Early B.
12-08-2004, 05:06 PM
Well, after playing music constantly for the past several days to let my Norh 5.1’s break in, I sat down to take a critical listen to them. First, let me say again that I bought them strictly for aesthetic purposes, so I was hoping they would sound at least as good as the Lsi7’s that they replaced. OK, on with the mini review.
My initial impressions were that the Norhs lacked bass extension. What I have realized is that the Norhs put some elbow grease into my system; it seemed like they introduced a final scrubbing cycle to remove the last vestige of muddiness from the background and bass. So what I was hearing with the Lsi7’s was slightly muddled bass. The Norhs absolutely excelled in bringing out minute details. I’m not quite sure if the bass on the Norhs extends lower than the Lsi7’s because I use a sub crossed over around 80 Hz. I doubt it, though.
In fact, I heard stuff in my reference musical selections that I never heard before, especially the strumming of string instruments. I’m also hearing for the first time the different nuances in bass that previously sounded monotone. Nothing dominates; all of the vocals and instruments seem to be in the right place. If anything stands out at all, it’s the cymbals, mainly because they’re so damn distinct (they sound like a real cymbals!).
But I think part of the reason the detail is so prominent is because all of the instruments sound very natural. Another thing the Norhs do exceptionally well is “tame” music. For instance, when playing Anita Baker’s latest CD on the Lsi7’s, it sounded very harsh, so harsh, in fact, that I could hardly bear to listen to it. That’s no fault of the Lsi7's -- it's because the CD was poorly mastered. But when I played the same CD with the Norhs, virtually all of the harshness disappeared and it sounded just as good as a typical redbook CD.
As I mentioned before, the Norhs project a very wide soundstage relative to the Lsi7’s. They are also much more airy. They appear to be a tad more laid back than the Lsi7’s and the vocals are slightly recessed, but the Norhs are more musical (as measured by the amount of toe tapping and head bobbing). Generally, the pace of the Norhs is faster than the Lsi7’s, although on some songs the opposite seems to occur. Both the Norh’s and the Lsi7’s play as loud as one another until they begin to distort (about half way). I expected to Norhs to be able to play louder (they’re freakin’ drums, man), but they didn’t. I don’t care because I don’t like loud music of any kind.
A/B Test Results: While the speakers were breaking in, I rolled the tube in my CD player. I went from the stock Chinese 6N3 tube to a GE 5670. So to determine what difference the tube made, I conducted a quick & dirty A/B test. My friend and I bought the same CD player at the same time, so he brought over his stock CD player to my house so we could compare it against my modded one. No contest. The stock player sounded dull and lifeless compared to mine. Next, we changed out the tube in his CD player and the difference was amazing. The pace quickened, the sound was much more open, and it simply sounded 10x better than the stock unit, but still not quite as good as my modded unit. At first I was a bit skeptical of the difference the mods made, but now I’m glad I got the mods done and I could finally hear the differences.
Final Analysis: The Norhs are phenomenal speakers. At $500 a pair (incl. shipping) for made-to-order speakers in wood or marble, it can’t be beat. I didn’t think I’d say this, but the Norhs, not only sound different from the Lsi7’s, they’re just plain better in virtually every category. That’s saying a lot because I love the sound of the Lsi7’s.
The Norh’s aren’t perfect, of course. I’d like to hear a bit more bass, but perhaps I’m asking too much from a 5 inch speaker. If they err, they could be accused of introducing too much detail. They play the kind of music I like exceptionally well (jazz, female vocals, etc), but I can’t speak to how they perform with various types of hardcore music like rock, rap, metal, etc.
Nevertheless, the Norh 5.1’s have exceeded my expectations and have raised the bar for me in terms of what reference speakers should sound like. Even though it took them 7 weeks to build my speakers (it’s usually a 3 - 4 week process), I’m thoroughly impressed with the speakers. I highly recommend them. In fact, I’m so impressed with them that I’m trying to figure out how I can change out the front end of my HT system with Norh speakers (and I have a pair of RTi10’s and a Csi40 !!).
Lesson learned – I’ll continue to support the niche market of small audio manufacturers such as Norh, Odyssey, SVS, Hsu, Decware, Signal Cable, and many others. The small shops are usually led by an audio maverick who is overtly passionate about his work, they usually have better prices because you’re buying direct from the manufacturer, customer service is often better, the quality is typically very high relative to the price, they are building equipment strictly for the audiophile, you can sometimes talk at length directly to the founder/engineer of the company, they often provide you with lots of great information on their websites, and they have greater potential to build custom made items.
