<< Back to news

Older news - July 2001

TNT Audio Magazine has published a review of the nOrh 3.0. We have two versions of the nOrh 3.0. The first version is the classic drum. It is made from Monkey Pod wood just as our other wood drums are made. The second style is the Prism. Originally, we were going to make it from MDF—as almost all loudspeakers are made. We decided to test solid Teak instead. The results was something that is far more beautiful than wood finished loudspeaker we have seen. Real wood just looks better than wood finished or veneer. The Prism 3.0s have been getting great reviews lately.

Please read the following article about nOrh http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/life/story/0,2276,12991,00.html. For the record, our first loudspeaker was the 6.5. Nonetheless, the article does speak clearly about nOrh's goals as a company.

One customer wrote:

"The 3.0 prisms are playing.

Played 4 songs so far. George Benson's Body Talk. Take 5, White Rabbit, California Dreaming...

I'm using the Yamaha receiver (my break-in gear) 80 watts/channel. The new nOrh silver IC, old Sony ES CD player. AudioQuest speaker wire (free stuff from my local audio dealer).

The sound is surprisingly very good. Quite similar to the 4.0. Only less refined. Slightly warmer with the mid range, the treble is very sharp, a bit too much, but the Yamaha is very bright anyway (I never like how the Yamaha sounds, anyway. Will try Proton, NAD with these later), the speakers are brand new, not broken-in, the silverIC are brand new.

The imaging is good, there're even some depth in the soundstage. The family resemblance with the 4.0 is there. With the 3.0. All the fine points with the 4.0 are there, only less.

The 3.0 prism is quite transparent as well.

The sound is quite full and detailed. Even the bass is very decent in small room. An excellent speakers for a bedroom system. You can tuck them right at the wall.

Play loud, detail, and rich/full enough. They're good for MORE THAN background music playing, or just for computer multimedia. Good enough as a main budget system for any college kids. Or office system.

The look:

Very cute. Nice hand finish. The vertical edges are rounded. The oiled teak has a very rich and expensive look. Same binding posts as in the other nOrh's speakers. No cost cutting here.

The small size and finishing, look can blend in easily into most home environments."

You can check out websites such as, www.audioasylum.com or www.audioreview.com for reviews of our products. A new website to check is www.harmonicdiscord.com/forums. These websites feature comments by people who love audio and music. You can share opinions, ask questions and learn. Just like any other community, you will come across some people who want to talk but really have nothing to say. Treat the information from these sites just like you would treat things when you go to a grocery store - pick what you want and leave the rest behind.

I have read some articles in magazines that attack the reviews posted on the Internet as unprofessional and biased. I find this ironic. Most audio magazines today are of two types. One type is reviews from magazines that are always positive—mostly reviewing products that advertise in magazines and the other reviews done by one individual who uses no test equipment or measurements to support their findings.

In the past, these magazines controlled almost all the information flow to customers regarding audio. The service they provide is certainly valuable as the authors writing the articles are indeed knowledgeable. Unfortunately, many of the authors are out of touch with the realities of life. Many of the authors are able to review a pair of speakers costing $25,000 and proclaim them a bargain.

Someone sent me a reference to an article in the Washington Post that compares audiophiles to drug addicts. I think it is very worthwhile reading. The site is http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58447-2001Jun12.html. One of my customers sent me a photograph of a pair of speakers that cost $1 million USD per pair. This is just for the speakers. Another customer sent me a post about a pair of 8 foot cables that cost $23,500.00. What do you think they are made from, gold, silver? No. They are made from copper. Check out http://gallery.consumerreview.com/audio/gallery/files/opus-mm.asp.

The philosophy behind nOrh is that high quality sound doesn't have to be expensive. I believe that something is seriously wrong with the audio world. The only reason some of the prices are as high as they are is that somebody is willing to pay these high prices.

We recently had a customer who got tired of waiting for a pair of Prism 6.9s. He canceled his order and bought a pair of speakers that cost twice what the Prism 6.9s cost. When the Prism 6.9s started shipping, he started reading posts on the Internet how wonderful the Prism 6.9s sounded. He decided to order the Prism 6.9s. When this customer finally received his Prism 6.9s, he was extremely pleased. You can read about this and other customer's experience with nOrh on www.harmonicdiscord.com or http://forums.consumerreview.com/crforum?14@114.YkHRahAphHT^0@.eea33cf.

Audio magazines are still important. They are important because they update us on the industry. They are important because they write about music. They also teach us what to listen for when evaluating music. They also provide us with information about reference equipment that can serve as a benchmark for evaluating audio in general. What audio magazines can not do is to provide the reader of a snapshot of everything that is available at once and then compare these products against one another. The only way that this can happen is on the Internet.

