Please tell me about nOrh (1 Viewer)

[Terry Flink]

Thinking about replacing my speakers and have just become aware of this company. Took a look at their website and and the speakers are beautiful and the reviews seem quite impressive. I am replacing some older Canton Karat series mains and KEF center/rears. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[TysonN]

I have heard most of the nOrh speakers & done some comparisons to other speakers, so I can probably answer most questions about them. What did you want to know? Are you looking at a particular speaker or setup?

 

[Steve Satch]

I'm looking real hard at them (the 4.0 five speaker setup) as well. It's between them at the HTD level three towers. I think the Norh would sound better for music, but that's just going on the few reviews I've seen. My concerns are: The front two are not shielded so I can't place them on my TV like I would with most bookshelf sized speakers. If I must use stands I might as well buy tower speakers since they use the same size footprint. Also the odd size might make it hard to find stands for them. I read one review that said they slide around on the stand. Having kids Im worried about the ceramic cracking or breaking when the kids knock the stands over. That's less likely to happen with heavy towers or bookshelf sized on the TV. How to hang the rears??? The Norh webpage has a pic of one solution that looks tacky to me. How important is it for rears to be above one's head? I haven't made up my mind yet. I'm waiting to read the Cheaphometheater.com review and hope it compares the Norh and HTD.
Satch

 

[Drew Eckhardt]

1. You can't place any speaker on your TV and have it sound right unless it was designed to go there (sound bounces off the screen).
2. Unless you have a very large TV that you sit very close to, the speakers will be placed sub-optimally for imaging purposes.
3. Mini-monitors can sound better than floor-standing speakers because of the smaller front panel.
4. Mini-monitors on decent stands can easily outweigh floor standing speakers.

 

[TysonN]

The marble and ceramic 4.0's excel in clarity and imaging. Nothing I have heard in their price range, or even for much more, can really equal them in these areas. With the way the woofer and tweeter are mounted, there is essentially NO baffle, so imaging is just amazing. The inert cabinet really makes a big difference w/regard to mid-range clarity (it does not really have any affect on the high frequencies). The wood and ceramic 4.0 package does come with a center speaker shielded, included in the package price (this is what I got, but in the marble enclosures). You can get the other 2 front speakers shielded if you want, but I think it is like $50 extra. But, I would not recommend putting the front 2 speakers close to the TV, as it really destroys imaging across the front (this goes for ANY speaker). 20 inches between the speaker and the TV will let you get by with no shielding. Below is a link w/a picture on how I mounted the rear 4.0's - these are pictures of my friend's wood speakers that I demo'd before getting my marble 4.0's:
http://home.earthlink.net/~tcsubwoofer/wsn4E29.html

 

[TysonN]

Also, one thing that is critical to getting good dialogue from the nOrhs is to angle the center speaker down so the tweeter points at your ear level when you are seated. If you don't have room to do that w/the 4.0, nOrh makes the Prism 4.1 to allow for much easier angling & placment for people that don't have much room. If you do not angle the speaker, the dialogue will be much less clear. It has to do with the fact that the speaker is a tweeter over woofer design, and not a mid-tweeter-mid horizontal design like most center channel speakers. IMHO, this is a good thing, as I get better clarity out of the 4.0's than I did out of my last center, the NHT AC-1.

 

[ThomasW]

Tyson's such an excitible boy
The nOrh speakers sound quite good for a small speaker. They image quite well. The design is interesting but of course they do have a baffle and it's obvious how the baffle loading effects the performance. IMHO they would benefit from a the effects of loading to a larger baffle. This would reinforce the lower midbass output.
They are picky regarding placement. Plan on 3-4ft from the back wall if you don't want bloated midbass.
Also there is a limit to how loud very small midwoofers can play. And as Tyson can testify, it's not too hard to over power the midwoofers in an attempt for high SPL's

 

[TysonN]

