<< Back to news

Older news - December 2000

I have lived in Thailand for six years. Several years ago, when the economy went bad here, it was more devastating than the great crash of 1929 in the US. Everywhere, people were either being laid off or being asked to take lower pay. As an American, I found that the value of my dollar was quite high. The dollar went from 24 baht to the dollar to over 45. I thought that I could use my money to start up a company.

My first idea was to produce loudspeaker cabinets for US companies. I contacted several. I was generally told that the US market didn't demand high quality cabinets and they were satisfied with the PVC covered loudspeakers that are commonly available in the US.

I tell this story often and most people are really surprised. They find it hard to believe that they are given substandard quality products simply because they never demanded better.

I get many letters commenting that I have an advantage on cost because I operate out of Thailand. I don't think this is true. I have an advantage in quality because I operate out of Thailand.

Each marble cabinet takes one full day to make. Imagine what it would cost to build such a product in the United States. Imagine what it would cost to buy a block of pure marble large enough to make a nOrh loudspeaker. My guess is that even if you were going to chisel out a pair of nOrh 9.0s on your own and only paid for the marble and parts, that it would cost you more to do it yourself than if we did it for you.

What makes nOrh unique is not that we have access to inexpensive labor. There are many places in the world where labor is inexpensive. The difference is that here in Thailand we have access to craftsmanship that has disappeared many other places in the world. These craftsmen would rather work their crafts than any other career. They are artists. Our goal is to provide these artists a chance to earn a decent living doing what they love best. We want to create a revenue stream that allows these crafts to be passed on to more and more people.

I hope that in some way, nOrh Loudspeaker has introduced many of you to Thailand (many of you know Thailand very well) and that you better appreciate what Thailand is offering in terms of quality and craftsmanship.

Most Thai recordings are not exactly audiophile quality. Much of the Thai music is very interesting particularly, their classical music. An American artist, Bruce Gaston, combined classical Thai music with modern Jazz. Another group, Boy Thai, combines classical Thai music with samba beats. The latest Boy Thai CD is one of the best sounding CD's that I have heard produced in Thailand. I like this album very much both musically and sonically. In fact, we have contacted the label and will making this CD available over the network. We don't know the final pricing but we will have the album very soon. One of the highlights for me is that there are very good examples of the Thai Longdrum (Grong Yao) in Boy Thai's music.

Another very pleasant surprise here in Bangkok is the new movie Bangkok Dangerous. This movie is directed by Oxide and Danny Pang. Bangkok Dangerous is a very good film by any standards. The movie is a gritty examination of the life of Thai gangsters. Many issues are addressed in this film. The film examines how the rich manipulate politics, crime, and grudges by simply paying to have people killed. Bangkok Dangerous shows in a very gritty fashion how these Thai hitmen live. They are the pawns of the rich who use them to settle differences by murder.

The movie combines elements from many other films but is quite original in its execution and very much captures the feel of Bangkok. The movie reminds me of Leon the Professional, Desperadoes, and The Diva. This movie is now playing in Bangkok. I am not sure it will ever make it to the United States or Europe. If it does, I highly encourage you to go see it.

The nOrh 6.5 was one of our best selling loudspeakers. In fact, after we announced we were going to discontinue it, we got orders for another 84 pairs. We have been building them simply to fill demand. When we discontinued the 6.5, we weren't quite sure what we would replace it with. We now have a plan.

The nOrh 6.5 was very popular because it offered better imaging, bass and impact than most speakers in its price range. Most of the credit goes to the M18WO-09-08 driver from Vifa. This driver can handle peaks of 600 watts and is rated at 300 watts. The woofer is really very good but is one of Vifa's most expensive drivers. We used the best tweeter that Vifa made at the time. The tweeter was very good. It could handle up to 100 watts. It sounded quite smooth.

We were quite excited when we learned that Vifa had a new series--the XT series. The top-of-the line tweeter from this series is the XT25TG30-04. They have a matching woofer. We tested both the woofer and tweeter. The sound was quite good but we were disappointed with the bass. The M18WO-09-08 beat the new XT woofer in bass. We did some testing and we ultimately decided to continue to use the M18W0-09-08 woofer but to match it up with the XT25TG30-04 tweeter.

The resulting crossover is quite complex. The tweeter is really very good but it isn't easy to work with. Our opinion is that this is really the best tweeter Vifa has ever made. It comes very close to the ScanSpeak 9300.

We decided to test out the woofer in a larger cabinet. We used the same cabinet as the Prism 6.1. This is a 33 Liter cabinet. The bass is -3 dB at 34 Hz. At -10 dB the response is 28 Hz. This is fantastic bass response. We expect to offer the Prism 6.9 at $995.00 as an introductory price but the price will have to go to $1195.00 later. We will have product early January.

The 6.6 Prisms are designed to offer high sensitivity for smaller powered units. Both the 6.1 and the 6.6 are larger speakers than we originally planned. They are also much more expensive to produce and ship than we initially planned. We are going to honor all existing orders but we will have to raise the price in January to reflect their real costs.

The original 6.1 was suppose to be 20 liters. It is now 33 liters. The original 6.6 was suppose to be 25 liters, it is now 43 liters. These are very beautiful loudspeakers.

We will also look into making available an upgrade kit. The upgrade kit would require a replacement crossover and tweeter. The tweeter is not available except to loudspeaker manufacturers (or so we are told). The crossover is very different from the 6.5 so there isn't any way we can modify the existing crossover.

