<< Back to news
Older news - January 2002
nOrh wishes all the visitors a very happy new year.The Christmas promotions are over, hence the old prices are valid from now on. However, we will continue to offer marble stands with the 9.0 and 7.0 through January. We still have a few rosewood color wood 4.0s and 5.1s. Supplies are limited though.
Last month, we had a huge increase in sales of nOrh 3.0s. The nOrh 3.0s are our highly regarded budget loudspeaker. I am sure that many were purchased as presents. On the other hand, I wondered how many people were simply taking baby steps into audio given the recent events that have changed attitudes regarding our personal values.
A few days back, I went to the factory and I was talking to one of our woodworkers making the Prism 3.0s from teak. He had a razor blade and he was using it to shave off some of the surface of the wood. I asked him what he was doing. He said that doing this would bring out the grain in the wood. I asked him how long it took. He said it took about one hour per cabinet. The reason I mention that is that I never told anyone that they should spend an hour extra on each cabinet trying to make sure the grain of the wood looks its best. As a craftsman, he new this is what needed to be done to make the cabinet look its best. It doesn't matter that this is a bargain loudspeaker. A craftsman is a craftsman. It is the little extras that are the reason people sometimes wait for months to get a pair of loudspeakers.
nOrh Prism 3.0
“Cheap speakers are usually ugly and marginally functional; the nOrhs are beautiful and beautifully functional.” TNT-Audio
I am a world traveler. I have been to many exotic places. When I go somewhere, I try to buy something that reminds me of where I have been. I look for something that is unique and something that will last. I am not a person who collects paintings. Anyone who comes to these pages must know that I love wood, ceramics and marble. I also like stainless steel. I have carpets from India and Pakistan. I have pottery from Vietnam and carvings from Indonesia. I collect silks and hand woven material. I have batiks from Sri Lanka. I believe that traveling the world and seeing things of handcrafted beauty has changed me.
I look at loudspeakers and I see that many of them are only finished with wood veneer or PVC around the edges. The front is covered with cloth and the back is painted. All nOrh products are built to be admired from any angle. I want the bottom, top, and back to be as interesting and beautiful as the front.
Every loudspeaker that I make is made for me. I build what I like and hope that somebody shares my taste. What drives me is the following:
I am a person who desires quality but demands value. I am not impressed by brands. I believe that the most beautiful things are handcrafted. I prefer the imperfections of craftsmanship to the bland perfection of manufactured goods. Photo printed PVC doesn't look like wood to me. It doesn't feel like wood to me. I don't like fake wood in my car, I don't like it for my furniture and I don't want it for my audio equipment.
I enjoy music. I have less free time to enjoy listening to music than I would like. I have been down the audiophile path of constant upgrades and constantly paying more and more money to achieve the slightest improvement. In the end, I don't know if I was ever improving the sound or just chasing my own tail. I am not satisfied with either the looks or the sound of 90% of the audio products sold. I think they sound bad and I think they look ugly. I have listened to many expensive systems that I thought were both ugly and sounded bad.
I enjoy audio but I am tired of being obsessive about it. My family is more important to me than audio. I have other hobbies that are just as interesting and enjoyable. I prefer having many audio systems in my house rather than being tied to one expensive audio system.
Having told you a bit about myself, I am going to preview a product that I believe is built just for me.
I am a busy person. I can't count the number of times I have awaken to find my face imprinted with the keys from my keyboard. My wife will tease me “fell asleep at your computer again”. Each day, I have plans of watching a movie, reading an article or listening to music but more often than I wish to admit, all that time is taken up by work.
My most productive time is late at night. One reason is that my family is asleep. Another is the time difference of Thailand to the west (GMT +0700).
I have tried to make my desk my center of productivity. I frequently listen to music at my computer. I also watch movies on my computer. This year, I gave myself a Christmas present. I now have a pair of marble nOrh 3.0s.
 |
 |
 |
|
Marble 3.0 w/o grill (Enlarge) |
Matches your taste and decor (Enlarge) |
Marble 3.0 with grill (Enlarge) |
Pan and Namphung with our newest creation
The marble 3.0 sounds even better than the Teak and Drum. The new design allows us to increase the volume of the cabinet. This allows us to extend the bass a little lower. The cabinet is resonance free. Voices are absolutely natural. Musical instruments are produced with great clarity. A pair of marble 3.0s will play loud enough to fill a room with music. Despite their size, the sound is very open and natural.
