaraldi's greatest hits (GREAT jazz pianist from the 60's who did all the Charlie Brown cartoon specials). As I walked away from the stereo, I stopped to listen to the music. I mean LISTEN. The sound was rich warm and very clear. I turned around and decided to switch on only the SP-10's. The volume was there but the sound was not nearly as clear. I switched over to the 3.0's, turned up the volume a bit, and heard wonderful piano that I had never heard before on that CD.

There may be other companies that build a better small speaker, but they cannot do it for $75 a piece. I don't know where you got the driver, but it is excellent!! Thank you for such a wonderful product that delivers where it really matters. Now the tough question is which speaker do I buy next???

Michael Stevens, USA , Ceramic 4.0

Dear Michael:

I received my Norh 4.0s about a month ago, and thought I'd let you know how pleased I am. The speakers are very natural sounding, can easily be played loud without distortion, and are never overly bright, which IMHO is the bane of many small speakers. The ceramic horns are weird and really kind of beautiful in their own way. Thank you for providing us with an affordable alternative to the mass market junk found in most home theater stores here in the US.

One negative, and it is potentially a big one from a business standpoint- The wait for these speakers was over three months. When I show these to my friends and they have a good listen they are very impressed- until I tell them how long I had to wait for them. Not one of them was interested in ordering with a three month wait.

Alex, USA, nOrh ACA, nOrh CD-1, nOrh ceramic 4.0

The whole system is still opening up. In a BIG WAY this afternoon.

The current system:

- nOrh ACA preamp. - Odyssey Stratos poweramp (2 channel, with 120k cap upgrade) - nOrh CD-1 tube CD player.
- nOrh ceramic 4.0 speakers. - 2 Monitor Audio ASW 110 subwoofers. - Supra FEE-ISL IC between CD-1 and AVA.
- Groeneberg Quattro Reference IC between ACA and Stratos. - Supra Ply 3.4/S speaker cables. - Bass control: Speaker level high pass at 60 Hz in one channel, and at 70 Hz on the other channel, cross over to the ceramic 4.0. - No speaker stands. The nOrh ceramic 4.0 are just sitting on top of the MA subs. About 15 inches off the ground. L/R channels are about 6 ft apart. 5 ft away from any wall / corner. Tall big silk plants behind each speakers for sound diffusion, absorbtion, reflection.

Review:

Talk about 3D holographic, pin point soundstaging and imaging. WOW! The whole living room turned into a virtual musical theater.

The soundstage extended to FULL depth and width of the room!

And I have not even started tube rolling yet. Everything is in stock form.

For the delicate sounds like those synth effects, metallic percussions, wind charms, chanting human voices, etc. They come at me like I'm in an open field, with flocks of birds flying around and singing. I can actually trace, and follow the path of each singing and flying bird through the air space.

It like daybreak. When the sun ray cuts through the early morning haze! Everything is vividly visible!

Low frequencies come out like the deep rumble from a rolling earthquake coming from a distant source,and approaching fast. You just can feel it more than actually hear it's coming. It's mostly pressure builds up in the area.

Then, when the main body of the music rises. It's like wave after wave of tidal waves slamming to shore. I can actually hear and feel their coming and going. Washing off from the beach front, while another wave is building up...

Even without a proper stand to life the tweeters to near ears level. Everything seems to be at the correct height and the correct proportion from one another.

I know it sounds like big tales... But no. It's true.

Music used: "Friends of Mr. Cario" (Jon and Vangelis. ), "Visible World (Jan Garbarek Group.), "Ballroom Mood" (Anja Garbarek - World jazz pioneer Jan Garbarek's daughter.) "The Windows of the World." (Dionne Warwick. Remastered UK import) "Spain." Return to Forever with Chick Corea.

The system is not cheap. But still highly affordable, and well worth every single penny. Each component truly represents the exceptional high performance, consumer values, and are of world class quality, in design, sound quality, build quality.

I truly believe this system can challenge, and shame many others costing 2 to 3 times more.

Can't wait how the system will sound with the coming higher model nOrh marble speakers.