Forgot to mention my gear -- Musical Fidelity A3CR pre amp, Odyssey Stratos Amp, Bada tube CD player, Onix Rocket subwoofer, Monster PowerCenter 3600, Audioquest Mammoth speaker cables, Audioquest Corals and Kimber Heros.
My initial impressions were that the Norhs lacked bass extension. What I have realized is that the Norhs put some elbow grease into my system; it seemed like they introduced a final scrubbing cycle to remove the last vestige of muddiness from the background and bass. So what I was hearing with the Lsi7’s was slightly muddled bass. The Norhs absolutely excelled in bringing out minute details. I’m not quite sure if the bass on the Norhs extends lower than the Lsi7’s because I use a sub crossed over around 80 Hz. I doubt it, though.
In fact, I heard stuff in my reference musical selections that I never heard before, especially the strumming of string instruments. I’m also hearing for the first time the different nuances in bass that previously sounded monotone. Nothing dominates; all of the vocals and instruments seem to be in the right place. If anything stands out at all, it’s the cymbals, mainly because they’re so damn distinct (they sound like a real cymbals!).
But I think part of the reason the detail is so prominent is because all of the instruments sound very natural. Another thing the Norhs do exceptionally well is “tame” music. For instance, when playing Anita Baker’s latest CD on the Lsi7’s, it sounded very harsh, so harsh, in fact, that I could hardly bear to listen to it. That’s no fault of the Lsi7's -- it's because the CD was poorly mastered. But when I played the same CD with the Norhs, virtually all of the harshness disappeared and it sounded just as good as a typical redbook CD.
As I mentioned before, the Norhs project a very wide soundstage relative to the Lsi7’s. They are also much more airy. They appear to be a tad more laid back than the Lsi7’s and the vocals are slightly recessed, but the Norhs are more musical (as measured by the amount of toe tapping and head bobbing). Generally, the pace of the Norhs is faster than the Lsi7’s, although on some songs the opposite seems to occur. Both the Norh’s and the Lsi7’s play as loud as one another until they begin to distort (about half way). I expected to Norhs to be able to play louder (they’re freakin’ drums, man), but they didn’t. I don’t care because I don’t like loud music of any kind.
A/B Test Results: While the speakers were breaking in, I rolled the tube in my CD player. I went from the stock Chinese 6N3 tube to a GE 5670. So to determine what difference the tube made, I conducted a quick & dirty A/B test. My friend and I bought the same CD player at the same time, so he brought over his stock CD player to my house so we could compare it against my modded one. No contest. The stock player sounded dull and lifeless compared to mine. Next, we changed out the tube in his CD player and the difference was amazing. The pace quickened, the sound was much more open, and it simply sounded 10x better than the stock unit, but still not quite as good as my modded unit. At first I was a bit skeptical of the difference the mods made, but now I’m glad I got the mods done and I could finally hear the differences.
Final Analysis: The Norhs are phenomenal speakers. At $500 a pair (incl. shipping) for made-to-order speakers in wood or marble, it can’t be beat. I didn’t think I’d say this, but the Norhs, not only sound different from the Lsi7’s, they’re just plain better in virtually every category. That’s saying a lot because I love the sound of the Lsi7’s.
The Norh’s aren’t perfect, of course. I’d like to hear a bit more bass, but perhaps I’m asking too much from a 5 inch speaker. If they err, they could be accused of introducing too much detail. They play the kind of music I like exceptionally well (jazz, female vocals, etc), but I can’t speak to how they perform with various types of hardcore music like rock, rap, metal, etc.
Nevertheless, the Norh 5.1’s have exceeded my expectations and have raised the bar for me in terms of what reference speakers should sound like. Even though it took them 7 weeks to build my speakers (it’s usually a 3 - 4 week process), I’m thoroughly impressed with the speakers. I highly recommend them. In fact, I’m so impressed with them that I’m trying to figure out how I can change out the front end of my HT system with Norh speakers (and I have a pair of RTi10’s and a Csi40 !!).
Lesson learned – I’ll continue to support the niche market of small audio manufacturers such as Norh, Odyssey, SVS, Hsu, Decware, Signal Cable, and many others. The small shops are usually led by an audio maverick who is overtly passionate about his work, they usually have better prices because you’re buying direct from the manufacturer, customer service is often better, the quality is typically very high relative to the price, they are building equipment strictly for the audiophile, you can sometimes talk at length directly to the founder/engineer of the company, they often provide you with lots of great information on their websites, and they have greater potential to build custom made items.
Forgot to mention my gear -- Musical Fidelity A3CR pre amp, Odyssey Stratos Amp, Bada tube CD player, Onix Rocket subwoofer, Monster PowerCenter 3600, Audioquest Mammoth speaker cables, Audioquest Corals and Kimber Heros.