The final product will have a powder coated grill with strings (ALA nOrh 9.0s and nOrh 7.0s). Each nOrh 3.0 is shielded so they can be placed next to a TV or computer monitor.
The nOrh 3.0 is beautiful enough to be at home anywhere. It would match the decor of an expensive restaurant or hotel. It would be ideal on someone's fireplace mantle. It is ideal for the executive who wants to put quality on their desk.
Most importantly, the nOrh 3.0s are an excellent value. We are introducing the marble nOrh 3.0s at $350.00 per pair shipped. We don't know if we can hold this price or not. The cabinet is more expensive for us to manufacture than many companies spend on their large MDF cabinets.
I know that it is hard to explain the difference between the three nOrh 3.0 models. For me, I would give the nOrh 3.0 drum to my daughter. It is a great small loudspeaker. It is inexpensive and it sounds great.
I would give my wife the Teak Prism 3.0s. These look great. They are easy to place. Being made from real wood, they are easy to match decor.
I would give myself the nOrh 3.0s. Why? Because I like them.
One of the games I like to play is I like to find the drivers we use in other loudspeakers. I noticed the tweeter we use in the Meadowlark Krestel is the same tweeter we use in the SM 6.1. Good for them. It is nice to see them using good quality Vifa drives. So many companies today are using cheap “no-name” drivers. It is also comforting to know that the companies such as Krell are using the same high quality tweeter we use in the SM 6.9. The Vienna Acoustics, Wilson, ProAc, Ovation and others use the same woofer we use in the nOrh 7.0. Most of these companies match the woofer with a less expensive tweeter. Their choice of the same woofer tells me that these companies are interested in quality. I found the tweeters we use in our SM 6.9 in the Krell LAT-1. I wonder what tweeter they will use in their lower priced loudspeakers. The Sonus Faber Amati uses the same tweeter as we use in the nOrh 9.0. I very much respect Sonus Faber for having selected what I consider the best tweeter in the world for their flagship loudspeaker.
Of course, a high quality loudspeaker has to be more than just a collection of good parts. Just because many other companies continue to put these high quality components in MDF boxes doesn't mean that our competitors don't build high-quality products. Their products are as good as MDF boxes can be. I believe that many of our competitors do what they can to build best box possible.
Everyone who goes into the loudspeaker business knows that the worst possible shape to build a loudspeaker is a cube. This is because all sides are equal and parallel. The traditional rectangle box is an improvement because not all sides are equal to length. However, all sides are parallel. Not only does this create standing waves, it also reflects the energy created when the woofer travels back to its resting position back against the woofer.
Both our Prism and Drum designs eliminate parallel surfaces. Not only that, our designs are such that we reflect the sound energy back onto itself. In the case of the Prism, all angles are less than 45 degrees. This means that in all directions, the sound energy is collapsed on itself. Our drum is an inverted horn. It works by forcing the energy created by the driver backwards through a horn. It is similar to the results you get looking backwards through a telescope. Rather than increasing the efficiency for producing sound, forcing this energy backwards through a horn increases the impedance for the energy created inside the cabinet. This expelled energy is efficiently channeled backwards through a port. The port is tuned to produce lower frequencies.
The other area where we have focused is building loudspeakers from materials that are acoustically superior. MDF is the most common material for building loudspeakers. MDF is a pretty good material acoustically. It isn't perfect. Musical instruments are not made from MDF. MDF is easy to work with, it can be covered and made to look like real wood. MDF is also inexpensive.
We believe that the ultimate material for building a loudspeaker is stone. Carved stone, such as marble has resulted in some of the world's most treasured works of art and some of histories most enduring structures. nOrh believes that our marble loudspeakers are destined to be artifacts that will endure generations.
Having created was is the ultimate loudspeaker cabinet in our marble loudspeaker, we moved to create loudspeakers that had the same acoustic benefits of real stone but from less expensive materials.
I had a chance to talk to several customers over e-mail last month. Several suggested that it would be a great service if I could simply instruct people what they need to do to put together a reasonably priced system. They told me that audio hardware is very confusing. The most difficult question that everyone buying audio has to answer is - what is good enough. The question of what is good enough is a question we ask ourselves many times throughout our lives. We rarely are able to demand the ultimate. We have to make choices based on our available options. My wife won't appreciate me writing this but there was a point where I had to ask myself if she was good enough. I think that was a more difficult decision than buying a pair of loudspeakers. We have been married for 19 years so I guess she was.
For me, good enough means that no matter how long you listen to audio, it should be enjoyable. There are many expensive systems that simply fatigue the listener after long periods of listening. The equipment might be ultra sensitive and very revealing. However, in the end, it isn't that listenable. Imagine picking a wife who fatigued you every time she spoke.