My system is not a 100% nOrh's gears. But I'd imagine the nOrh's power amp and subwoofers will bring similar performances. Base on what I've experienced on the three nOrh's components in the chain.

Both the ACA and CD-1 have raised the performance level by a few notches. nOrh and Odyssey Stratos are unleashing , and bring out the best from each others. It's a win-win situation for both brands in pairing each others.

The harmonizing, or harmonization of synergy.

This set up is not even speakers positioning sensitive. The sweet spot is several feet in diameter! Feel free to move around while listening, and won't loose much.

Kelly Sherrill, USA, Ceramic 4.0

Just wanted to ask a question regarding the 3.0's but first wanted to tell you how much I am enjoying the 4.0's. I cannot stress how much I like these speakers and this fact is reinforced every time the neighbors come over and "ooh and ahh" when they are played.
....

Bas Janssen, The Netherlands, nOrh 9.0, nOrh 4.1 and Ceramic nOrh 4.0

I could say I begin to turn into a Norh-ophile (is that the right word?), I have two Le Amp's on the order list to drive the Norh 9.0 and I am sure music will turn into a new dimension when they arrive. For the home cinema I use the Norh 4.1 and 2 Norh 4.0 ceramic (and an average pair of rear's) on a modest surround amplifier which is a fabulous combination thanks to the aspect of the Norh which I admire the most, the 3-dimensional sound scape and dynamics without disturbing my neighbours. In the absolute sense the Norh 9.0 is a world class killer but the Norh 4.0 offer an extreme value for the money and has no competition, I have been to many dealers and for US400 in this size there isn't an opponent which comes close. I believe Norh succeeded and has set a new standard in this class. So how did I find out about Norh?? I have played for some years conga's and djembé and read with great interest an article in a lifestyle magazine for people who enjoy life with a wide horizon. The article was about drums, the Thai long drum in particular and Norh, so I went to the Norh website. I read all the comments and reviews I could find about Norh and as a try out I ordered the Norh 4.0 and what I read before became my own experience. I know it is hard to set up a business as I have done it in the past and mostly it takes time to build up a name and market. Integrety of the company and a solid product combined with knowledge and craftmanship are needed as a base. Well Norh has it all and Norh has made many people happy and I am real glad to say Norh is there. I have equipment in my home which amazes everyone who comes to my house and brought so much joy for myself. I wish Norh all the best and keep on going! With respect.

Shafquat, Prism 5.2 (Teak)

Product: Prism 5.2 (teak)

Category: Casual Listener

Used for: 6 months

Score: Value: 5 star / Quality: 5 star / Customer support: 5 star

Equipment: Sony low end stereo system (55 wpc, 5% THD), "Standard" cables, connected to a SoundBlaster Live soundcard via the stereo.

Type of music: Techno, Drum and Bass, Club, Trance, Rap, Soft Rock, Pop, Charts and eastern classical stuff (when I get really bored :-)

Packaging: The packaging was excellent. At the airport, the containers were trampled on, kicked, dropped, squeezed and dragged around. The containers looked as if they were recovered from a bunker that survived world war II. After all that abuse, I got minor scratches on the speakers' surface and thankfully, the drivers were intact.

Note : Check for any import duties that you may have to pay.

Customer support: Very fast response time, all queries were answered via email.

Looks: Cunningly beautiful! Better then anything I've ever seen. Finish is really high quality. It's so different looking... you can show off to your friends and works great as a "geek appeal". Looks better in real life then in the photos.

The sound: Well... I don't think anybody has ever connected these speakers to such a low quality audio system. My computer is the only audio source, and I primarily listen to MP3s while working. The overall sound quality is amazing. It plays really loud - the best part is that at very high volumes, there's no sign of strain or distortion in the sound. Highs are great, and it goes really low (considering what I listen to). The quality is amazing... haven't heard better.

I'm ripping my MP3s at a higher rate these days. The difference in sound quality is significant compared to my old Sony (which is now acting as a stand to my aquarium).

