News - February 2005

These days, I have been very busy with NorhTec. Last month, NorhTec received $700,000 worth of orders. It appears that the era of micro sized computers is catching on. Apple's recent introduction of the Mini Mac validates the direction that NorhTec took three years ago.

Because so much of my time has been focused on NorhTec, I have not had the time to participate on the web as much as I did before. Because of this, there were a lot of rumors about what we are doing.

Of all the products that we have ever built, I am most proud of our marble products. The marble products were a massive undertaking. We took 800 pounds of rock to create just one speaker. Even then, about half of the cabinets would break as they were being finished. At one point, we were shipping dozens of marble loudspeakers per month.

After September 11th, the demand for high cost loudspeakers dried up for us. We focused on lower cost products and managed to navigate the new market conditions by selling lower priced products such as the SE 9 integrated single ended tube amp and the nOrh 3.0.

Orders for marble slowed to the point where we wound up with a large inventory and little demand. For the past two years, we have been selling from stock. Recently, there has been a surge of demand for marble speakers. The surge of demand was created by rumors that these fantastic loudspeakers might never be available again. During December, we sold out of all our Marble speakers as rumors started going around that we had discontinued the marble speakers.

We are now talking to our original suppliers about starting up the marble line again. We do not know the costs yet but as always, we will do our best to make the speakers as affordable as possible. In the next few weeks, we should have details about marble speakers. In the meantime, we can put you on a list of people interested in marble. Contact us if you want to be on that list.

Photo of nOrh 4.0 marble

NorhTec has no problem delivering Synthetic marble loudspeakers. Synthetic marble loudspeakers have the same sound as marble and a very similar look. Synthetic marble is less expensive than real marble.

The Synthetic Marble 6.1s are an excellent choice for both audio and home theater. The Synthetic Marble 6.1s are very efficient (90dB at 1 watt at 1 meter). The SM 6.1s are ideal for low powered receivers or single ended amplifiers. The sound for the SM 6.1s is smooth and detailed. The SM 6.1s are very reasonably priced, yet they feature drivers from Vifa.

Synthetic Marble 6.1

For the price of the SM 6.1, most people would expect no-name Asian drivers, contact paper covered chipboard speakers.

Our best selling speakers are our wood loudspeakers. We have been manufacturing wood loudspeakers for nearly eight years now. Our wood loudspeakers are beautifully hand crafted and hand finished. We bake all our wood cabinets for two weeks before finishing them.

Wood 4.0 / 6.1 (click on image to enlarge)

Jazz in the City

One of my favorite events in Bangkok is the now annual Jazz festival. Last year, I wrote about the Jazz festival and how great it was to see such a great lineup of artists coming to Thailand. This year, the lineup was even more spectacular -- if not a bit heavy on sax players. The Jazz Festival takes place in a large park near the government house. The setting is really spectacular. The Bangkok Jazz festival was a huge success. Everyone I know who attended plans to attend next year as well. Last year's event was a three day event. This year was a two day event but next year will go back to a three day event.

The price for the ticket is very low for the quality of entertainment. This year's ticket was $50.00 USD for both days or $30.00 USD for one day.

Below is the program for the two day event.

The second night was also fantastic. A group from Japan called URB was quite good. They were followed by a Thai group called Infinity and the All Stars. Infinity and the All Stars were fine but given the acts to follow, it was difficult for them to distinguish themselves. Sadao Watanabe put on another great performance. I was a bit surprised how brief his performance was.

The highlight for me was seeing Mindi Albair. I didn't know who she was. I had never heard of her before the event. She came on stage carrying a saxaphone that was half her size. Her music was very nice. She also sang a few songs. Ms. Albair's voice sounded sweet and had pop-like quality. This is not an insult. Today, many female artists rely on computer enhancements to sing and lip sync during live performances. Ms. Albiar's voice was naturally sweet. Had Ms. Albair not been such an accomplished saxaphone player, her personality, voice and talent would be enough for her to have a career as a female pop vocalist.

During her performance, Ms. Albair talked about her being from Los Angeles. She told everyone how much she enjoyed being in Thailand and thanked the audience several times. She said that as an American, it had been a sad year because a number of Americans had sacrificed their lives. She was obviously talking about the American soldiers who were killed. I thought that this dedication took a lot of courage.