The other criteria that I have is that no product that we build can look cheap. Even our lowest priced loudspeaker, the nOrh 3.0s, must be something that people would be proud to display. Plastic speaker cabinets or vinyl covered speakers simply are not good enough for me. I am amazed when I go into people's homes and see that not everyone thinks this way. I have been into homes with expensive carpets, expensive furnishings and valuable art. However, on the floor is a plastic “all-in-one” system with plastic bookshelf speakers on the floor.
I understand that not everyone shares my hobby and that many people on a budget would never think of spending more than $1,000 on an audio system. However, each time I see one of these plastic systems, I think how much classier a Decware Zen amplifier and a pair of nOrh 3.0s would be. Add a portable CD player with FM, and you have a system that would cost less than $1000.00. Not even thinking about the sound, such a system would seem more appropriate in a tastefully decorated home than the $500.00 all plastic system.
Celedon Green 4.0 (slightly more expensive than standard model)
I really don't understand why people buy plastic stereo systems. I am sure there is not a single person who thinks they look good or sound good. Some people must hate peace and quiet to the point they need background noise. If someone wants to listen to background noise, why not buy a good looking FM radio. A collection of 100 CDs is worth over $1,500.00. If a person likes music enough to spend $1,500 to collect music, then why not spend an equal amount to enjoy the music. I feel the same way when I used to see people taking photographs with a 110 camera. I see these couples who save up money for years to go to Hawaii or Bangkok. While there, they take photos of places they have never been or places they will never go back to but they take all the photos with a cheap camera. Here in Bangkok, I see people taking pictures with disposable cameras. A decent camera can be purchased for about $90.00. I have to bite my tongue because I want to tell these people that they are going to spend more money on developing than a good camera would cost. Don't they realize they won't get a discount to develop blurry photos.
There was a time in my life where I sat in front of a 13 inch color TV on a bean bag chair. My books were supported by wood planks on cement blocks. I have eaten many meals on TV trays. My first speaker stands were white plastic parson tables. When your budget is such that you can replace the plastic parson tables, bean bag chairs and concrete block book stands, then it is time to replace the matching plastic audio system. It isn't just the look of these systems that bothers me. It is the way they sound. Most sound like boom boxes. Only the shape is different. I enjoy black and white movies but I don't want to watch everything in black and white. I have eight TVs now and not one of them is black and white.
The nOrh 3.0s are made from real wood and are handcrafted. Despite the fact that they are inexpensive, there is nothing about them that looks or sounds cheap. In fact, I believe the nOrh 3.0s meet my criteria of “good enough”. Despite their size and cost, the nOrh 3.0s will only bring pleasure.
The nOrh 4.0s and the nOrh 3.0s cover the same frequency range. The 4.0s play louder and handle more power. Many people have written us and told us that they 4.0s are astonishing. The ceramic 4.0s are currently our best selling loudspeakers. No wonder. They have been getting rave reviews at TNT-Audio, Absolute Sound, GoodSound, CheapHomeTheater and on the various Internet forums. We have sold thousands of pairs of 4.0s and we have not received one negative comment on the way they sound. If we could capture the sound of the 4.0s and package them in a vinyl covered chipboard box, they would still be a bargain at $400.00. While they would be a bargain, they wouldn't be good enough. Good enough means they have to look beautiful. While the wood 4.0s are beautiful, I personally think we have outdone ourselves with the ceramics. No two nOrh loudspeakers look the same. Each and ever nOrh loudspeaker is a unique creation as they are handcrafted.
|
Enlarge #1 |
Enlarge #2 |
nOrh 4.0 New Color - Cobalt Blue
“They are, quite plainly, a massive bargain!” Good Sound
“I can't imagine getting better overall sound than with the nOrh system.” Cheap Home Theater
“So cleverly built, nicely looking and good sounding...yes, these drums have made my heart beat LOUD” TNT-Audio
I get a lot of letters from customers asking me what speakers I use. Obviously, my main system is a pair of 9.0s. I waited for a year to get them. I have them placed on solid marble pedestals. Whenever I look at them, I like to take a cloth and dust them and watch the natural beauty of the marble come through. While I have many systems in my house, I only have one pair of 9.0s. It might sound crazy but I feel that the marble 9.0s are so special that it should only be on my main system. Having more than one pair for me would simply take away the special position the nOrh 9.0s play in my own home.
