Update - 26 Feb 2006

Greetings from Nigeria.

Today is the 26th of February.  I thought I would be in Thailand by now but my trip to Nigeria was extended. I am here working on a large project for NorhTec.  Yuth and Namphung were here last week but I had to stay over. My access to Internet is limited here. I therefore apologize I am not able to update the website early this month. I guess I could also remind everyone that February is a short month as well.

When I get back, I will try to get an update from Yuth on the L3 amplifier.  We also were able to get some new marble speakers out this month.  We are slowly betting some marble speakers out so if you are interested, please write.

Older news from February 2006

Till the 30th of January, I hadn't written a word for the newsletter. It isn't that I am lazy. It is that this has been a very busy month.  The major event for us was going to CES.  While we went for NorhTec, we did use a pair of L3s, and ACA 2b and a pair of nOrh 3.0s to demo our new HyperClient. 

CES was a huge show.  There were more than 150,000 atendees. We were in the Sands Convention.  Originally, I was concerned that not being at the main hall, we might not have anyone visit. I was quite pleased at the turnout.  It might not have hurt that at the same time, the Adult Film Industry was having their convention.  I never got a chance to get away from the booth but based on the photos I have seen, it appears that some members of our group managed to peak in to the other show.


After CES, we went to San Francisco to visit our largest NorhTec customer.  Back in Thailand, NorhTec was shipping the largest order yet. After we got back, we had many new customers trying to get in touch with us about our computers and we also had follow up on other projects we are working on.

Customer quotes

- Steve Knarr, St. Louis, MO

I recently acquired a pair of 6.9 loudspeakers from an associate of mine.  I was astonished at their wonderful presentation and sense of musicality, simply a great product.

- Rob Myers, Ohio

I would like to tell you how pleased I am with my new Norh 6.6 Prisms.  They sound as good as they look and my vintage Eico 2080 tube amplifier has no problem pushing them into “too loud” territory.  The instrumental discrimination is very good and the sound-staging excellent.  Thank you very much and I look forward to several years of enjoyment.

- Kenneth Stanley

Just a short note to let you know my [SE 9] amp arrived. I  am very pleased with it.

- Scott Jackson

I want to give you some positive feedback again: I'm listening to the Norh ACA2b and SE 9 for some month now. I use them with 96dB speakers and 9 watts of tube-power can be *really* loud. I've bought the Norhs for the sleeping-room but now they are installed  in the living room. I've sold my "old" amps (British Naim gear) now, which have costed me the price of a small car in 1998 and listen to the Norhs exclusively. The Norhs are better in every aspect - that for the price of a better speaker cable! The even look better. ;-) Thank you for offering these great products!

- Martin Krauhs

Just received the SE9 and the prisms 3 less this morning, fast and efficient UPS delivery. The time to go through the extremely protective packaging I was able to setup the system, with my DFC streaming the music to a Roku Soundbridge. Impressive, it is like listening to new titles. Listening to jazz like Pat Metheny is really a pleasure, I discover new patterns in the music, the treble are crystal clear and the bass are enveloping. I can recommend this combination without any second though. Oh, and by the way, it just looks incredibly great!

On a side note, I have setup the DFC in complete fanless mode. The top part of the box is just not completely "plugged", with a space of 5mm (the top is lying on the screws that are normally here to fix it). That way I was able to transfer GBs of data over 3/4hours non stop without any heat problems. And the best is no noise at all when not in real activity as both drives simply stop.

I am definitely a very happy customer. Please thank your team.

- Loic d'Anterroches

As Shown at CES 2006

NorhTec introduced the new HyperClient at CES. The HyperClient is a fanless x86 based computer with integrated MPEG 2 decoding and high quality sound output.  The NorhTec HyperClient is available with CD or DVD ROM devices.  The HyperClient supports any popular x86 based operating system to include Microsoft Windows or Linux.  The HyperClient is one of the smallest computers ever built that includes a CDROM and hard disk. The HyperClient comes with 40GB hard disk and 256 MB RAM.  The estimated price for the HyperClient with DVD ROM is $595.00 USD.

Bangkok Jazz Festival 2005

For the past three Decembers, my wife and I have attended the Bangkok Jazz Festival. Since the first year, I have looked forward to this event. Bangkok is normally very hot all year long but for some reason,  the weather is always pleasantly cool for the Jazz festival.  What makes the Bangkok Jazz festival so special is how intimate it is. The acts are among the most famous in the world of Jazz, yet you can get very close to the artists.  Some of the artists mix with the crowd or spend time signing autographs.


