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Older news - October 2001
In September, we shipped approximately 300 Le Amps. The reports coming back from readers has been overwhelmingly positive. Everyone agreed that Le Amp had lots of power, plenty of bass, runs cool and was built like a tank. The one negative comment was that the LED was too bright. In future versions, we will tone down the LED brightness. We will also make available a kit to reduce the LED brightness. If you have bought Le Amp and want to make this change, you will be required to send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to an address we will give to you.
Le Amp was designed from the ground up to produce music. We wanted an amplifier that sounded very musical and had a “toe tapping” sound. We wanted to make an amplifier that would enhance both music and video.
When we introduced Le Amp, we realized that at this price, Le Amp was likely to find itself used in a lot of non-highend applications. We imagined that DJ's would like it. We also imagined that some some people would hook up their computers directly to Le Amps and that other people would use receivers as preamps. We were right on all counts. Because we did not know how or where Le Amps were going to be used, we built in a blocking capacitor.
A blocking capacitor stops DC from going through the amplifier and passing directly to the tweeters. Le Amp's designer put a shunt in Le Amp so that any ground would not be amplified. While this is probably enough protection, he also put in a blocking capacitor. The blocking capacitor was chosen as not to add any harshness to the signal bath.
When compared to some high-end amplifiers that are DC coupled (no blocking capacitors), Le Amp didn't sound as open. One customer bypassed the blocking capacitor and then wrote a report that he felt that Le Amp beat a $9,000 amplifier in all areas but bass.
On www.audioasylum.com, a well respected designer and owner of VMPS, Brian Cheney, challenged us to prove that Le Amp was a good performer. Without our participation, he arranged to borrow Le Amp from one of our customers. The review resulted in a heated debate between Brian and me on www.audioasylum.com. He assumed that Le Amp was just another cheap import. There are many low-priced products from Asia that really do not have much merit. Brian took up the challenge to listen to Le Amp. You can read his posts on http://www.AudioAsylum.com/audio/general/messages/150540.html . I would like to thank Brian Cheney for his posts and invite our readers to visit his site. He has some very interesting things to say about audio and his products certainly deserve consideration. Anyone interested can look at our test results at http://www.norh.com/images/Spect_IRD_Monoblock.pdf .
For those people who would like to improve the sound of their Le Amp, we have a very simple modification. For anyone with experience soldering, the modification will take about five minutes. The details for this modification is here: www.norh.com/products/leamp/leampmod.html .
Dark Green Ceramic 4.0
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Demand for our Ceramic 4.0s is still very high. The reason is that we have received three very good reviews recently. Please check out the reviews in: While the 4.0s are certainly being noticed, nOrh Loudspeaker has many noteworthy loudspeakers. Our nOrh 3.0s are noteworthy for their very high level of performance but very low price. Anyone wanting to find out what the nOrh sound is, can inexpensively find out by purchasing the nOrh 3.0s. It is possible to get the nOrh sound without long waits by ordering one of our other loudspeakers. For people with receivers - particularly low powered receivers, the Prism series would be a good choice. The 5.2 Prism has more bass than the 4.0 and doesn't require a stand. It would work out for either front or rear speakers. The Prism 6.6 is our most efficient loudspeaker. I use a pair in my bedroom. The Prism 6.6 will provide very high-end sound even with very low-powered amplifiers. |
Prism 6.6 Black (Enlarge) |
The comments we are getting on the SM 6.9s and SM 6.1s are very exciting. The SM 6.1 uses two highly efficient Vifa drivers for a sensitivity of 90 dB. The SM 6.1 is a great choice for budget systems. The SM 6.1s are very smooth sounding. They offer great dynamics and look fantastic.
The SM 6.9s have exceeded all of our customer's expectations. Everyone has told us that the bass response is simply unbelievable. They have also commented on the SM 6.9s ability to resolve the inner detail of the music and its ability to create a realistic sound stage.
We have added some new colors to our line of synthetic marble speakers. We want
to allow people to more easily mix ceramic and synthetic marbles.
Blue nOrh SM 6.9 on optional stand (Enlarge)
SM 6.1 / 6.9 Blue (Enlarge) |
SM 6.1 / 6.9 Pink (Enlarge) |
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SM 6.1 / 6.9 Red (Enlarge) |
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Le Amp
Last month we shipped out 300 Le Amps. The response has been fantastic.
"My immediate impression was that the sound was more dynamic, the soundstage was taller and wider, and there was more clarity. Bass was better controlled and more powerful. Pitch definition of bass notes was also improved."
"Le amps arrived this morning. Build quality really impressive."
"So all in all I would have to say these le amps are a tremendous value. At $295 MSRP ($500 for a pair) you just can't beat it and they put the rest of the audio manufacturers to shame. The intro price was well ... let me see...... a steal! Was this legal! "
User submitted image of complete nOrh system—nOrh 9.0, Le Amp, CD-1 and ACA
I get many e-mails about the CD-1. Many customers ay that this was the most surprising improvement they have made in their system. People describe it as improving every CD in their collection. Many customers have played with a variety of tubes to see if they could squeeze even more performance from the CD-1.
I get many questions about what tubes. I have seen many different letters from customers suggesting various tubes for the CD-1 that make the performance even better. One of the tubes that comes highly recommended is the GE 5751. A good background on the 12AX7 tube that we use can be found at http://www.vacuumtubes.com/12ax7.html .
We have a small bonus for anyone buying the CD-1. We will provide two Boy Thai albums for free with every purchase of the CD-1 in October.
Pictured below is the complete line of our electronics - the CD-1, the ACA, and a pair of Le Amps (Enlarge).
As most of you know, I come from the computer industry. Until recently, I worked for Sun Microsystems. I had worked for Sun Microsystems for over 13 years. I left three months ago to pursue some personal projects.
For the past three months, I have been working on what I believe will be the next major high tech market. I am part of a new startup called NorhTec Microservers. This company is developing total solutions based on micropowered networks. Microservers are small devices that pack the functionality of a datacenter server in a form factor that is no much larger than a PDA. NorhTec microservers are x86 compatible. This means they will run existing applications based on Windows 9x, Windows 2000, Linux, and Solaris x86.
The NorhTec Microservers will run on as little as five watts. This means that you could run a classroom of computers with an 80 watt solar panel. They are small enough to allow networking and Internet access in airplanes, ships, and trains.
The Microservers will open up new markets and opportunities as it will make it possible to extend the Internet where it has never been possible before.
NorhTec is actively seeking investors and partners. Please
write hambrook@apectec.com for a prospectus
and non-disclosure agreement. This is a very unique opportunity to get in on
the ground floor of an emerging new market. Imagine if you could run any application
currently running on an x86 processor but you now have the ability to put this
device in your pocket, how much would this change the way you use and access
the Internet?
Sincerely,
Michael C. Barnes
President
nOrh Loudspeaker Company, Ltd