Upstairs in my second system, I use a pair of marble 7.0s. I actually spend more time in this room as this is where my CD collection is. This room can be closed off from the rest of the house so I can listen to my system in private. I also have my exercise equipment in this room.
My center speaker downstairs is a wood 5.1. Over there, I use a projection TV for my home theater so I am not limited to using a shielded speaker. However, the 5.1 does a very good job so I have no motivation to change it out. My rear speakers are wood 7.0s. I would like to change my 7.0 woods for something in marble. Not only because of the sound but I like the look of the marble.
On my computer desk, I use a pair of Prism 3.0s. I actually do more listening on these than anything else. That is because I am on the computer day and night. I am certain I have many CDs that I have never played on any other loudspeakers. Sometimes, listening at my computer desk is the only chance I have to listen to music.
In my bedroom, I have a pair of Prism 6.6s. I use a low-cost A/V receiver. I use the Prism 3.0s as my center and a pair of Prism 3.0s for rear speakers. I rarely listen to music on this system. This system is used primarily for watching DVDs. I do play concert DVDs on this system though.
My daughter has a pair of 4.0s. She would like me to make her a pink subwoofer to match. I haven't gotten around to doing that. I have told her that she needs to clear a space in the room to put the subwoofer. She will probably be in college by the time she cleans up her room. She also wants three nOrh 3.0 drums to put in her room. My daughter is using a Decware Zen amplifier. She doesn't care that it is a tube amplifier other than she thinks it looks cool. She doesn't want to replace it with anything else. She just likes the way the tubes look.
My wife wants me
to come up with a system to put outside. I figure I could hang the teak Prism
Teaks upside down. Our patio furniture is all Teak. It stays outside all the
time. I would put the 3.0s under cover so they wouldn't get wet directly. I
am sure the cabinets would hold up but I need to see what happens to the drivers
outside.
Customer submitted photo of his SE amp driving a nOrh Prism 5.2
nOrh Prism 5.2 from Bangladesh
I use a 4.1 as my center speaker on my upstairs system. This is my favorite center speaker because it is easy to adjust the angle. I recently replaced the 4.1 with a 3.0 to compare them. I was surprised just how good the 3.0s work as center speakers. Every time I unhook a pair of speakers and set them on the floor, my wife collects them and puts them in our storage area. My wife has been very good about my obsession with having audio equipment and TVs in every room. However, she has no tolerance for the speakers I put on the floor as I do testing. After a week, if the speakers aren't off the floor, they are collected and put in a storage area.
When I design loudspeakers, I consult with my wife about how she likes them. She has a way of rating loudspeakers from 1 to 10. Her scale is different than mine. Often, speakers that I give a 10 will get a 1 from her. The reason is that she evaluates a loudspeaker based on how small it is. The smaller the better. Fortunately, her listening refined enough that she would never be able to listen to music on one of the plastic systems I mentioned earlier. She also can't stand the piercing sounds made by the typical five speaker system where the main systems have only two inch drivers. She likes the 9.0s because they are much smaller than the speakers I used to have. She loves the 3.0s because they are the smallest speakers we make.
Letters like this make my day:
I wanted to thank you for helping to open my eyes to the possibilities of music. I get enormous satisfaction and enjoyment from the system I now have. Than You
Sincerely,
Erik Juhl
(owner of Le Amp and nOrh Prism 5.2)
or
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 XXXXXs, 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 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.
I do have one small question: I recently changed decor, and would like to change the appearance of my 9.0s, which are currently black. Is it possible to order a pair of white marble cabinets/x-overs so that I can move the drivers over to create a pair of white marble 9.0s?
If so, what would be the price + shipping for such a service?
Thanks very much for your time,
Sydney
During the Christmas holiday, I went to a few parties. Amazingly, I don't know anyone here in Thailand other than people I work with. My wife goes to the school and takes part in a lot of civic activities. She seems to know just about everyone. We get invited to several parties. It seems that most of the people we meet have seen the nOrh website. Usually at the party, someone will tell me they have seen my website but that they want me to know that they know nothing about audio. As I try to educate them, I am politely told that while they don't know anything about audio, this is a result of a lifetime of not wanting to know about audio. They then say something like “I am not really into audio but I do like music. I am not into the hardware and I don't care to go back to school to get a Master's degree in engineering. I know my system sounds like crap. I don't enjoy listening to music the way I used to. Just tell me what do I need to buy that will let me enjoy my music that won't take up my whole room and won't cost me a fortune”.
