Older news - December, 2003

Happy Holiday Seasons from nOrh Loudspeaker

More quotes from our customers

"Hi, just wanted to tell you I am very happy with the 6.1 classics i received on Thursday. They are worth the price just for their looks alone! They sound great even though I am using a rather cheap amp right now ... " - Tony

"I've had a chance to listen to this combination for over a week now and I'm enjoying it very much. I have these two hooked up to my PC and all my other digital inputs (using an ART D/IO dac). The 7V of output from the DAC is really nice - I don't have to push the volume on the SE9 at all. And I love the idea that all this fancy digital stuff is hooked up to some vacuum tubes. What's been most impressive to me about the speakers is that they've handled the most complicated CDs I have with no problem (e.g. "Passion" by Peter Gabriel and some of the Mapleshade jazz recordings)... Shipping was incredibly fast, packaging was excellent, and these products are wonderfully designed and built. Congratulations! (I'll definitely be recommending your company to others)" - Bob Malos, USA

"I've setup my system with the SM 6.1's, and they sound awesome!" - Tad

Stefano De Luca wrote to tell us about his Christmas webpage. There is a photo of nOrh Loudspeakers. The website is in Italian. This is what he wrote:

I am Stefano De Luca from the site www.promart.it, the leading classical music site in Italy. You can make a research via Google and others search engines with the words "Musica classica" and see the results. We have about 7000 impressions a day. I wrote to you once in november. We have a new Christmas page in our site. We would like to inform you that there is a box dedicated to Norh speakers. You can find it at the page www.promart.it/xmas.

This has been a very busy month for me personally. I have had visitors from Japan, Malaysia, Canada, and Africa. Most of my time has been taken by people interested in NorhTec computers. Please visit the website at www.norhtec.com. NorhTec is a different company. It has its own investors. Many of the people involved are the same people involved with nOrh loudspeaker.

Some people have asked me if I am abandoning audio in favor of computers. I find this a strange question. I have made my living in computers for over 20 years. Audio has always been a hobby. nOrh has been a hobby. I never have taken any money personally from nOrh. nOrh was started as a project to create jobs and as an outlook for a hobby I had enjoyed all my life.

When I started nOrh, I had a full-time job in the computer industry. I spent from 10 to 12 hours a day working and I traveled out of town frequently. Setting up nOrh, gave me the confidence to set up another company. Recently, there has been a lot of interest in the sort of computers NorhTec builds. NorhTec manufactures small, energy efficient, and quiet computers. Some of the computers work from DC power so they can be used in cars. Some of NorhTec's products use only 7 watts of power so they are ideal for setting up wireless hotspots.

Business is getting exciting. None-the-less, I still love music and I am still interested in audio. nOrh will continue to introduce new products and continue to deliver high quality audio products at a very low price.

Le Amp 2 update

Many customers have written to ask about Le Amp 2. We did ship out quite a few units initially. The customers who have received these love the way they look and the way they sound. This has increased the excitement and anticipation.

Back in March, we were dealing with a local company that made us switching power supplies for computers. He told us he could build the amplifier and asked if we were interested in working with him. He asked what we wanted and we put together a dream list of functions. In three weeks, we had a prototype that we took to the Midwest Audio Show. Le Amp 2 went over very well. Our supplier said he could build the amps in volume. We gave him full payment for 50 amplifiers. We were quite happy that we received orders for about 300 amplifiers. We knew that some people would cancel but with 300 orders, it looked like we could turn around the money we had invested.

A month later, nothing. We asked our supplier. He said that the problem was the cases. He said that he was negotiating the price for the cases. We got in touch with the case company and found out that our supplier had not put up a deposit on the cases. The cases turned out to be more expensive than we expected. We agreed to pay for the cases separately.

It took a month for the cases. We expected amps very soon. We got two. We took photos and shipped them out. After that, we squeezed and were able to get 10 amplifiers out to customers. After that, we couldn't get anything out. We talked to our supplier. He admitted he was short on money to order parts. We now knew we could not pay him directly so we said we would order the parts we needed to complete the build separately. We had him sign a contract and we paid for the parts we needed.