After the show, Ms. Albiar went over to the Universal CD booth and autographed CDs that were for sale. The line moved slowly as she took time to talk to each person who met with her. Pan and Namphung from nOrh were there and they got a chance to chat with Ms. Albiar. Ms. Albiar took Pan's hand and shook it and said she hoped she looked as good when she is 51. I took the photo below.

I got a chance to chat with Ms. Albair. I told her she was great. She thanked me and I thanked her for her dedication to the Americans who died. She smiled and said "somebody's got to do it". Mandi Albair is clearly an artist who knows the value of her fans. She was a great ambassador for America as she was absolutely charming and talented. Every Thai I talked to who met her said she was a really warm person.

The final act was Joe Sample with the Crusaders. Joe Sample performed last year. This year, he looked more refreshed. My wife said he looked better this year. The Crusaders was one of my favorite groups back in the 1970s and early 1980s. Ray Parker Jr. (who did the song Ghostbusters) was now part of the Crusaders. He is a great guitarist. The Crusaders played great. Overall the whole event was fantastic. Anyone planning to be in Bangkok next year might want to time their visit to see the Bangkok Jazz Festival.

Christmas

A bit more than a year ago, I moved into a new house. My new home doesn't have space to set up my larger audio systems. I also now spend more time in front of a computer than I do anywhere else. In order to continue to enjoy music, I have a pair of 3.0s in my office. Because of space restrictions, I use a pair of Prism 3.0s.

My daughter is now studying in Virginia, USA. She asked me to make her up a pair of pink nOrh 3.0 drums for her dormitory (her favorite color is pink). She had a pair of pink 4.0s but she wants something smaller. So, she chose the nOrh 3.0s. Pan and Lek from nOrh wanted to buy her the 3.0s. On Christmas, my daughter got her pair of pink nOrh 3.0s. You can see that she was delighted.

My daughter with her new pink nOrh 3.0s

Front View of the Pink 3.0

My SE 18

Last year, I moved to a new house. The new house didn't have a room large enough to put my old stereo. I decided to simply replace my amplifier/preamplifier combination with an SE 18. I was concerned that the SE 18 might not have enough power as I had been using a 200 watt per channel amplifier. After setting my SE 18 up, I called my wife down to look. She was very happy with having less equipment. I told her the bad news was it wouldn't play as loud as the previous system. Ironically, I have not turned up the system to maximum volume. Long before the amp runs out of juice, the music is already too loud. I have saved space and am quite happy with my new SE 18.

Another benefit is that I use much less power. In Class A mode, my previous amp drew 2000 watts. The SE 18 only draws about 85 watts. Best of all, the glowing tubes look cool.

I have been getting a lot of letters asking me about products we haven't mentioned for a while. One of these products is the ACA 2b which is one of the best values we carry. The ACA 2b is a high-end preamp that costs less than almost any preamp available. The ACA 2b is a beautiful product, with excellent build quality and outstanding sound.

The ACA 2b uses a platinum coated switch. The volume control is made by Alps and there ACA 2b has three inputs and and a record output. Furthermore, there are two amp outputs.

The ACA 2b is still only $395.00 USD shipped to North America. Please contact us from other regions to check on shipping charges. The ACA 2b is the best preamplifier in this price range. The ACA 2b has plenty of drive to power long cables. The ACA 2b works with both tube and solid state amplifiers. Here is your chance to buy a tube preamp for the price of some passive preamps.

For those of you who still listen to LPs or have an LP collection, we have a phono preamp that you can add for only $295.00 USD. However, a better deal is to go with the SE 18. The SE 18 has an active preamp, integrated RIAA (phono) equalization and 18 watts of Single Ended Power.

18 December 2004 :
16:00-16:45	CU Band	1	45
17:00-18:30	James Taylor Quartet	2	75
18:45-19:45	Koh Saxman & all stars	1	60
20:00-21:15	Minaswing	2	90
21:30-23:00	David Sanborn	1	90
23:15-24:45	Al Jarreau	2	90
19 December 2004 :
16:00-16:45	Mahidol Band	1	45
17:00-18:15	URB	2	75
18:30-19:30	Infinity & all stars	1	60
19:45-21:15	Sadao Watanabe	2	90
21:30-23:00	Mindi Albair	1	90
-	The Crusaders	2	90