My answer is this “I can see by your furnishings that you are a person of great taste. Other than the plastic audio system sitting on your floor, everything in your room shows that you or your wife went through great effort to pick each and every single item. I am sure that most of the things in this room have a story to tell. I would guess that you probably would not put anything in this room, (except the plastic audio system sitting on the floor) in a yard sale. Given your furnishings and taste, I would like to recommend the nOrh 9.0s. I believe that these and only these match the quality of the collection of tastefully acquired furnishings. However, unless you were really interested in getting the best sound as possible, you don't need to spend as much to get the 9.0s. I believe that the marble 4.0s and the marble 7.0s match the 9.0s in terms of beauty and craftsmanship and they can save you quite a bit of money if you are not interested in achieving the absolute best sound possible”.
Generally, the person will say something like “I know that nOrh 9.0s are absolutely fantastic. I have read all the reviews. However, right now, I am not sure I am willing to make the investment in electronics that it would take to equal the sonic performance of the 9.0s. I actually don't want to spend a lot of money at this point. I am interested in getting back into listening to music but I am not really looking to make a big investment until I educate my ears some”.
More often than not, this person will buy a pair of ceramic 4.0s. Most of the people I meet like this are about my age — 48. Younger people tend to go with the synthetic marble speakers. Younger people are not really acquiring the items they plan to leave in wills to their children. They plan to buy what they can afford now and hope to afford something better in years to come. I find that younger customers tend to buy the Synthetic marble speakers. Right now, the Synthetic Marble 6.9s are our second best selling loudspeakers. The SM 6.9s do everything right. They look better than the typical loudspeaker. They sound better than anything even close to their price range.
Having been to these parties and actually talking to people “face-to-face” rather than over e-mail, I have had some time to think about our products and how should buy what sort of speakers. Each person will have to decide what good enough is. I believe that the following list will help someone looking at loudspeakers make the right choice. These recommendations are for the left and right loudspeakers.
|
Customer type and
requirements |
Suggested products | |
|
Students, people on a budget, or anyone living in a small space |
|
nOrh 3.0 |
|
Someone
who has a wife who demands small or tasteful loudspeakers, space
restricted |
|
Marble 3.0, Prism 3.0, Ceramic or Marble 4.0, Prism 5.2 |
|
Low priced home theater systems with modest A/V receivers |
|
Prism 6.6, wood or ceramic 4.0, SM 5.1, SM 6.1 |
|
Someone
with a budget of $1000 to $1500 for a complete system with emphasis
on best audio |
|
SM 5.1, SM 6.1, or Prism 5.2 |
|
People
looking for ultimate sound but total budget about $2,000 to $3,000
USD for the complete systems |
|
SM 6.9, Prisms 6.9 or pair of 4.0s mated to a subwoofer |
|
Customers looking for the best |
|
Marble 7.0 with subwoofer or Marble nOrh 9.0 |
“nOrh 9.0s are overall the best, two-way, stand-mounted loudspeakers I have ever happened to hear!” TNT-Audio
Customer's nOrh 9.0s and Le Amp
We
are expecting more praise soon. Soundstage
and TNT-Audio are reviewing the SM 6.9s.
The Synthetic Marble 6.9s have been getting rave personal reviews and are now
outselling all other models except the nOrh 4.0s. TNT-Audio will also do a review
of our hot selling Le Amp. Le Amp continues to shock the audio world because
there simply isn't a better sounding, better built or better looking amplifier
available in its price range. Many customers tell us that they prefer the sound
of Le Amp to many other much more expensive amplifiers. Le Amp will improve
the sound over most A/V receivers. A complete set of five Le Amps for A/V is
less than other companies charge for stereo. We still offer Le Amps at $495.00
per pair. This is a promotional price. The standard price is $295.00 each. We
are getting many requests from dealers to sell Le Amp directly and they are
telling us to raise the price so they can charge more.
Le Amp, high-end monoblock at only $295.00 each
I am very impressed with the build quality as well as the sound they produce. They give my Cary's DJH Super Amp a run for its money. Even my wife commented that they sound great for a solid-state design (she always prefers tube amps) - Hugh
CD 1, 24 bit 96 Khz CD with tube output
“This
is easily the best sounding CD-player I have yet auditioned” TNT-Audio
“I
had a Naim CD5, retail $2500, and I did not hesitate to sell it as soon as I
got the CD-1” nOrh Customer Jerry Slavata
“I
doubt that I can do any better for $800” Customer post on Audio
Asylum
Our
CD-1 is also getting rave reviews. For Christmas, we shipped out free solid
silver interconnects. We will extend this offer one more month. Several customers
have written to ask about buying these interconnects separately. We don't really
want to be in the cable business. Making these cables is a lot of work. We take
three strands of solid silver and braid them by hand. We originally estimated
that these cables should sell for $100.00 per meter. We can offer them for $60.00
a meter. I am not aware of cable that uses more silver than this anywhere near
the price. I have seen cables costing much more still using copper.