On the Internet, you will find people who own just about every brand of audio. You can interactively learn what experiences these customers have had buying their products and you can get valuable information about people who own the equipment.

Last year, our nOrh 9.0s were reviewed by TNT and TNT proclaimed them the best sounding two-way bookshelf loudspeaker in the world. Every customer who has received a pair of nOrh 9.0s has treasured them and tell us they simply have not heard better loudspeakers. The nOrh 9.0s represent the best we know how to build. It uses 99% silver wiring. It uses the ScanSpeak Revelator woofer and tweeter. The cabinet is made from solid marble. At $3,000, it represents a very good value. Nonetheless, $3,000 is quite a lot of money. Not everyone can or wants to spend $3,000 on their loudspeakers.

For three years, I have been looking for a driver than can produce midrange that sounds like midrange. The driver we use in the 3.0s is the best that I have been able to find. We worked very hard to get the response down to 75 Hz -3dB. The threes are not a replacement for the 9.0s but they are probably all the loudspeaker many people will ever need. Even audiophiles can appreciate the sound of the threes for their bedroom loudspeakers or loudspeakers in their office.

Here is what one audiophile has to say about the 3.0s:

The ceramic 4.0s are getting rave reviews from owners. There is currently a backlog on orders but we are working to increase production. The ceramic 4.0s are very difficult to manufacture. If it were easy, there would be lots of loudspeakers made from ceramic. Here is a review that a recording engineer in Australia sent.

"This morning I got up at 5am, could not wait to listen to the 4.0's Now, I am hearing better details of musical instruments & Vocals with wider dispersion. The midrange 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.."

nOrh Loudspeaker is probably the first Internet Only Loudspeaker company. We are certainly the first company to use the Internet to sell our Loudspeaker internationally. We have a vision of building products that will last generations. We want our products distributed around the world. We want them to survive for hundred of years and for people to know 1,000 years from now that these marble and ceramic cabinets were handcrafted in Thailand by a company named nOrh. Why else would we use stainless steel feet? Our goal is to build the most acoustically perfect loudspeaker cabinets that not only have been built that will ever be built.

Le Amp is part of that tradition. We do not have the cases completed yet so I hesitate to put any photos up yet. I expect to have photos the second week of July. Le Amp will be built to using the same philosophy. We want Le Amps to last. The case for Le Amp was designed by a mechanical engineer in the United States. The design makes Le Amp one of the toughest amplifiers made.

Inside, Le Amp is built to deliver the best sonic performance possible from an amplifier of this class. The transformer uses 16 gauge wire. This lowers the impedance to only .65 ohms, which allows the required high current peaks to be delivered with great speed. Most transformers have an impedance of 5 ohms. The transformer is 400 V/A. This is powerful enough for a 400 watt amplifier, which allows the leAmp to work effortlessly with plenty of headroom. The rectifier is a heavy duty 35 amp bridge rectifier. The internal wiring we use can deliver more that 50 amps continuous with peaks in the range of hundreds of amperes. This amplifier will easily drive the most difficult of speaker systems. The power supply uses two very high quality 10,000 uf capacitors designed to deliver very fast high current transients that provide a rich transparent sonic quality.

Le Amp provides the quality of high-end sound that audiophiles expect to pay $1,000s for. Le Amps are available for $295.00 each. Please come back to this site in a couple of weeks and we should have some photos posted of Le Amp.

The photos on the top is of Le Amp without its case. The final case will be incredibly strong. We don't want to put a photo of the case up until it is fully painted and ready to ship. Le Amps will leave Thailand the second week of July. Some units are going out by air and will arrive to the US before the end of the month. By the way, the large white area is the 400 V/A transformer.

We are offering the 6.1s and 6.9s in synthetic marble drums. The drums are 25 liters each—the same size as the nOrh 9.0s. The 6.1s are ideal for people with lower powered receivers. The sound is very smooth and dynamic. The SM 6.9s are better matched with more powerful receivers, integrated or separates. They have deeper bass and handle more power. They use the same drivers as the Prism 6.9. The overall sound of the SM 6.9 provides slightly less bass than the Prisms but more detail and resolution because of the cabinet material.

The Synthetic marble loudspeaker are available in three colors, white, green and black. White and Green are currently shipping and black will be available by August.

We continue to work on new projects. We invite you to come back at least once per month to see what progress we are making on our current projects and what new projects we are starting.

Note: If you are planning to visit Thailand or any other locations in Asia, please take a look at Cathay Pacific's Asia Pass promotion. Here's the link to the promotional offer.

Sincerely,

Michael C. Barnes
President
nOrh Loudspeaker Company, Ltd

Top | Back to News