Hey Tom! Did you ever let Dennis out of the subwoofer enclosure? That pic was GREAT!
I'm assuming that Dennis brought over the marble 4.0's for you to have a listen? What did you think? You are right, like any speaker w/a small mid-woofer they will give out before reaching reference level. Still, if you cross them to a sub at 80 hz w/a steep crossover, they will play very loud, louder than most people will listen. IMHO, the 4.0's merely sound "good" on their own, but step up quite a bit when crossed to a good sub.
For their size and price, I have not heard anything nearly as good. Back when I had 5 marble 4.0s in my (admitedly modestly sized) HT the speakers "connected" to each other and imaged together (side to side, but especialy front to back) in a better manner than I had ever heard before. This is the reason I say it is one of the, if not THE best HT setups I had heard.
If you are after full on reference level, the 4.0's are not for you, but the cool thing about them is that they stay linear, clear, and clean, all the way up to their limits (similar to SVS subs in this regard).
Personally I don't listen at reference levels, as I value my hearing. To me, 95-100 db is PLENTY loud (reading for all 5 speakers plus sub). This is still well below reference, but I just can't stand to listen that loud.
Yes, I have a soft spot for the 4.0's, I admit it. They are NOT at the level of the 7.0 or 9.0 (my other nOrh speakers), but there is just no way that a speaker that is this small and this cheap should sound this good, but yet it does. Makes me grin everytime I listen to them (which is too rare nowadays).
Hey, did you get a chance to RTA the 4.0's? Curious to see what you found. . .
BTW, how are the subs coming? I'm gonna try to get over to Dennis' next weekend to give the Shiva sub a listen that you put together for him. . . Wayne, his "cable guy" is coming over to my place on the 27th to give the nOrhs a listen, along w/ a friend. . . .

 

[ThomasW]

Hi Tyson
Dennis escaped from the tube when I wasn't looking
I've only heard Dennis's 9.0's. His big subs will be operational this weekend

 

[Tyson]

Took me a while to realize that you were talking about the 9.0's when you said the small mid-woofer could not play loud. Very true for the 9.0 - don't play over 100db unless you low pass the bass to a sub. They are just tuned too low to play very loud if you run them full range. The 4.0's actually play quite a bit louder, as they don't really produce any bass at all below 70hz or so. They will play easily, and cleanly, above 100db, not quite reference, but close.
Anyway, I got to hear Dennis' missile silo subs - OH MY GOD!! I don't think I have ever had bass massage my intestines before. Felt like a series of earthquakes. They were still a bit loose and flabby, but Dennis said you guys were still playing w/the stuffing to get the Q down to .5, plus the drivers were not broken in, plus he had not BFD'd out the room modes. So I imagine they will tighten up quite a bit. But the output was AWESOME!! And the drivers were only using about half an inch of excursion!!
Also, got to hear the Isobarik Shiva you made in Dennis' small HT room w/the marble 9.0's - very impressive - this was BFD'd and the bass was very clean and powerfull in that small room. Cleaned up the mids of the 9.0 a lot too. . . . Great work!
------------------
"Remember Sammy Jenkins"

 

[ScottH]

Tyson, what norh would you recommend as the best center channel for a home theater only setup? The marble/ceramic 4.0 or the Prism 4.1? Or is there an even better option?

 

[ThomasW]

pssst... Don't tell Tyson, but the isobaric sub has a higher Qtc than the big tubes

[Edited last by ThomasW on July 24, 2001 at 11:32 AM]

 

[Tyson]

Ahh, but the Isobarik had been BFD'd & the missile silo's had not - undoubtedly why it sounded tighter. Also, I insisted we listen to the silo's at +10db (did I mention I like bass) hehe. . .
So, what's the next project?
ps - What's a "ronbo"?
------------------
"Remember Sammy Jenkins"
[Edited last by Tyson on July 24, 2001 at 02:21 PM]
[Edited last by Tyson on July 24, 2001 at 02:22 PM]

 

[ThomasW]

"Ronbo" is a double post made famous by HTF moderator Ron Epstein.
Next project is a design named the "Aerial Stryke" It's currently a "blacks opps" secret, but info will be made public in a couple of weeks

 

[Steve Satch]

"They are picky regarding placement. Plan on 3-4ft from the back wall if you don't want bloated midbass."
Are most people putting their rears flush with the wall or bringing them out????? if you have them next to the wall do you have midbass problems?

 

[ThomasW]

The Marble 9.0's I heard were in a reverberant room, placed in immediate proximity to the rear wall. They exhibited a pronounced hump in the midbass until moved out a significant distance from the rear wall.
Now some people may like this situation, to me it was disconcerting. Understand that most all loudspeakers are designed to perform best when placed 3-4' out from the rear wall.
[Edited last by ThomasW on July 24, 2001 at 08:42 PM]

 

[Peter Johnson]

I own the marble 7.0's, for about 9 months now..
I place mine about 4ft away from the rear wall, but not for bass reasons. They have a much deeper, clearer soundstage when I pull them out.
But, they do tend to have a midbass "bloat" if you put them closer than about 20cm to the rear wall...otherwise they sound the same (at least to me) no matter where I place them.