A couple of nOrh 4.0 questions (1 Viewer)

[Steve Satch]

The CHT review of the nOrh has pretty much made my decision to buy the five 4.0 setup. I was deciding between these and the HTD towers. I have a couple of issues I was hoping the nOrh people could clear up before I buy. Just for background they will be paired with an Energy E:XLS10 sub (to be upgraded to an Adire or SVS within 12 months with any luck), be used for about 65-70% movies and 30-35% music in a room that is a family room with one side than completely opens into a kitchen. The combined room size is 24 feet long by 20 feet wide with a 9 and a half foot tall ceiling. The family room part where one would sit to watch movies is 24 by 13, but like I said it's open to the kitchen. Concerns: 1) Are these just not enough speaker for the room size? I assume the HTD towers would do a better job of filling the large room with sound. 2) I've heard the nOrh really should be powered by quailty gear. My power source is just a Yamaha 995 receiver and I have no plans of upgrading it. How will that sound with the nOrh 4.0? 3) What about the Energy sub? I know it's not that good. Will they sound good with it since it will be responsible for pretty much all the bass? I want to upgrade it to an SVS or Adire and have plans to. If I never did upgrade it I know the HTD towers would be able to put out lots more bass of their own than the little nOrhs. 4) Stands. I have yet to see stands for the nOrh that seem OK. I have young kids and I need STURDY stands that really fit the nOrh 4.0 like a glove for a reasonable price. The top of my TV where the center speaker will sit is about 45" off the ground. I need tall, sturdy speaker stands for the front and rear (I don't like the look of any mounted nOrh rear speakers yet) Also, how does one secure the speaker to the stand? My little Energy Take twos screw into the stand. Isn't a speaker just sitting on a stand likely to be knocked over? Thanks for any suggestions. I really would like to buy the more powerful HTD towers, but man it sounds like the nOrhs have a much better sound.
Steve

 

[Brian Fellmeth]

1) They play loud and will fill your room. Not a problem.
2) In my opinion, a Yamaha 995 is enough electronics. You may not wring out absolutely everything the 4.0's are capable of, but thats true of any quality speaker.
3) This is a problem. Until you make the sub upgrade, the energy will be a drag on your system.
4) Another real problem. Many creative drum stand ideas have been posted. You might consider substituting prism's to get around this if you have small kids roughhousing around them.

 

[Peter Johnson]

If you are going to upgrade to an SVS, I imagine they will be fine. Obviously you will be putting more strain on the sub, and I think the SVS will do a better job.
FWIW I dont own the 4.0's, I have the 7.0's, but I have read a fair bit about the 4.0's and may be getting some for my HT
I got the impression the HTD speakers were brighter from the review...pairing them with the yammie, I would go the nOrh's in this case.
Stands will obviously be required for the mains. I wouldnt worry about they getting knocked off...they could just as easily push over the towers.
There are many nOrh owners at www.harmonicdiscord.com you should ask them for how they hung their rears. Some enscrewed the legs, put in hooks and suspended them, others used a "sling"..

 

[Kishu]

The Norhs will play loud- louder with better amps . Your 995 Yammie will do fine-but you will be surprised on the sound quality when you upgrade Yammie's later on
As far as stands are concerned, as long as plate is 6" + x 6"+ you are ok. Some folks have bought marble tile from home depot and placed it with glue over their existing front plate(of speaker stand) and also attached glue to Norh legs to tile.
Or you can buy new ones if you want (from partsexpress or audioadvisor)-it should not be an issue.
Cheers,
Kishore

 

[Bob Marker]

Steve:
I recently purchased a pair of used wood Norh 4.0s and am using them in a room very similar in size (21'x23'x8') to yours. They easily fill my room with clean sound - and thats without a subwoofer! Other owners have said the Norhs "like to play loud" and I agree. They are also somewhat more efficient than I expected - I'd say your Yamaha receiver would have no problem driving them to high volume levels.
I also own a pair of of PSB Stratus Bronze speakers that are similar in size to the HTD towers. While the Norhs are not as neutral and transparent as the much more expensive PSBs, I feel they come very close to matching them in terms of volume output capability (except, of course, in the low bass).
I don't believe you can go wrong with the Norhs, especially if you already have a sub.
Bob

 

[TysonN]

What you might want to try for the surrounds is a pair of wood drums as they can mount directly to the wall with an omni-mount. Just unscrew the rear rubber "foot" on the speaker and attach the omni-mount. Very sturdy and takes up no space. You can also get the wood drum painted (by nOrh) to match the color of your walls so that they blend in. For the fronts, you are better off going with the ceramic or marble 4.0's, they have better clarity and detail than the wood 4.0's. For stands, I would make sure that the stands themselves are quite heavy, so they are not easy to knock over. Then you could use a soft sheet of rubber on the top plate so that the stainless steel feet of the 4.0's will "grip" the stand and won't slide off. Actually knocking them over would take a pretty big effort with this setup.