This was Rick Carlton's second visit to the Bangkok Jazz Festival.  I was quite surprised when he showed up in Bangkok because I had just raved about his CD as well as Bob Jame's album. When I first saw Rick Carlton, I realized I was watching one of the world's really great guitarists.  Rick Carlton put on quite a show with his own group that included his son playing bass guitar.  


Bob James did a debut of his new Shanghai Angels project.  For two years, Bob James has been working to create a fusion of East meets West jazz. This is certainly not a new concept.  My wife's favorite jazz ensemble, Hiroshima, has been doing this for 30 years.  In fact, my wife had just gone to see Hiroshima while she was in Hawaii.  Of course, the group that nOrh introduced to the US, Boy Thai, blended Thai music using Thai instruments to create a East/West mix.  My wife very much enjoyed the Shanghai Project.  It was quite beautiful but it sounded more like classical Chinese music to me and a lot less like jazz.  No matter, the music was very lovely and the CD is quite good .

On Sunday, Rick Carlton, Bob James, Nathon  East and Harvey Mason formed the current incarnation of FourPlay.  


I still have my Mobile Fidelity copy of Earl Klugh's 1976 album Finger Paintings.  Any audiophile who has been into audio as long as I have must surely have heard or bought this great album.  I was quite excited that this year's lineup included Earl Klugh.  His guitar playing has a very liquid sound.  Earl Klugh plays the guitar in a way that he creates the illusion of a harp being played, giving his guitar an angelic sound. Earl Klugh's performance style is quite shy. This shyness was offset by Lenny Price. Lenny Price is quite a showman.  He played two saxophones at once, played one of the longest sustained notes I have heard and laid down on the ground while playing the saxophone.  I believe it is quite to Earl Klugh's credit that he has the confidence to allow such a fine musician such as Lenny Price to show his skills - but then again, this is jazz isn't it?


While taking photos of FourPlay, I ran into Pan.  She was telling me how much she enjoyed the previous act. She thought that the main player was Lenny Price and not Earl Klugh.  I didn't have the heart to tell her after she had her photograph taken with Lenny Price that he wasn't the star of the act.  

Introducing norh's newest amplifier - L3

As everyone reading this knows, nOrh has been working on upgrading the Le Amp 2 for over two years.  Our goal has been to create the best sounding, most reliable amplifier ever made.  The original Le Amp 2 has been praised for its sound and power but it wasn't as reliable as nOrh customers have come to expect. We have changed the focus of trying to build an ultra low cost ultra high power amplifier to building an rock solid amplifier that sounds as good as the best amplifiers available.


The first thing you should notice about the L3 is the thick textured aluminum face plat. The logo L3 is laser etched.


The L3 will use an Ultra-Low noise tordial transformer.  We have also divided the amp so that we have balanced the heat on two sides of the amplifier. The design is now more modular and easier to repair.



The L3 uses high-end connectors. The case and build quality are very high end.

The L3 will sell for $350.00 USD each. This includes shipping to the US. We will offer two specials. Anyone who has purchased a Le Amp 2, can order an equal number of L3s for $250.00 USD and anyone ordering first shipments and allowing us to charge their cards prior to shipment will be able to buy for $300.00. 

We will be publishing the full specifications soon. The amp is rated at 120 watts RMS at 8 ohms and 240 watts RMS at 4 ohms. While this is a lower power rating than the Le Amp 2, The L3 is using the same output devices and the same transformer but the focus for this amplifier is for a more high-end sound and not the most power.  

We are confident we have now created the best sounding amplifier for the price ever. We will be using the same topology with same or better components.

Biking in Thailand

I continue to ride a bike back and forth between NorhTec's office at Software Park, the factory at Namg Wong Wan and my house. I was not able to take my DaHon folding bike to me to the US. I had hoped to bike in the US but it turns out there was very little free time anyway. Yuth bought a new Canondale bike in Las Vegas. He managed to bring it back with him to Thailand. Yuth has always told me how challenging Kow Ito is. This is Thailand's favorite "downhill" ride.
 
The last Sunday of January, I got my chance to challenge Kow Ito. It took about one hour to ride up to the top of Kow Ito. The ride was a very steep six killometers. At the end of the road is a trail which is pretty rough and very steep. The first instinct is to press on the brakes but using the brakes causes the bike to loose stability and slide. The best approach is to trust the bike, point it in the right direction and use the brakes to make sure you don't let the bike go too fast. It is amazing how much a bike tends to stay upright, no matter what sort of ground is underneath it.
 
