Merry Christmas

Shaf, our webmaster, called me. He is now studying at AIT in Thailand.  He told me that he has very little time now as he prepares for finals.  It seems everyone is busy. nOrh has has an unusually busy November. In fact, business have been dramatically up over the past three years. NorhTec is more than just busy. We have orders for 3,800 computers. This is the largest backlog we have ever had.  

As you might have read, I have been going out on weekly bike rides. A few weeks ago, I went on a ride up Kao Yai. This is a 35 kilometer trip up and 35 kilometer trip down a mountain. Unlike mountains in the US, these mountains have monkeys, tigers and elephants. We didn't see any elephants or tigers. We did see some elephant droppings on the road. I am told the elephants don't come out on the road during the day. I took my mountain bike on this trip - not my DaHon. I wasn't sure that the DaHon's gears were low enough for this ride. During the ride, we saw monkeys jumping from the trees down to the telephone wires and then back up into the trees. Some of them would jump from limbs on one side of the road to limbs on the other side of the road. About five kilometers from the top, a torrent of rain fell. I mention this because I had my camera and MP3 player with me at the time. Both of them are now in the repair shop. That is why I don't have a lot of new photos. However, Yuth did us all a favor by taking some photos of the new version of Le Amp 2.

Le Amp 2 (again)

Le Amp 2 was one of our most expensive projects. As many of your know, our original designer took our money and disappeared. We had a very difficult time putting together amps from the parts we were able to confiscate from his abandoned company. We were able to build some amps but we found that we had to install filters for the switching power supplies. We retrofitted a lot of the original Le Amps - either with filters or by replacing the power supply with a standard power supply.

Our customers were amazingly patient as we replaced, fixed and retrofitted these amplifiers one at a time.  We had expected to fix the problem amplifiers and just put the Le Amp behind us. However, because Le Amp 2 sounded so good, we continued to get many requests for Le Amp 2.

We had considered creating a stereo amplifier. This would save us money in shipping and for the case.  Guess what - you all want us to stick with the monoblock concept. OK - we heard you. So here are the photos Yuth sent me.



NorhTec  has never taken money in advance for a product. However, we are considering making an exception for Le Amp 2. Our target price for Le Amp 2 is $300.00 per side including shipment to the US (with credit toward shipment for areas where shipping is more expensive). For anyone ordering Le Amp and willing to pay in advance (you money will be refunded if we take longer than 60 days), we will offer a $50.00 discount per amp. Yuth will let me know when we are prepared to make this offer.

We are confident we have now created the best sounding amplifier for the price ever. We will be using the same topology with same or better components.

I am repeating last month's posting - mostly because we sold so much and I need to wait until a few more weeks before my camera is repaired. I  will be attending the Bangkok Jazz Festival before next month. I can't wait. It is my favorite event of the year.

Biking in Thailand

Before I came to Thailand, my low-tech pastime was riding a bicycle.  Almost every weekend or whenever I could get another opportunity, I would go out on a bike ride.  The US is much more bike friendly than Thailand. In the US, there were many bike trails. None-the-less, Thailand can be a great place to bicycle as well.  They key is to ride with people who know what they are doing.  I recently met up with a group of cyclist, who have mapped out great rides. One week we rode bikes to a pier and crossed over on boats to an island in the center of the Chaophraya river, Kho Kret. Another trip we went to Muk Lek which has beautiful scenery and a beautiful dam.  

My last bike ride was a round trip of 106 kilometers. We rode from Bangkok to Ayuthaya.  We stopped at BangPaIn which is the half way point.  This ride was my favorite because it was like discovering a new world of biking. We started at a small bakery that is apparently a well known starting point for cyclists heading north. While there, we saw several groups of cyclists. Some were headed to Ayuthya. Others were going all the way to Chanrai -- 800 kilometers away.  It reminded me as sort of a silk road for cyclists.

The road was nearly forgotten -- like many country roads I knew growing up in Kentucky.  Of course there were no large white herrings in Kentucky and no rice fields either.  It didn't take long to leave behind the bustle of Bangkok and be surrounded only by the countryside.  

I have two bicycles.  One is an eight year old Giant Mountain bike, 880 and the other is a DaHon folding bike, the Helios 8.  I have the DaHon because I don't have any way of transporting my bike from point A to point B.  I am a huge fan of the DaHon bikes.  The DaHon can fold down small enough to fit into the trunk of a taxi or the front seat of a car.  The Helios 8 is also amazingly light.  In Bangkok, there is no way to make a U-Turn on a bike.  There just isn't any way you can cross over four or five lanes of traffic.  The only way to cross is to walk over pedestrian bridges. These bridges are about three stories high.  It is much easier to carry the DaHon over these bridges.  