Important notice about Le Amp and CD-1
In view of the the recent flurry of mods surrounding Le Amp, we have released a notice. Please make sure you understand this.
The CD 1 can be internally adjusted for local power. We have outlined the steps here.
Many customers ask about the new formats for high resolution disks. I have bought into many technologies that went nowhere. I bought the L Cassette. This was a larger cassette tape that was suppose to improve the sound of home recordings. I also bought the DCC recorder. I once owned a SQ Matrix Quadraphonic system and I also owned Beta. I think I will sit out the battle that is going on between DVD-A and SACD. There is no reason why the audio industry could not have come out with a system that is fully compatible with existing DVD players. Instead, they are subjecting us to yet another format battle in which only one format can win.
Some people think that because some players are coming out that can play all formats, there is little risk in buying into these systems. I own over 1000 Laser Disks. If my player goes bad, I doubt that there will be a replacement player on the market to play them. It is frightening to think that I put about $35,000 into my LD collection and in a few years, I might not be able to watch any of them.
In a recent Stereophile, I read a review of two recordings. One was Billy Joel's The Stranger and the other was Fleetwood Mac's Rumors. At the time I read this, Fleetwood Mac's recording was only available on DVD-A and Billy Joel's was only available on SACD. Both of these titles are now available on CD.
What does one do while they wait out this format battle? My suggestion is to buy DVD concert disks. DVD concert disk are among the best audio recordings I have heard. They are often 24 bit recordings that cost less than SACD or DVD-A (music only disks).The point is that there is a great collection of high quality music available in DVD format. DVD has already proven itself in the market. I believe that multichannel sound is best when there is a visual reference to reinforce it. SACD and DVD-A are still fighting it out in the marketplace. Just because one format might be technically superior to another doesn't mean that it will succeed. I stuck with Beta because it was better than VHS. I don't mind the fact that I had to buy a VHS machine in the long run. I do mind that my entire collection of Beta tapes was a wasted investment.
The CD format is going to be with us for a long time. I will continue to buy my music on CD. I have bought and enjoy the few music disks that have been converted to DVD format. I also look forward to DVD concerts and video collections.
We now have a dealer/distributor in Singapore. For contact information:
Ambient Acoustics
#01-02 The Adelphi
1 Coleman Street
Singapore 179803
Tel: 3342568
Fax: 3342997
Website: www.ambient-acoustics.com
The most important component is our hearing. However, there is little we can do about that. The next most important component is the audio source. The world's best audio equipment can not improve on the source. In fact, sometimes, very expensive equipment can expose the faults of poor recordings and render harsh recordings unlistenable. A well recorded CD, tape or LP can be the most impressive new component you buy. I am always on the lookout of new recordings to enhance my listening experience.
I believe that Music is one of the most direct connections our brain has to the outside world. Sometimes I can hear a song that I haven't heard in 30 years and it can transport me right back to a time that I would have otherwise completely forgotten. Recently, I downloaded music by a group most people don't remember called Ambrosia. For some reason, I remember that in 1970, I used to hear a song by a group called Ambrosia during the summer while I worked at a swimming pool.
I couldn't think of the name of the song. I used the program Morpheus to search for songs by Ambrosia and downloaded a few of their songs. On my computer, I played several of their songs and realized I knew them all. As I listened, I could picture everything about the pool that I used to work. I could picture the snack stand, the beer bar, the basket ball court, the swimming pool itself. I could even remember where the life guards sat and imagine the smell of suntan oil.
I burned a CD ROM of these few songs and took them down to my wife to listen to. My wife is from Honolulu, Hawaii. Her youth was a bit different than mine as I grew up in Kentucky. As she listened to the songs, she started singing - not softly, but loudly. She said, "This song must have been recorded again recently because I must have heard this recently". I told her that I didn't think so. For both of us, these songs that we hadn't heard in many years took us back to our youth.
There are many times in our lives that become imprinted to a song. I find it amazing how powerful the connection to our past is to the music we used to listen to. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy new music and I am rarely nostalgic. It is only that I think that music is the closest thing we have to a time machine. When we want to go back to a place that we haven't visited in many years, we simply have to listen to the music we heard then and there.
