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Older news - December 2001

I want to wish all you you a very merry holiday season. Our best wishes to your and your family. We also hope that next year will be a year of peace, prosperity and happiness for you all.

Please see last month's newsletter about our Christmas specials. Some offers are limited so please don't wait too long. All offers expire December 26^th.

Our most popular loudspeakers have been the ceramic 4.0s. We recently started work with a new ceramic source in Northern Thailand to increase our production of ceramic loudspeakers. By the time this is published, we should be caught up with our most popular color — black. As we are catching up, we have decided to experiment. We have just finished a celedon glazed loudspeaker. Celedon originated during the period of the Five Dynasties (907-960) in China. It features jade like glaze. The original Chinese word for Celedon is qinqci, which means "greenish porcelain". In Japan, Celedon porcelain is known as "Seiji-ware". By 1200, the Koreans had developed their own celedon, Goryeo celedon. The French gave the porcelain the name Celedon because its color compared to a character in a popular book of fiction and the color of a green suit at the time.

Celedon Green nOrh 4.0

Celadon has a long history in Thailand. It was first produced in the city of Sisatchainalai as early as the 10^th century AD. The ancient city of Sukhothai also became famous for its beautiful Celadon wares, which have recently been recovered from excavated shipwrecks of Chinese vessels dating to the 15^th and 16^th centuries.

nOrh Loudspeakers now merges this ancient art with technology to produce the Celedon nOrh 4.0. The Celedon nOrh 4.0 is designed not only to be a great sounding loudspeaker. It is a loudspeaker that is designed to last for years (perhaps centuries) and one that is designed to be a beautiful piece of art. The Celedon nOrh 4.0 is slightly more expensive than the standard ceramic nOrh 4.0. The price is $500.00 per pair.

These photos don't do justice to the Celedon 4.0. You can almost see the crackling pattern in the photos.

If you would like to know more about the art of Thai pottery you might want to check out this interesting article on the history of Thai pottery.

Check out the review of Ceramic 4.0 at TNT.

Last month, our customers have discovered the Prism 3.0s. We have been getting lots of orders for these speakers. The Prism and Drum 3.0s sound very similar. The reason why people are ordering the 3.0s is they like the fact they are made of real teak wood and because they are very easy to place on a bookshelf.

On Harmonic Discord a discussion took place on the suitability of the nOrh 3.0s for A/V. I decided to test the 3.0s out myself. I put a Prism 3.0 on top my Sony 34 inch TV. I have a pair of 7.0s for left and right and a pair of 5.1s for the rear. I found that the Prism 3.0 was excellent and kept up with the rest of the system. Voices were very clear and easy to understand. There was no sign of honking what-so-ever. I noticed that the 3.0s blended with the rest of the system very well. I don' think you could find a better center speaker for $100.00 anywhere.

I tested the 3.0s for rear speakers. If I set them to small, the 3.0s worked very well. I believe that anyone buying a system should put as much money into the left and right speakers as possible. The Prism 3.0s only cost $300.00 for a set of three. I believe that a good strategy to buy an inexpensive A/V system is to put more money into the left and right and then buy the 3.0s to finish out the remaining channels. I also believe that this strategy will be easy to get spousal approval. Most wives would prefer loudspeakers to be as small as possible. The 3.0s are small and they are also beautiful.

nOrh 3.0 and Prism 3.0 (Enlarge)

For a review of the nOrh 3.0s, you may wish to see the review done by TNT.

From Bangladesh, Prism 5.2

Combining the 5.2s with the Prism 3.0s allows you to have a very special video set for $800.00. You can add an inexpensive A/V receiver for about $300.00. A $100 DVD player will round out your system at $1,200.00. If you use the Prism 6.6's instead, the sound will be large and powerful, even with a very modest amplifier. Some people also prefer the design of the prisms over the drums.

Last month we invited everyone to fill out a survey. I was surprised to see that many people wanted us to write more about computers. It appears that more and more people are using their computer as the base of their audio video system. While researching this subject I came across a product that surprised me. The product is a USB preamp that uses tubes and goes for $1,200.00. Check out the following website for details.

