nOrh 4.0 ceramics arrived yesterday.... (1 Viewer)

[Terry Flink]

WOW...well worth the wait. Bought the 4.0 video system in ceramic. Coupled with my SVS 20-39CS....amazing. Packed for shipping through a warzone, beautiful fit/finish, amazing sound right out of the box. Can't wait till they break in! I replaced a mix of Canton mains and KEF center/surrounds. Imaging, detail and sound stage are a HUGE improvement...music/HT nirvana. I am never leaving the house.

 

[Erich_H]

Congrats!! That is the exact speaker setup I am looking into. What are you using to power your setup?

 

[John Gates]

Terry,
Congratulations! I'm glad you are happy. Wait until you have about 100 hours on the 4.0's. They do sound good right out of the box, but after a while you will notice that they open up considerably. I have soundstage on mine that goes a good 6 feet outside each main speaker. Off-axis response (width of the sweet spot) gets better and better until it is MANY feet wide. Sweet spot in my room with the 4.0's was about 8 feet wide only 12 feet from the mains (no exaggeration).
You are in for a treat. Glad you like them.
John

 

[Ryan Schnacke]

Terry,
Welcome to the nOrh club! I felt the same way when my 4.0s arrived ... and I still feel that way. These things are absolutely unbelievable at $850/5 speakers. And the match with SVS is seamless. What color did you get? My white ceramics are a nice cream color. A good, conservative, choice for those with wives who aren't too sure about those crazy looking speakers. My wife eventually warmed up to them ... after she heard them.
Erich,
All I can say is give them a try. You won't be disappointed. Maybe there's someone in your area willing to let you audition theirs.
I'm driving the 4.0s with an Onkyo 595. With all speakers set to small I've had no problems whatsoever driving them. I've also powered them full-range in stereo mode with no problems. To very loud volumes, in a very large room. Recently I recalibrated and found that the fronts were 1dB hot. So they definately gain sensitivity as they break in. I get the feeling that either nOrh under-rates their products or lots of other companies over-rate theirs.
If you guys have not yet found www.harmonicdiscord.com then I highly suggest a visit. They have a forum specifically for nOrh products and Michael Barnes has been known to drop in from time to time.

 

[BryanZ]

Terry,
Congrats! Would love to know what color you have them in. Mine are the blue/silver version and they look wonderful! They also will only get better. I had some friends over on Saturday to watch some movies. Needless to say, they were very impressed! They all thought the 4.0s looked cool. I hooked up one of my 3.0s and they couldn't beleive how similar they sounded but the 4.0 was unquestionably better.
Erich,
I have used (in order): JVC RX-8000V, Yamaha RX-V496, Onkyo TX-DS595, and Outlaw 1050 with the 4.0s. Of those, the JVC is underpowered, the Yamaha runs a little on the bright side, the Onkyo is fairly neutral, and the Outlaw is clean sounding. Not harsh, not bright, and cleaner sounding than the Onkyo. Hopefully soon my Le Amps will arrive and I can hook them up to the mains. Should be very interesting.

 

[Erich_H]

Thanks for the replies!! I have pretty much made up my mind to go with the Outlaw, but wanted to hear some different views. Thanks again!

 

[Tyson]

Check out the Matrix with the 4.0's. First time I heard the 4.0's with this movie I was just dumbfounded. Amazing sound. IMHO, the 4.0's are not "good for the $$", they are great speakers, period. The play nice and loud, and do some things as well or better than any speaker I have heard, namely a crazy-wide dispersion pattern, a huge sweetspot, perfect tonal matching across the front and stretching to the back. Oh yeah, and incredible amounts of clear detail without being the least bit harsh or bright. Did I mention I really like these speakers? ;-)