I have since purchased the Ambrosia Anthology CD. For more information about this CD, please check out this link. I strongly recommend this collection. If you aren't too sure whether this style of music is right for you, try out a few of their MP3s off the web. If you like what you hear, go out and buy this CD.
I tend to buy Jazz albums now but I am not a Jazz expert. I like what I hear but I can't tell you what or who I am listening to most of the time. I am the same way about classical music. I like it but I haven't put enough time into studying it. I recently came across two albums I would like to recommend. The first is Tourist by St German. You can get details on this CD here. The music is a combination of Jazz, alternative, and techno. I thought the music sounded great and it was a very good demonstration for nOrh loudspeakers.
One of our customers in Australia, Peter Johnson, suggested I listen to Kruder and Dorfmiester. This music is less Jazz oriented than the St German CD. However, it is far more intelligent and listenable then most dance or techno music. I think it is sort of a cross between Radio Head, Depeche Mode and Herb Albert.
For those of you who really like more traditional Jazz or you want one CD that will demonstrate just how natural you audio system can sound, nOrh has bought the rights to one of the best reviewed audiophile Jazz recordings ever. The CD is Blue Skies by The Harry Allen Quartet. We are making this fantastic CD available for $15.00 shipped. I strongly suggest you add this CD to your collection. You might even suggest your local CD store order it to keep them in stock. We want this CD to get the attention it strongly deserves.
|
nOrh recently acquired the license to one of the highest praised audiophile Jazz CD issues. The CD is Blue Skies by The Harry Allen Quartet. "The Harry Allen Quartet's debut outing is an assured and swinging disc of ballads that showcase this ensemble to good effect. &[T]his is great stuff in a late-night, mellow mood, but these guys can rock out, too, as an up-tempo reading of Bert Williams' minstrel song "Shine" reveals." Stereophile |
|
|
I started nOrh Loudspeakers with no intention of making money on the project. I wanted to preserve handicrafts and create jobs. Each time a customer writes and tells me how much they treasure our loudspeakers, I feel I have been compensated. My real career has been computers. I have worked in the computer field for 25 years. I worked for Sun Microsystems for 13 of those years.
I have helped to form a new company, NorhTec Microservers. This company is based out of Calgary, Canada. We will be building devices that run existing x86 applications but in a form factor small enough to allow computers to be used in locations that they could never be used before. The first product will be a general purpose server. It will be able to run Windows 9x, Windows 2000, Linux, Solaris x86, QNX, Vx, and BSD. It will have 2 x USB, 2 x 10/100BaseT, 2 x RS232, IrDA, VGA in, NTSC/PAL (in and out), audio (in and out) and PS/2 keyboard and mouse.
We believe that there is a huge market for this product particularly to build out the Internet into new locations. We believe that eventually, Internet access will be offered aboard airplanes, ships, trains busses and automobiles. For this to happen, smaller and more energy efficient servers will be required. There are a variety of solutions coming out that offer energy efficient designs. Many of these are based on RISC chips. While these solutions are fine for applications that are custom ported, these RISC solutions are not able to run the large library of applications that already exist on the x86 platform.
NorhTec Microservers can save substantially any time a network has to be rapidly deployed. NorhTec Microservers can be configured as firewall, gateways, application servers, video teleconferencing servers, bridges and laptop replacements. They key advantages of the NorhTec Microservers are:
1. Energy Efficient
Drawing only 5 Watts, our server will be very energy efficient. It will be possible to power microservers with a small battery or solar power.
Our devices will create new opportunities to help bridge the so-called digital divide and extend the Internet geographically (e.g. remote areas) as well as to expand the usefulness of mobile communications. They will make personal computers appear bulky, heavy and impractical. They will give professionals everything they need in one device and it will fit into a shirt pocket.
2. Small Footprint
As our servers are very compact, our customers will enjoy a significant reduction in the amount of floor space required (i.e. lower real estate leasing costs).
3. Portable
As our server is very small, very light weight and very power-efficient, it will be completely portable. Portability also translates to rapidly deployable.
4. Cross Platform Compatibility
Our MicroServer GP will be capable of running Windows, Linux, Solaris x86, QNX, Vx or DOS. This will provide mass market potential as it allows our customers to choose from thousands of existing applications.
Our server will employ an Internet standards-based architecture that enables it to function with other network devices that operate on a variety of operating systems, including Windows NT and UNIX. By being cross platform compatible, our server will enable our customers to realize the benefits of our products as part of their existing network infrastructure.