During the Monsoon season, it can rain without any warning.  When it rains, I fold the bike and flag down a taxi.  The DaHon can also be folded and carried onto the Subway or Skytrain.  It is also easier to move the DaHon on and off boats and ferries.  


The first DaHon I bought was a low quality bicycle but I bought it because it was just so handy.  The new DaHon bikes are much better than the old DaHons.  The old DaHons used to be very heavy and used low quality components. The new DaHon is very light and the component set is quite good for the price of the bike. The DaHon Helios 8 is a joy to ride.  I had been warned that the seat was too hard so I just bought a $10.00 gel seat cover.  I can't really comment what the saddle is like without the cover because I never tired it without. I had problems with the folding peddles right away.  After my 100 km ride, the bearings in the folding peddles came apart.  The owner of the bike store I went to came up with a very intelligent choice.  He took a pair of standard peddles that had an aluminum frame. He cut the frame off and what was left was a small peddle that was quite high quality.  He showed me how the peddle was now only as wide as the peddle that came with the DaHon was after it was folded.

MP3 Streaming Audio and other subject forbidden by audiophiles

A few years ago, I got into a public argument with audiophiles about MP3.  While many audiophiles were worried over what the next high-end CD format would be, I suggested that the MP3 market would be much larger.  I argued that MP3s were better than the formats they would replace -- cassette tapes and FM Radio broadcasts.  I thought it was just about as stupid for Audiophiles to attach MP3 as it would be for them to attack FM Radio.  

Today, most of the listening I do is over the Internet -- either streaming audio or Collective Commnons music which is free to download and collect.  I have never listened to so much music in my life and quite frankly -- I am having a great time.  Of course, I take my cheap MP3 player (see below) with me when I go bike riding.  

I finally gave in and bought a small MP3 player.  I have used PDAs to play MP3s but I never had a dedicated player.  I have always admired the iPODs and I am sure one of these days, I will get one.  iPODs are much more expensive here in Thailand than they are in the US so I have always thought I would buy one when I am in the US.  Pan from nOrh has a Shuffle.  It is a really cute device and it sounds very nice.  She has the 512 MB version that stores about 10 hours worth of music.  I was particularly interested in the Nano which looks like a really cool product.  One of the things I didn't care for on the Shuffle was the fact there is no display.  

Recently, I bought a copy of Realplay Radio.  Realplay Radio rips streaming audio.  You can record talk shows or radio broadcasts.  I bought a Oker 512MB MP3 player.  It only cost me about $60.00.  It does a much better job than I have any right to expect.  First of all, it sounds very good. The buttons are easy to use.  The display is easy to read.  This cheap unit also has voice recording and FM radio.  

I can set Realplay Radio to record radio programs I want to listen to later and then copy them onto the Oker MP3 player.  In addition to the copied media streams, I also copy off several of my Podcasts.  I can put about 10 hours of recorded MP3s onto the device.

For music, I use Paradise Radio.  


An expat can easily loose touch with what is going on back home.  We can easily miss years of our home’s popular culture, loose touch with music and miss many news events.  I have lived in Thailand nearly 11 years.  During that time, I have kept myself as plugged in on the issues going on back in my  home country and home town by listening to streaming audio. 

Wireless technology now allows me to use streaming audio as easily as using a standard radio.  I recently retired a wireless PDA by dedicating it for use as a streaming audio device.  As the device runs off of rechargeable batteries and has wireless, I can use the device anywhere in the house and by plugging in headphones, I can carry the unit from room to room while listening to my radio station of choice.

It is quite amazing the variety of music and other programming that is available via streaming audio.  For music, the best place to start is to download the latest version of WinAmp.  If you use a Linux, or are using a PDA, you can point your browser to www.shoutcast.com.  Other streaming radio stations can be found at http://www.live365.com/index.live, http://dir.xiph.org/index.php, and http://www.radioshowlinks.com/.

If you have a Pocket PC device, you will want to download GSPlayer at http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA032810/.  GSPlayer is an excellent program for playing streaming MP3 files as well as playing back podcast broadcasts.

I am not aware of any free streaming clients for the PalmOS. However, for networked connected Palm devices, there are two commercial packages. MMplayer  will handle both video as well as audio.  A very refined looking MP3 player and MP3 streaming client is Pocket Tunes.  If you have an older Zire, you can purchase a SD size wireless device and turn your Palm device into a streaming radio. 

It is also possible to dedicated old laptops or other aging computers as dedicated streaming audio players.  There are a variety of stratigies to create streaming audio devices that will boot directly from a USB dongle or directly from a live CDROM.   Puppy Linux is a 60MB Linux that that is  an ultra small distribution that supports audio streaming via GXine.  Puppy Linux includes the options to download and install Streamtuner.  Streamtuner integrates directories for 365Live, Shoutcast and Xiph.org.  Streamtuner can work with StreamRipper to record streams.  Streamtuner should work with any Linux Distribution.

