Norh gear due any day!

Ok ... after moving my Rega Alya speakers downstairs with the rest of my kit things just didn't sound right any more. Loved it upstairs with my fab Rega Elicit, but downstairs in a small lounge with lots of soft furnishing it sucked.

So, radical solutions ... was curious about pair of drum shaped Norh SM 5.1's on ebay so did some investigating. Won't even try to describe the background or looks to these speakers: suffice to say they are bonkers, but all independent reports I found tell me they sound great!

Having sold the Rega Alya's spent cash on Norh's without even hearng them. Risk, yes of course. But the reviews and reports are very convincing and at £180 including delivery in mint condition (normally cost $500 including delivery from Thailand) seemed like worth the risk.

Anyway, having started to investigate this small company I was bowled over by their approach of offering top class gear direct to customer at VERY realistic prices. Had always had my heart set on a nice valve amp and finally seems the Norh SE 9 is the one for me. Owner reviews on various forums seem to indicate this is a future classic. Costs $395 including delivery door to door. Of course, went a bit bonkers and ordered one of them too!!

So, exciting stuff and a complete change for my system. Am keeping the Rega Elicit for now as it is a stunning classic British amp ... almost too good for my other bits perhaps. But if the Norh is as good as people are saying then I can forgo that last ounce of yummyness just to have the Norh valves glowing in my lounge. Yes, the visuals are fairly important. I have my limits in terms of sound requirements.

Check out the Norh site at www.norh.com The guy who owns the company is an inspiration. Makes no money from it, prefering to put it back into research, top class products, local employment and helping maintain local craft skills.

They're Thailand based (no, it's not a scam!!!) and the products are largely hand crafted by real people. I love these 'rebel companies' who are kicking sand in the face of some of the big boys. Very interesting site if you have time to breeze through. Dropped hiom an e-mail and he replied same day!

Will keep you posted when stuff arrives. Never seen mention of Norh on this forum, so might be interesting to some! Feels like I'm getting my old hi-fi buzz back. Of course, could end up with large dollop of egg on face, but who cares?

Dave

 

Ah interesting stuff Dave

I must admit, I am tempted to try the Mini 9.0S to work with my new subs, seems to be a very solid design, whose drivers are excellent and the cabinet design seems to be very clever.

I'll be interested to hear how you get on. I think you can find a review of some of their products on the TNT site.

 

got to admit, those LE 2 monoblocks seem kind of interesting.
Keep us posted mate

 

Well done mate. I always like to see some one going on instinct! Is the price you mention in US Dollars?

Like you say, you ain't splashing out the earth there, and you might find you end up with a serious bargain. As long as you don't expect the earth, you'll be OK.

 

Yes ... US $ and all prices on their site include delivery to the door (that's your door, not their's LOL!) I picke dup the SM5.1's from ebay and expect delivery this week. In London 'til Friday, but hope to have them here when I get back. Will report the seriousness of the bargain then! I always expect the earth ... that's what defines a bargain for me ;-) Win some lose some.

Dave

 

Wow Dave!

Nice one, well done for putting your nuts on the block to try something new.

I would ordinarily be worried whether a 9 w p/ch set amp would have sufficient chuff to drive a pair of speakers without knowing their sensitivity - but seeing as the same company made BOTH, you should be fine.

Some of those drum speakers look amazing. Funnily enough, both myself, WM and SCIDB use speakers that have the Scanspeak tweeters used by this company, and they are detailed without being over-bright. Very good in fact!.

Im less familiar with the Scanspeak woofers, but the reputation of them is very high.

Is your living room not.. overly large? - I notice they do a Sub if your room is large.

You'll have to give us the full gen with some digi pics when you get it up and running.

Chris

 

Ok the Norh SM 5.1 speaker arrived yeaterday. Quite a revellation. I thinbk someone has changed the mixes on all my CD's. Suddenly we have people playing music together and I can ehar stuff that just hasn't been noticable before. Amazing toight bass and very easy to distinguish notes and instruments.

Very heavy and solid. Only problem is getting them on stands. The feet are too wide for your normal stands. I have turned mine upside down and swapped the spikes around. Works well, but not quite right. I'm sure the feet could be closer together so they fit standard sized stands. Will keep eyes peeled for the right thing. May just need to put an extension, in glass, wood, or marble, on the top shelf.

Highly recommended for anyone looking at speakers up to £500. If bought new they'd be $500 delivered to your door. So, for £180 delivered these have to be judged a total ebay bargain. Sound great with the Elicit amp which is very tight and punchy.

