[dhwilkin]

After a wait of over two months, I FINALLY got an e-mail confirmation that my Norh 4.0 ceramic speakers are going to be shipped tomorrow! Of course, this means they'll be delivered during Fall Break, when I'll be at home. Yea, more waiting!

Anyway, just wanted to share that w/ y'all. If there's enough interest, I'll post a review of them after I finally get to listen to them.

 

[chych]

Hmm how do they fare against other speakers in the price range? For $400 that sure looks like a good deal... I'm definetely interested...

Oh and how long did you wait?

 

[dhwilkin]

Supposedly they're much better than most speakers near that price range. Since I really haven't heard many speakers (around that price range or otherwise), I'm pretty much going on reviews I read at AA and HarmonicDiscord. Hopefully, they'll live up to my expectations, which are kinda high right now...

 

[dhwilkin]

Quote:

chych said... Oh and how long did you wait?

Read my first post again.

 

[chych]

TWO months?! Man... too long...

Maybe I'll not think about norhs anymore just because of that...

 

[raymondlin]

Oh man, you bought them without audition with your equipment? You should never do that, reviews are just reviews. They are opinion of other people, you should always listen to your ears. Speakers are like headphones, synegy is very important. Only you can tell if one matches with the other or not, lets hope that they go well with your amp and CD player.

Now that you have it, time to get some proper speaker cables and interconnectors (Those bell wire works but they are *****). If the speakers are standmount, you'll need a stand. And may be some sand (DRY) to fill it up and the positioning will also be crucial. Have you done any research into the sensitivity of the speakers? are they easy to drive with the amp you have? Numbers (watts) isn't everything. Naim amps are 30W but they can drive big/expensive speakers because they match well together (high sensitivity).

If the bass port is at the rear of the cabinate, you'll need to position them away from the wall more then if they are at the front. Otherwise you'll get a bass boom in the room and it'll over power the rest of the frequency. And with speakers, you'll need to isolate your Equipment more (due to the sound from the speakers), a good solid rack is important.

Man, you have let yourself into a whole new ball game, have fun!

 

[davidcotton]

Hope you like the new speakers when you (finally) get them!

Mail-orders a pain in the****. I oughta know I get 99.5% of my cds mail order, oh and the post ALWAYS comes when I'm out...

 

[dhwilkin]

Quote:

chych said... TWO months?! Man... too long... Maybe I'll not think about norhs anymore just because of that...

Well, don't give up all hope. From what I understand, another manufacturing facility was very recently added, so they're finally starting to catch up on their backlog. Not to mention, the backlog is only for ceramic 4.0s. The synthetic marble 6.1s looked really nice to me, but the thing is I was buying these speakers for home theater applications, so I needed five of them. So five 6.1s would've been too expensive. Two 6.1s you might be able to fit in your budget. Give Michael Barnes an e-mail first.

Quote:

raymondlin said... Oh man, you bought them without audition with your equipment? You should never do that, reviews are just reviews. They are opinion of other people, you should always listen to your ears. Speakers are like headphones, synegy is very important. Only you can tell if one matches with the other or not, lets hope that they go well with your amp and CD player.

Hmm, a few comments here. First off, I wouldn't exactly call NC the mecca of hi-fi audio. Not to mention, I don't have time to travel out-of-state to audition equipment, and very few hi-fi shops would be likely to give me proper, attentive service as soon as they heard I was a college student w/ a sub-$1000 budget wanting five speakers for a HT.

Not to mention, why do you think a site like Head-fi is so popular? One big reason is that people can get opinions on headphones which they can't audition before buying. This is really not much different.

Trust me, I've done a ton of research. They're reasonably high-efficiency, 8-ohm speakers designed to be used w/ a receiver (I have an Outlaw 1050). They are monitor speakers, shaped like a horn to eliminate standing waves. The ceramic mostly eliminates cabinet resonance, and I've got decent stands for them. Their bass (-10 db) drop-off is around 60 Hz, flat to around 80 Hz, so I have a sub that I'll cross-over at 80 Hz. Supposed to sound neutral, smooth though not exactly laid-back, great soundstage. Got DH Labs Q10 speaker wire for the front two, T-14 for the rest. See, I kinda know what I'm doing...

 

[raymondlin]

Ok, knowing the science is all good but the imortant thing is that how they work together = synegy. I have heard $5000 speakers system sound out of place just because they don't don't go together, nothing to do with science, the amp is powerful enough, just that the setup doesn't do well creating music as with another pair of speakers (same price, different brand). Well, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[morphsci]

Quote:

Originally posted by raymondlin Ok, knowing the science is all good but the imortant thing is that how they work together = synegy. I have heard $5000 speakers system sound out of place just because they don't don't go together, nothing to do with science, the amp is powerful enough, just that the setup doesn't do well creating music as with another pair of speakers (same price, different brand). Well, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I agree totally about the synergy. However dhwilkin brings a very valid point. Most of us cannot reasonably audition much of the equipment we are interested in. I only have one high-end shop within 100 miles. They only carry about 25 different brands total. I have used them for auditions but most of my recent gear was bought without an audition. All of the new gear had 30 day audition periods. For the used gear, well that is what audiogon, eBay and Head-Fi sale section is for.

 

[jaghouse]

Auditions for nOrh would be especially difficult. I think they are strictly mail/internet.
Looking forward to comments on the 4.0s.