Another small Linux that can boot and run directly off a CDROM is Amarok Live.  Amarok LIve includes Amarok which is a KDE based media player.  The live CD includes hours of free MP3s and links to many other creative commons music sources.

When I was in the US, I used to listen to a progressive radio station WHFS.  WHFS’ name if not their soul has been preserved as it is now available as a streaming option on AOL XM and can be accessed directly using the latest version of WinAmp. Listening to WHFS on the web brought back many memories but the new streaming version of WHFS is like the elevator music version of the original as all the music is just programmed on a giant playlist.

One of the best radio stations I have found on the web for my taste in music, other than SmoothJazz is Radio Paradise.  Radio Paradise plays an eclectic mix of interesting music.  Radio Paradise plays music you are not likely to hear on any radio stations in Thailand. 

It is possible to record music directly from streaming audio.  The easiest way to do this free is to download StreamRipper.  I you use WinAmp to play back your MP3 files, then you should download the StreamRipper version that work with WinAmp.  Streamripper will download songs and title them in seperate MP3 files that you can then later record onto a CD or copy to your iPOD or similar device. 

Note:  For Mac users, there is a StreamRipper available at http://streamripperx.sourceforge.net/.

I also like to listen to talk radio. Most talk radio streams are now using only Windows Media Player.  An exception to this is www.kogo.com, a San Francisco based talk radio program.  While there are some strategies to record Windows Media Player using free software, most of these strategies are not exactly straight forward. 

The best program that I have found to manage the process of streaming audio, podcasts as well as recording all formats is Realplay Radio.  Realplay Radio is like having Tivo for streaming audio.  You can set Realplay Radio to download and record any streaming audio and save it in MP3 format. 

It is also possible to stream radio stations using GPRS.  GPRS is not suitable for high quality MP3 streams but it will do a good job streaming talk and news stations or just playing music in the background.  Using GPRS and on a PDA Phone or with a PDA and blue tooth enabled GPRS phone, you can now have streaming radio anywhere -- even in your car.

Of course, then again, you might feel that the two English language FM radio stations we have in Bangkok are quite sufficient.

Remember - if music was just for background, we would all live in elevators - Michael C. Barnes.

SE 9 Integrated Tube Amplifier

Audiophiles have long claimed that tube amps sound smoother and more natural than solid state amps.  The reason is the distortion that tube amps create are even order harmonics.  Solid state amps create odd order harmonics. Even order harmonics are the type of harmonics that occur naturally.  Odd order harmonics do not occur naturally so our ears are far more sensitive to these distortions.

Audiophiles claim that when people listen to odd order harmonics, it causes a sensation they term as listener fatigue.  The SE 9 is a single ended amplifier which is considered by many to be the purest form of sound reproduction possible.  While the nOrh SE 9 is modest in terms of power, the SE 9 generally plays loud enough for most applications and is ideal for hours and hours of listening.

I spend up to 16 hours a day in front of my computer.  During my work, I listen to streaming audio broadcasts and a variety of podcasts.  I also download lots of collective commons songs from GarageBand.com .  I have found a lot of music on GarageBand.com that is much better than what is typically played on radio. Here are some artists to check out:

My daughter tells me that a lot of young people her age are collecting vinyl records.  I am not sure how they are playing them. Most electronics today don't include phono preamps.  The receivers that do have them have very low quality RIAA circuits.  If you still have a record collection, please consider our tube RIAA equalizer (phono preamp).  This unit will allow you to play your turntable through modern equipment that has no equalization. You can also use this between your computer soundcard and turntable so you can archive your vinyl collection, create MP3s or create CDs from your LP collection.

nOrh's tube RIAA equalizer (phono Preamp)

Black Synthetic Marble Speaker on real Marble Stand

I very much enjoy the 6.6s. They are very efficient and have a very smooth and natural sound. When I watch movies, I am often fooled into thinking the sound coming from the speakers is real.

The combination of nOrh 3.0s and the SE 9.0 is one of the best sounding  audio systems possible under $700.00.  If you have any friends who are about to buy a cheap combo system or even a high priced low-end system, you have a responsibility to let them know about the SE 9.0 and nOrh 3.0 combination.

The nOrh 4.0s continue to be one of our best selling speakers.  We offer the 4.0 in both walnut and rosewood.  The nOrh 4.0s are among the best sounding and most beautiful speakers under $500.00 a pair.  They are hand carved from solid wood.  Most speakers in this price range use very cheap Asian drivers, poorly designed crossovers and are made of chipboard and vinyl covering.  The nOrh 4.0 uses real wood and uses Vifa drivers.