The next thing is to remember to keep the peddles up. If you leave one peddle or another down, then, it will hit the ground.  I am sure most people who have read about Bangkok know that the traffic in Bangkok is legendary. If I were to drive or take a taxi from my house to the factory, it would take over an hour. While taxis are very cheap here, it would cost me $5.00 per round trip.  I pulled my old Giant ATX 880 out of mothballs about 18 months ago. I had used it frequently until I flipped the bicycle in Bangkok about 7 years ago and broke my collar bone in three places. I had ridden the bike some but not with the regularity that I had for the previous 15 years.
   I paid about $1,200 for the Giant bike which replaced a seven year old Trek 7000.  The bike deteriorated from years of inattention.  I brought the bike back to life with a cheap replacement of components.  The bike still looked good, was strong but because of the components I was using, didn't really have the feel it once had. I thought about buying  new bike but the cost of a bike in the class of my Giant would be about $1,200 USD or so.  I decided to buy a DaHon Helios P8 to use for commuting.  The DaHon Helios P8 cost me about $500.00.  For $500.00 it has a great frame a pretty good components.  

I took the DaHon on a 105 killomerter ride.  I surprised the rest of the gang who rode with me when I came in second out of  eleven riders.  The next few rides we went on, I took the DaHon.  My Giant was getting no attention.

I put about 800 miles on the DaHon and during the process, I discovered every possible weak point.  The major weak point was my weight.  I weigh about 205 pounds which is very close the the advertised limit for the bike. When I bought the DaHon, I had read that the seat that comes with the Helios P8 was too hard. Rather than experience this for myself, I spent $5.00 on a Velo Gel seat and  never suffered what-so-ever.  

After the first long ride, the folding pedals stopped rotating.  This makes it very hard to ride.  It turns out that I had crushed a number of the ball bearings.   The bike shop commented that the ball bearings were probably too small.  He was able to fix the pedals with new ball bearings but I decided to replace them.  The bike shop took a standard set of pedals and sawed them down to make them smaller. This has worked out great and I haven't put the original pedals back on.
   During one ride, I heard something that sounded like something had fallen.  For some reason the bike seems sluggish. When Yuth saw the bike, he pointed out the wheel was bent.  I had broken a spoke. I talked to the bike shop and we decided to do some modifications.  He ordered a set of motorcycle spokes. We replaced the standard tires with some  20 x 1.65 tires. After this modification, the DaHon P8 became very stable and very strong.   I haven't had any problems with the DaHon after making these modifications.  

As the weather here cooled, the gang I ride with wanted to start going up one of the nearby mountains, Kow Yai.  Kow Yai  is a fantastic national park here in Thailand and is the home to tigers, elephants and monkeys.  The ride is a 35 kilometer ride that is mostly uphill.  The ride down is 35 miles that is mostly straight down.  The roads are quite smooth so a mountain bike isn't required.  However, going uphill, I was concerned that the DaHon might not be geared down low enough.  I started using my Giant for these uphill rides.  

During my last ride up, I had problems shifting.  I asked Yuth and he told me that my front large gear ring was bent and the teeth were worn down.  I did a lot of researching over the Internet and decided to upgrade my Giant.  I decided to move from the 8 gears I had to a 9 gear system.  I really thought about getting SRAM.  I like the SRAM shifters better than click shifters.  I simply don't like the combined Shimano shifters where the brake and shifters are integrated.  If I got SRAM, I would have to special order and worried about how easy it would be to get a single broken component replaced.  I decided to go with Shimano.  I decided on Shimano LX shifters.  I picked the version with separate brake and shifters.  I believe that there is no real difference between the LX and XT shifters other than the logo and color.

I went for XT brakes, XT rear cassette, LX bottom bracket and crank set, XT chain and XT front derailer.  I think this combination gave me the best price performance.  I had long ago replaced my used up Rock Shock Judy shocks with a Spinner Talon.  The Spinner Talon is a very rugged but light shock that has worked out great.   Once I made these upgrades, I rediscovered my  ATX 880.  For about $375.00,  I have the sort of performance I have always wanted from a bike.  The Giant CU92 frame is amazingly light and strong.  I also put on a set of Ritchey tires that quited down my ride and gave me a smooth as ice feel while riding.

Sincerely,

Michael C. Barnes
nOrh Loudspeaker Company, Ltd.

Top | Back to News