While this product might be a bit rich for most people, it does show that hooking up a computer to an audio system is something that some people are taking quite seriously. Most people use their sound cards and output to an audio system. In most cases, this is not the ideal solution. There are some very high quality sound cards available but most of the sound cards that people use offer less than ideal performance. Using USB for output does make a lot of sense. An interesting product that I have found on the web is the Stereo-Link 1200. The product looks as if it offers very good value. I wrote the company but they haven't responded to me yet. I would imagine that a really great little computer setup would be a Decware Zen tube amplifier and a pair of Prism 3.0s. You would still need a sound card for audio input.

The combination I suggest would cost about $1,000.00. This might seem like a lot of money until one considers how versatile the computer is. Last month, I made two new computer purchases. I bought a ADI Microscan 19 inch monitor for less than $200.00 and a Liteonit CD-R. Last year, I purchased a $500.00 flat monitor from a well known manufacturer. The monitor died just after it went out of warranty. I could not be without a monitor for two months so I bought the ADI as a short-term replacement. I am keeping the ADI. The difference in using the 19 inch over 17 inch is amazing.

I have been using CD-Rs for many years. My first CD-R was over $1,000 and was only 2x write and 8x read. I have replaced this many times. My last CD-R was a 8x Yamaha SCSI. It went bad recently. I was reluctant to buy a IDE based CD-R but at $80.00, the Liteonit was simply too inexpensive to pass up. The Liteonit CD-R comes with Nero 5 Burning Rom. The Liteonit CD-R is one of the best buys I have ever made. At 16x, I can make CD-RS very quickly. At 10x CD-RWs are now practical as well. My primary purpose for using a CD-R is to make backups and to create CD-RS of the latest Linux distributions. However, CD-RS are very useful for audiophiles as well. After loosing a few CDs to in our car, it only makes sense to make backups of CDs (that you legally own) and use these in your car. It is also very easy to create collections of songs on CD-R.

Because I live in Thailand, I don't get to hear the types of music that I like as easily as I did in the United States. Last month, I was able to get ADSL. ADSL has changed my life. Prior to ADSL, I was using a dial up modem to do my work. ADSL makes everything go faster. It also opens up a new world of entertainment and information to me. While I work, I listen to a variety of US based radio stations. I mostly listen to news and talk radio programs because I don't find the music stations quite good enough to listen to. Don't get me wrong. The music sounds surpassingly good when you consider how we are getting it.

For music, I prefer to download MP3 files and listen to them after they are downloaded. I use to Limeware to find and download MP3 files. I do not believe it is right to simply download MP3s in order not to buy CDs. In fact, my problem is knowing what CDs to buy. I use MP3s as a screening method. MP3s help me find music that I want to own and protects me from buying CDs that I am not going to enjoy.

Limeware allows you to find all sorts of files on the network. If you do a search on DiVX, you will find a variety of videos that have been converted to Divx format. Divx is to videos what MP3s is to music. You can also search for MPG files. I wanted my wife to see Fat Boy Slim's video Weapon of Choice. I was able to download it for her to watch using Limeware.

I don't use my computer to play games. When I am in front of my computer, I am working. Sometimes, I feel chained to the computer. I have therefore set up my computer to be my information and entertainment terminal. I use an ATI All In Wonder card. This gives me the ability to watch TV, play DVDs or input other video devices using only one PCI slot. I highly recommend the ATI cards. They are very well supported. For people who already have a sound card and have available PCI slots, There is a card made by Lifeview that allows you to watch TV, listen to radio and connect to a video source to your computer. The board is available for less than $100.00.

nOrh Loudspeaker has tried very hard to bring the world new and exciting products. We have a long list of products we want to build. Please come back and watch this site to see what new products we have to offer. Le Amp is proving to be one of the best values available in audio. We will follow this up with a new preamplifier and active crossovers. Beyond that, we have ideas for some truly exciting products.

One of the products that I would love to build is a high-end DVD player that offers both DVDA and SACD. It would also include an internal DTS/AC-3 decoder. It would act as an A/V preamp. Building such a product is not beyond our technical capabilities but such a product would require a significant investment to pay for license fees. We believe that we could build such a product and sell it for a very reasonable price.