 

[Steve Satch]

Does anyone know of specific stands that would fit the nOrh 4.0 really well? Where does one buy rubber to fit on top of the stand??? I think I'd prefer ceramic on stands for fronts and rears rather than mount wood drums (I guess you'd have to aim them at each other that way). My wife thinks for sure our kids would knock 'em over and that ceramic would be easy to break. How often do you think a woman would want you to buy the HTD towers over artsy looking speakers?? Go figure. Her thinking is the towers are less likely to be knocked over and less likely to break if they fell. But I don't want to pay MORE for speakers that aren't as good. Am I the only here with young kids who has to think about this stuff?????? I refuse to wait a couple years to upgrade
Satch

 

[David Head]

Check out the choices here . I like the marble stands on page 2. They aren't cheap, but should look great with the nOrh speakers.
David
[Edited last by David Head on August 11, 2001 at 07:20 PM]

 

[TysonN]

Since the 4.0's have a very low center of gravity (compared to most bookshelf speakers), and have a very wide base (feet are wide apart), they are very difficult to "knock over". The main danger is that they are bumped and slide off the top of the stand. But if you use a rubber sheet on top of a heavy stand, they are gonna be just about as stable as a tower speaker, maybe even more stable if you fill the stand with sand to make it very heavy. That will take care of the front 3 speakers, they will be very very stable. For the rear speakers, the taller the stands are, the wider the base needs to be in order to stay stable. But it would still be easier to tip them over becuase of the higher center of gravity. Another option besides the omnimount idea is what I have done in my HT - check the picture here: http://home.earthlink.net/~tcsubwoofer/wsn4E29.html
Those are my friends wood 4.0's up there (from back when I had my NHT 2.5i's, AC-1, and 1.5's). I replaced all the NHT stuff with marble 4.0's and those little shelves hold the mass of the marble 4.0's fine, so they should have no problem with the ceramics. Since I live in an apartment, I cannot hide the wire like I want, but in a home that should not be too difficult. . .

 

[Steve Satch]

Thanks! Tyson, those marble 4.0s on the little shelf for rears, are they aiming at the TV or toed in (aiming at the other rear)? I can't tell if they are on a side wall or on the rear wall. I don't have any side wall spots for rears. My current rears (Energy Take 2) are mounted on the wall behind me and aiming directly at me. The nOrh is so long and needs some space that I'm not sure if I could do the same thing (aim it at the TV) unless I put a shelf that comes out pretty far. Would it hurt to aim the two rears at each other?
again THANKS!
Steve

 

[TysonN]

They are pointed straight ahead at the TV. This give a more directional sound, which I like. You can mount them to the rear wall and point at each other and it will give you a bit more of a diffuse sound. Many people prefer a more diffuse sound for rears. With an omni-mount, you could also very easily mount them to the ceiling. . . .

 

[Steve Satch]

I see, so they are on side walls. I wish I had that option but one side wall is a sliding glass door and the other is open to the kitchen. I'd have to mount them on the rear wall. With the length of them and the needed space between them and the wall do you feel that's it's possible to aim them at the TV on a rear wall or would I have to aim them at each other?

 

[Greg S]

Steve,
Please do go with the nOrh 4.0 you will be VERY HAPPY!
On the stands. I am going with the ones shown on page 2 of the Home Decorators website. According to HD they are solid marble - they are $99 each and shipping is very reasonable (about $20 per). I think these will be ideal for me.
On the rears I have to "solve" that issue. I have a lot ideas but none seem "perfect". I have marbles on order so my situation is similar to yours.
I will keep you posted on this as well.
A friend of mine picked up some very nice outdoor plaster plant stands (all kinds of shapes, styles, and sizes) that he is going to paint. They look very nice and were very cheap, they came from an Outdoor Lawn & Garden place and were about $15 each.
Greg

 

[Steve Satch]

I just talked the wife into it. I also figured out a cool solution for the fronts. My tv is tucked into a media niche. I can put shelves (like the one on Tyson/Tyson's friends web page that he uses for rears) on the side walls on the media niche that aim the fronts straight ahead and even with the center. These will be cheap to buy and easy to put up as well as keep them away from my destructo son. The only problem is rears. My wife has the furniture so the sofa is back against the rear wall. I'd have to have a very wide shelf to be able to aim the rear at the tv. Such shelves might not even exist, or look tacky, or even put the front of the drum in front of my ears. I'm pretty certain I'm going to have to aim the two rears at each other and hope for the best soundwise. I know people used to do this in the days of pro logic, but that with DD and DTS you no longer want to difuse the sound....One last question, should I try to get the Adire Dharman while it's on sale for $510 plus shipping ($550 total to me) or go with the SVS ($700)?

 

[TysonN]

For rears you might be better off with the prism 4.1's, since they are much shorter, and they only require about 2 inches of clearance from the wall behind them. As rear speakers, they blend very well with the 4.0's in the front. I know this for a fact because I borrowed a pair of my neighbor's prism 4.1's for a while and ran them with 3 marble 4.0's up front. Sounded great.

 

[Steve Satch]

hmm, that would run $950 instead of $850 though : ) The extra $100 could help me get a good sub now. You think the prisms aiming forward would sound better than drums aimed at each other? $100 better?

 

[TysonN]

No, not $100 improvement, especially if that $$ will get you a better sub (a quality sub is CRITICAL to get the best from the 4.0's). What sub are you looking at?

 

[Steve Satch]

I'm either going to get the Adire Dharman, which if I order before the 17th should run me about $550 shipped, or the SVS powered 25-31 which is $700. I believe the SVS is most likely better, but it's hard to pass up the introductory price of the Dharman.

 

[TysonN]

I think the 20-31 and the Dharman will be very close in performance. I own the 16-46, which I re-tuned to 20 hz for a while, and I have heard a sub similar to the Dharman. I don't think either one has much of an edge over the other. Both are extremely impressive. With the sale, I think the Dharman is really a no brainer at this point.

 

[Brian Fellmeth]

Barnes may give you the $100 discount for a mixed 5 speaker set so you could get your prism's for rears. Email him and ask.