The compatibility of our products with various operating systems allows our users to run thousands of applications. It will be possible to install these applications through direct connection, over the Internet or through infrared transmission from another device. In addition, users will be able to synchronize with widely used desktop organizer software packages including Microsoft Outlook, and will be able to easily import personal data from other applications. The user can upgrade the functionality simply by adding standard PC peripherals.
5. Video Output Port
Our server will feature a video output port. This will allow users to browse web pages through their TV. We plan to create a communications link between a Palm device and the server so that a person can use their Palm device to interact with the server. The IrDA (i.e. Infrared) link will allow a person using a browser on their Palm device to navigate the web and input information into the Palm. This will then be beamed to the server via IrDA and the output will be displayed on the TV screen. In this way, a user can easily access Internet information through their ISP using the Palm as a remote control.
6. Attract and Support Application Developers
We intend to actively promote third-party development of software applications for our servers through a comprehensive partnership program with independent, open source software developers. We believe that our use of the Linux operating system is a fundamental element of this program, since an open source operating system better enables developers to create optimized and reliable, high value added applications.
7. Reliability
Our servers will be highly reliable. NorhTec Microservers will have a fail-safe feature that allows the server to always boot, even in the case of a hard disk drive failure. As the server will require ultra-low power, batteries will provide for several hours of emergency backup in case of power outages. The server will be designed to operate 24 hours a day without intervention.
8. Excellent Value Serving Multiple Customer Needs
We will design our products for quality, superior functionality and performance, all at low but fair price. This will allow us to gain acceptance in the worldwide office/consumer server market. Today’s personal electronic market is highly fragmented. Consumers are forced to purchase a number of different devices, which in fact, contain virtually identical hardware components. For example, consumers buy PDAs, some of which only store personal information and may perform minor computing tasks (e.g. templates). Similarly, digital cameras capture photos but are inconvenient and expensive when it comes to storage of the digital images. Other single function devices include e-books, voice recorders, electronic games and MP3 players. Now laptops are perceived as large and not so portable and convenient. Business travelers, who carry along a laptop for presentations, experience frustrations with short battery life and slow boot-up times.
Our initial product, the MicroServer GP, will work in conjunction with, and will complement many devices by providing a file storage system. Our second product, our MicroServer PE, will be designed to perform most of the functions mentioned above - all in a single device - a device that could be with its user throughout the day.
9. Low Heat Dispersion
Operating at only 5 Watts, datacenter users will not require air conditioning as is needed in today’s server rooms. This will further reduce operating expenses (e.g. power for air conditioning).
10. No Cooling Fan and Vent
Our servers will not require an internal cooling fan. This feature offers significant advantages in certain market segments. For example, in hazardous or corrosive chemical environments such as found in the chemical processing, pulp and paper, and the oil and gas industries, our server will be more adaptable as it will be easily encapsulated. Our server could be used in certain applications (e.g. emergency rooms) where fans are not permitted or in applications where cooling fans must be eliminated in order to ensure system reliability. We expect our servers will find ready markets in many countries where humidity and salty (e.g. ocean spray) or dusty environments cause premature failure of computing equipment requiring fans.
11. Networking and Internet Access and Home Networking
Our MicroServer will be designed to allow anyone with a cable modem or DSL connection to add a server between their home network and the Internet connection. Alternatively, the server can access a modem directly to allow the user to access the Internet. The user can use this server as a router, firewall or gateway for other computers or Internet appliances in the home. Builders of new homes may wish to include our server as they do a kitchen appliance package (e.g. home automation, home security).
12. Ease of Installation and Use
Our server will be pre-configured and include a simple set-up procedure designed to require less than 15 minutes for deployment by a non-technical person. Our web-based user interface will be intuitive and easy-to-use. It will shield the user from technical complexities and will minimize the need for a trained information technology employee. The MicroServer may be administered from any Internet accessible location.
13. Building Blocks for Future Growth
As the amount of data traffic handled by our customer’s MicroServer GP increases, additional units can be added at little incremental cost. This ability to easily add our servers (i.e. salability) provides an evolution plan that allows customers to develop their network infrastructure according to their needs.
14. Complete Integrated Solution
Our products will provide our customers with complete solutions that do not require additional hardware or software. We will deliver customers the solutions they require, cost effectively.
NorhTec Microservers is looking for investors and partners. For additional information on NorhTec Microservers, please contact hambrook@apectec.com .
Sincerely,
Michael C. Barnes
President
nOrh Loudspeaker Company, Ltd.