Still awaiting delivery from factory of the SE 9 valve amp. No idea when it'll arrive, but will give an update once it's run itself in.

Dave

 

I don't know. There I was minding my own business on avforums when I get redirected here to look at some crazy subwoofers. So I have a look round, this being my first visit, and what do I find... my old speakers

Glad you like them Dave!!

Those wide feet are a problem for getting stands they just fitted on my old Mission stands turned through 90 degrees. Looked stupid though.

There were two that I think had big enough top plates the SL400 from Atacama and some from IF Designs I tried to order from IF Designs but their phone was always engaged so never got any further.

They do work with Valves too. I bought a 25W valve amp and it powered them to usable levels. Then I decided I don't actually like the trad. valve sound and went back to SS. As you say 'Win some. Lose some.' perhaps I should have got a SE9. Delivery of the speakers from Thailand to my door was 4 days from order I don't know if that's typical but seemed very good to me.

 

So what did you replace the Norh's with? I noticed on the boxes they were 2 parts of a 5 set, so I assume you used them all in an AV system. Do you still have the other three ... or maybe someone else got them?

I am happy with them and it was great your folks could deliver.

A problem with them is they have great build quality and look great, but the visuals are then let down because they really need a dedicated stand. I notice on the argos web site there is a £20 'telephone table' that matches my steel/glass AV stand perfectly (same make and not at all shabby!) Seems to be the same height and perfect size for Norh's. Also had idea of using a couple of marble kitchen chopping boards (or similar!!) or maybe suitable floor tiles stuck to current stands to extend the top area.

The Norh subs look great too ... amazing finish.

Dave

 

You got it right I bought the 5.1 Video system bundle, the white ceramic Norh 4.0 are my LCR speakers with Revox columns as rears. The 5.1's were sold as in rearranging my room I effectively ended up with nowhere to put them, otherwise I'd have kept them and had a 7.1 system. I did have a thought of replacing everything with some active studio monitors but really can't make up my mind so ATM don't know what I'm doing.

The Norh centre is on a Tapley 33 unit right now and I'll have to say it looks just right. So maybe some furniture style supports would be better than HiFi welded metal things. As you know those speakers are heavy putting them on marble slabs might make the whole lot go through the floor

The subs do look good, somewhat more classy finish than my SVS has. However I'm not quite sure who they're aiming the subs at as for me in my room the 5.1's had the bass depth to work well and even the 4.0's have a good bottom end.

 

Ok, the Norh SE 9 valve amp arrived on Friday. Unpacked it and perfect condition. Very well packed, about the best I've ever seen. Superb finish. Beautiful chrome with black. Inserted valves and attached speakers. Power up. Nothing ... Ok, turn the volume up ;-) Lovely! I cannot rate this amp or company highly enough. Arrived within two days of shipping from thailand; e-mail received confirming was about to ship. TNT very efficient delivery. A1+

Now the sound. It's not necessarily a better all round amp than my Rega Elicit, but it isn't coming out of my system now. In fact, Elicit already sold to some lucky blighter.

The mid range is truly excellent. About the best I've heard actually. Bottom can be great and it can be slightly loose, but always foot tapping. Seems to be improving as it burns itself in though. Treble not as pin sharp and dynamic as the Elicit, but very pleasing.

What really makes this amp work is the toe tapping musicality of it and the fabulous voice rendition. I can hear every word sung and every breath. I totally forgive its only very minor inarticulate bass department. This only happens on some CD's, so may not be to do with the Elicit at all. Just never noticed before.

The fact that it looks so wonderful is reason enough to own one. Add to that the excellent sound quality and the SE 9 really is a winner.

Any regrets on the gamble. None at all. In fact, feeling pretty smug about it all ;-) If you're in the market for a £300 amp and fancy the valve experience then the Norh is a great buy. Cost me $395 US and no VAT or duty to pay, delivered door to door.

Dave

 

Very glad its worked out for you!

So you're running the Norh amp and speakers now then? What are you using as a souce?

 

Marantz CD6000OSE .. very good machine.

Only problem is I don't have the instruction book now and can't be bothered to learn any of it's fascilities other than basics ;-) Will look to upgrade at some point, but currently happy with it.

Dave

PS Also meant to say that the SE 9 amp is 9 watts, but actually too loud most of the time when at 10 O'clock. Plenty of welly for my room.

 

Those Norh speakers look great - kind of like bastardized CRTs - really really cool

Which Scanspeak tweeters do they use? My Rega Elas have *some* kind of Scans in them and are quite forgiving - even with the Naim NAIT3 in there (he he he). I'll not be getting metal domes in a hurry again now