I'd like to comment on the sound quality while playing Quake III or Unreal, but I don't think it'd be well appreciated around here :-)

I've compared my pair of 5.2s to a Bose lifestyle setup, and I think the 5.2 sounds MUCH MUCH better.

Conclusion: I'm not an audiophile - just a casual listener. The systems that are targeted to this segment is of trash quality, and we're made to believe that anything sounding good are "audiophile" grade products costing 2-3 times more. The Prisms changed all that... believe me, compared to the Prisms, regular "off the shelf" consumer grade audio systems will sound like tin-cans.

Quality audio is for everyone, not just audiophiles. Prism 5.2s are strongly recommended.

Alex, USA, nOrh SM 6.9, nOrh CD-1, nOrh ACA, Groneberg Quattro Reference IC, Odyssey Stratos power amp, Supra Ply 3.4/S speaker cable, MA Subwoofers

Note: This review is a little long, so we have put it up on a seperate page. Later, Alex also wrote in the following:

A couple of my friends dropped by last weekend. They said the SM6.9 sounds like $20,000 speakers!

The guy is a musician, who owns a real full blown 32 track real digital , 1,500 sq ft. ?home? recording studios. (No converted
garage, or basement. But custom built, properly designed and built structure.)

His wife didn't believe the prism 3.0 only has a 3 inch driver. :-)

Both were SPEECHLESS!

BTW. I confirmed my Le Amps order with Namphung a few hours ago.

Altoon Nishida, nOrh SM 6.1

...I've been able to listen for about 100 hours. I've read many descriptions on various forums of how nOrh is clean and refined. This is so true. Now I know how harsh my old mini-monitors were. The mids are so detailed. In the last 18 months I went from Polk Monitor 10's to Gallo Micros to Paradigm Mini Monitor to nOrh SM 6.1's. Music has never sounded better. HT is great too. These are wonderful speakers and I don't feel like I need to upgrade anytime soon; but when I do, looks like it'll be nOrh once again. When are going to start selling HDTV? :)

Bhasi Panikker, UK, SM 6.1

A quick note to say that the green SM 6.1's arrived safely and efficiently via UPS this morning [...] Securely packed, they sound good even before running-in and I'm really delighted by the quality of the finish and, of course, the original design. In case you have enquiries about this from UK-based customers in future, you might like to know that import duty, VAT and 'brokerage' added about 25% to the total cost, which - given the relatively low basic price - is not very much at all. Given the impressive quality of the speakers, my thoughts are drifting towards the CD-1

...

Anyway, compliments to you all for your great products and service.

Sydney, USA, Marble 9.0s

I recently upgraded from nOrh 4.0s (easily the best standmounters under $2,000, no contest!) to the lovely marble 9.0s. (Privately, the 4.0s far outdo AV-Reality's 3Ds, selling at 4 times the cost!) Amazingly enough, the 9.0s are even better, and a very very significant step up. What they can hold their own against is of course a matter of preference at this level of performance, but being peers of speakers like Proac 3.8s, Quad 989s, and Wisdom M-50s is no small accomplishment! Trouncing the B&W 800 series speakers is of course a given! :)

I'd like to thank you for offering such amazingly performing loudspeakers -- at such great values. It would be easy to imagine other manufacturers sticking a $15,000 price tag on these. Companies like nOrh are rare indeed.

Robert Curtis, USA, Marble Racks

It takes a lot to impress me these days, even more to impress my wife with anything audio.

The stereo racks that I just picked up from customs are MOST impressive! From the counter sunk top shelves to the steel hardware, I am very impressed and happy.

Even more importantly my wife is very impressed too.

I still have 3 more shelves to unwrap, but my arms are tired so I wanted to take a break and write to you to thank you for these great shelves. I really don't know how anyone could not love them.

Thanks again I am excited and impressed

John Holden, USA, SM 6.1

I've got about 40 or 50 hours on my 61's, and they are great! After about 40 hours break in, they really sweetened up. Thank you so much for making them for me, you have a customer for life.

< Home | Top | Industry reviews >