We ask that all of you tell your friends about us. If you think our products are good, tell people. There are many people today who will spend lots of money on a chip board or MDF box covered with PVC that has no-name drivers when for the same price, they could buy one of our handcrafted loudspeakers that use only genuine Vifa, Scanspeak or in the case of the nOrh 3.0, TB drivers. Our synthetic marble (SM) loudspeakers are getting rave reviews from customers. Our marble loudspeakers set the standard for 2-way loudspeakers. Do your friends a favor and tell them about us. Help us bring the type of products you want to market for the price you want to pay.

Le Amp, high-end monoblock at only $295.00 each

Important notice about Le Amp and CD-1

In view of the the recent flurry of mods surrounding Le Amp, we have released a notice. Please make sure you understand this.

The CD 1 can be internally adjusted for local power. We have outlined the steps here.

I started nOrh Loudspeakers with no intention of making money on the project. I wanted to preserve handicrafts and create jobs. Each time a customer writes and tells me how much they treasure our loudspeakers, I feel I have been compensated. My real career has been computers. I have worked in the computer field for 25 years. I worked for Sun Microsystems for 13 of those years.

I have helped form a new company, NorhTec Microservers. This company is based out of Calgary, Canada. We will be building devices that run existing x86 applications but in a form factor small enough to allow computers to be used in locations that they could never be used before. The first product will be a general purpose server. It will be able to run Windows 9x, Windows 2000, Linux, Solaris x86, QNX, Vx, and BSD. It will have 2 x USB, 2 x 10/100BaseT, 2 x RS232, IrDA, VGA in, NTSC/PAL (in and out), audio (in and out) and PS/2 keyboard and mouse.

We believe that there is a huge market for this product particularly to build out the Internet into new locations. We believe that eventually, Internet access will be offered aboard airplanes, ships, trains busses and automobiles. For this to happen, smaller and more energy efficient servers will be required. There are a variety of solutions coming out that offer energy efficient designs. Many of these are based on RISC chips. While these solutions are fine for applications that are custom ported, these RISC solutions are not able to run the large library of applications that already exist on the x86 platform.

Another area where existing products don't quite offer a complete solutions is multimedia. The NorhTec Microservers will offer integrated audio and video. This means that a single server in an automobile would not only provide Internet access. It would also be the heart of the automobile entertainment system, allow video teleconferencing, and even create a mobile office.

NorhTec Micoservers would be energy efficient enough that a single 80 watt solar panel can power a classroom of computers.

NorhTec Microservers are small enough allow portable and embedded facial recognition. Each server is network ready. All that is required is facial recognition software and a camera.

NorhTec Microservers will be inexpensive enough that they can be the foundation for a variety of computer based products. NorhTec Microservers can easily be integrated into kiosks, ATMs, vending machines and even public teleconferencing booths.

NorhTec Microservers are light enough that they can be easily carried by police, fireman and soldiers. Combined with overhead displays, NorhTec Microservers can serve as an invaluable tool coordinating military, emergency and law enforcement operations.

In the home, NorhTec Microservers can act as firewall/gateways to ADSL or Cable broadband networks. NorhTec Microserves can also serve as the foundation for networked entertainment, security and environmental system. NorhTec Microservers will allow for smart homes, offices and buildings.

NorhTec Microservers will also allow Small Office Home Offices to implement data center functions without the expense of building a data center. NorhTec Microservers allow data center functionality to be added without expensive structural changes.

NorhTec Microservers is looking for investors and partners. For additional information on NorhTec Microservers, please contact hambrook@apectec.com .

The PEAK MAGAZINE did a story on nOrh. The PEAK MAGAZINE is carried in the First Class and Business Class cabins of Air France, Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa as well as sent to select individuals in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. The article is not online but we recreated it for the web. Kannan Chandran also wrote an article for a local magazine, Men's Review. The article is available here.

Sincerely,

Michael C. Barnes
President
nOrh Loudspeaker Company, Ltd.

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