We still could not get any more units. We started to realize how bad the situation was getting. There were many other companies pushing him to build products. Some of them had paid him even more than we had. What surprised us the most was that we found an advertisement for an amplifier that looked like our unit being advertised in a local Thai magazine. He was selling off the cases and parts that we had paid for in order to raise money to build other orders.

Last month, we went to his factory and saw that the factory had been abandoned. Some of his staff were still there but the owner was gone. From what we were told, one of the companies he was dealing with had paid him over $50,000 USD in advance. That company wanted their money back or their product. The rumor was that this company had put out a "contract" on our supplier and he fled town.

The person who was the chief engineer for the previous company started up his own company. He knew how to build Le Amp 2s. We recovered enough parts to build 17 amps (almost). Last week, we built and tested 10 amps and this week we will build another 10. After that point, we will have to start from pay for the parts again and start over.

Working with the new supplier seems to be going well. The amplifiers are being built quickly and the quality is very high. I am more confident than ever that we will be able to complete our orders.

We certainly understand our customers being frustrated waiting. Imagine how we feel. We never collect money in advance from our customers. We always spend the money first. We only charge when we are ready to ship. Once things get back on track, they should move quickly. The good news is that we will not let Le Amp 2 die. It is too good an amplifier and too good a value to let go.

Music

I have listened to more music this month than I have in a long time. I know, you read how busy I am - so when do I find time for music? I have moved into my new house. Since moving, I have not had time to set up my main systems. I did however set up my bedroom and my office music systems. In my bedroom, I have a pair of Prism 6.9s. These are prefect for my bedroom. They are floor standing, very efficient, great looking and they sound very good -- particularly for movies.

My new home office is smaller than my old home office. My wife has made me put all the cabinets that store my collection of laser disks, CDs and DVDs in my office. The only place left to put a pair of speakers is on the shelves. I got the factory to make me a pair of Prisms 3.0s. I didn't want to go to the expense of real teak so I asked for black prism 3.0s.

The Prism 3.0 loudspeakers are the easiest to place loudspeakers I know of. The nOrh 4.1s are also easy to place and angle and I use them on my main system for center (waiting to be set up). I hooked my 3.0s to a SE 9 integrated. I drive the SE 9 with an M-Audio Sonica Theater. I use the DVD player in my computer to play music. I also have a World Space Satellite Receiver. I like to listen to RIFF, which is a jazz station.

This month, I have been listening to some new jazz CDs. The first one that I listened to is Bob James' Morning. Bob James is part of the very popular jazz group called Foreplay. This is Bob James' first solo effort in a very long time. The music is very upbeat. Bob James tries to introduce jazz to a broader audience by interleaving jazz with hip hop, rhythm & blues and pop. Despite the collaborative influence, Bob James' keyboard style remains firmly planted in the jazz genre. I liked this CD very much. To some jazz fans, the CD might seem too much of a compromise or crossover. The CD is very easy to listen to and very satisfying.

Another very pleasing jazz CD that I recently discovered is Joshua Redman's Elastic. Some hard core jazz fans might find this CD more funk or pop but to my ears, the CD was very nicely done. Mr. Redman's saxophone style is articulate but he never shows off. There is plenty of room for the other excellent players here to get into the groove. The Joshua Redman Elastic CD is highly recommended.

My favorite CD this month is Larry Carlton's Drop Into It. Larry Carlton plays a mean guitar. His style is a mix of jazz, blues and soul. I have been a blues fan since I was a teenager. It is hard for me to get some of my friends to listen to blues. It is somewhat an acquired taste. The blues has had a tremendous influence on modern music. Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis were strongly influenced by blues. The Rolling Stones and the Beatles were also highly influenced. Listen to any James Taylor or Eric Clapton CD and you will hear the strong influence blues has had on many rock guitarists. The aforementioned rock stars and groups added vocals. Larry Carlton has to communicate only with his guitar. This is a really great album. There is enough jazz for jazz fans, enough pop for pop fans and enough soul for fans of R&B. For people like me who like the blues, this CD has exactly what we are looking for.