We are very excited about this new project because we believe we have made a very major improvement and we have kept the costs down. This new speaker will simply embarrass almost every other loudspeaker selling for less than $2,000.00.

I am getting questions about our pricing. We don't raise prices unless we have real cost increases. We introduced the nOrh 9.0 telling everyone that the actual price was $3,000.00. The introductory price was $2,500.00. The cost to ship these massive speakers is quite high. We were so confident that the nOrh 9.0 are the best two-way loudspeakers that we wanted to get a few units out and create word-of-mouth excitement. I thought we would sell about 3 pair of nOrh 9.0s per month. It turns out we are selling 30 per month. In January, we will use the $3,000.00 price.

None of our drum speakers will go up in price for the time being.

The Multiamp has been priced very low based on our manufacturing costs. We do not have plans to raise the price any time soon but we might be forced into raising the price in the future. The CD player and Preamp should remain at the same price.

The Prism 4.1 center and 5.2 will stay at their current price. We are not sure about the 6.1 and 6.6 because the speakers we are now building are nothing like we originally designed. We originally designed a 20 liter 6.1 and it is now 34 liters. The 6.6 is even larger. We don't know the shipping costs but we will not raise the price for any orders we receive.

I hope that we aren't confusing people by the frequent introductions of new products. I like to give people a glimpse on our new products. It might be frustrating for those wanting to buy something today but we believe that it is also useful to people trying to map out a strategy how to spend their limited funds to give them an idea what products we will have out soon.

I get a lot of advice from people on how we can sell more speakers and even how we can make more profit. People are often suprised when I tell them we really don't need to sell any more and we are making enough profit already. If we introduce new products, it is because we think that we are offering something that isn't available anywhere else. If the nitch is already filled, then we won't enter a market simply to compete.

Some people might have a hard time understanding our many products. Simply, marble products represent the best we know how to build. These speakers are difficult to build. They are the most beautiful loudspeakers we have ever encountered. The loudspeakers also represent the best two way loudspeakers we have ever heard.

The Prism series allows us to build larger cabinets and still not have any parallel surfaces. The Prisms use the same level of craftsmanship that all our loudspeakers do. Because the Prisms allow for larger cabinets, we can increase efficiency and bass response. The Prism series are ideal for A/V receivers and lower powered amplifiers. We don't believe that any manufacturer can match the quality of appearance of sound of these speakers anywhere near our prices.

The 4.0 and 5.1 are our wood series. These are very popular and some people feel these are some of the best speakers for A/V. The 4.0 and 5.1 require a stand. The Prisms do not.

We are nearly finished with our Ceramic 4.0s. The Ceramic 4.0s will have the sonic advantages of marble and will be available in a variety of colors that we believe will make them very popular. Our goal is to build a speaker that is fun to look at as well as listen to. While the marble has a very expensive and classic appearance, the ceramic will be bolder and more original look.

Now we are going to disclose a product that should be ready by January. We are about to introduce the nOrh 3.0. The nOrh 3.0 will be our lowest priced loudspeaker. It will be shipped anywhere in the world for less than $200 per pair.

The nOrh 3.0 uses a new full range 3 inch driver that is the best sounding full-range small driver we have ever heard. This driver is remarkable in that it is rated 100 to 20,000Hz. We were able to extend the response down to 75 Hz -3dB. A pair of nOrh 3.0s are able to fill a fairly large room. The sound is quite suprising. The speakers actually image well. The midrange is very smooth. The sound is quite remarkable considering both the size and price of the loudspeaker.

We are actually making two versions of the nOrh 3.0. We will have a drum version and a Prism version. Why two? The main reason is that the Prism will work on a bookcase. It doesn't need any space behind the speaker.

The nOrh 3.0 would work very well as a replacement speaker for a mini system. It would also be a major upgrade to many of the popular satellite/subwoofer combinations that are quite popular. The nOrh 3.0 will also make a very reasonable center or rear speaker for a modest A/V system.

I bought a Cambridge Soundworks FPS1800 Multimedia Speaker System for my computer. I believe this is a very good value. You get four speakers, subwoofer and amplifier for under $200 USD. This system is quite adequate for playing games and providing typical computer sounds. I do not personally think it is quite up to the task of long-term music listening.

I replaced the front loudspeakers with a pair of nOrh 3.0s. I adjusted the subwoofer volume down to a modest level. I find this a very enjoyable way to listen to Real Audio broadcasts, MP3s or even watch TV and DVDs at my computer. This combination could be used for any modest listening environment.

I have also used the Decware ZEN tube amplifier with a pair of nOrh 3.0s. I fed the signal with a Worldspace Digital Radio. The combination was very pleasing. I can listen to digital broadcasted music and news over this combination. The nOrh 3.0 would be an ideal upgrade for existing mini systems, Bose Lifestyle, or other small drivers.

The nOrh 3.0s will set a standard for small/low-cost loudspeakers. Nobody should expect a pair of 3.0s to be a reasonable substitute for the 9.0s. However, the 3.0s will provide an unexpected level of performance for its price. As with all nOrh Loudspeakers, each speaker will be handcrafted and the quality of materials will be typical for nOrh.

The nOrh 3.0 will be 87 dB sensitive. The frequency response is 75Hz to 20,000 Hz. Maximum constant power is 20 watts.

There are many small loudspeakers on the market today. Most of them are made from plastic. Most of them offer a frequency response of 200 Hz to 10,000 Hz or worse. Most offer a sensitivity of 84 dB or less.

Sincerely,

Michael C. Barnes
President
nOrh Loudspeaker Company, Ltd

Top | Back to News