Norh Speakers from Thailand: High-end or Hype??

I have two pairs of the NORH drum style speakers. A pair of older 5.0 and a newer pair of the synthetic 6.9. I was so impressed with the 5.0 that I bought the 6.9s (white)which have been in my main system for over a year; relegating my B&W floorstanders to my HT system.

What more can you ask for in a speaker? Rich(no glare)treble, true, controlled bass, efficient, non-fatiguing. I am driving mine with a set of mono-block ASL 1006DTs (100wpc/6550)(obviously no strain).

The workmanship is excellant and the delivery process is actually easier than trying to get something from Canada.

System: Empire 698 (Grado); SFL-1se; ASL-1006DT; NORH 6.9sm; Audioquest cables; Brickwall conditioner.

I don't know about the hype (actually you can go to harmonicdiscord.com for all the hype you want) but I simply could not be more pleased.

Not involved in any way with NORH (or anybody else). Just a very pleased owner.

I also own 6.9 marble synthethic they are good speakers
they would even sound excellent if you rewire them with
silver, provided if your system is not too bright.There is
no hype on this norh product,it make me wander, how they
make money, good reasonable price state of the art enclosure
wonderful sound,iam also one happy owner cant stop talking
about them.I also heard the 9 first class speakers, smooth,
neutral with excellent base.

I share you instincts/sentiment sunnyjim. I did for awhile think of buying some, but was wise and didn't. They called there little pyramid speaker with 4 3" Tangband drivers something like "one the best av loudspeakers of all." (go check the webpage--its there) If 4 3" tangbands are that good in their lineup they must have done a horrible job designing with their Vifa and Scanspeak drivers. Which is what I suspect about the company: there is/was plenty of room for improvement in the designing phase. They may have the good drivers and cabinets but that's all they talk about. I think they look ugly too. I vote hype/crap. They even talk like BOSE about "musical instrument omnidirectional; therefore, speaker should be omnidirectional" I don't think he understands the recording chain, microphone types and placement, room acoustics as it relates to speaker/room/listener-interface, etc. If they are good, as people claim (but people like all sorts of junk and I'm always suspicious of subjective claims) the website isn't too technical as you noticed.

I auditioned a pair of nOrh Prism 6.9s, but ultimately opted for Meadowlark Kestrels. The Prisms weren't bad; fit and finish of the cabinets was poor, but they sounded nice enough - smooth mids and highs, bass a little over-extended, considering the size of the drivers.

nOrh products use Vifa and Scanspeak drivers, and to my ears, they don't sound radically different from all the thousand other speakers that use these same drivers. The odd cabinets detract from rather than enhance the performance, in my opinion.

Pretty generic, inoffensive stuff. There are so many speakers in this price range... unless you get a stunning deal on used ones, keep shopping. And don't expect performance that's out of the ordinary in any way.

I want to thank everyone who so far has contributed to this post. Though, my instincts of 35 years of reading audio mags, classified ads and working in the business, make me lean more toward the observations of members "Kasperhauser" and "Esmeralda". There is a great deal to be learned from a website, not saying this tells everything about a product or its real world performance. Nevertheless, as Esmeralda indicates, using great drivers does not automatically produce a great speaker.especially, if the design parameters for those drivers are wrong and the product is less well engineered than even some mid-fi products. In addition, KP has identified for me that this product just sounds like others, and is not extraordinary in any area of performance. So, why should I buy it?? I have not read the testamonials about the Norh speakers on the websites recommended by those members who responded; and, I am sure there are aspects of the performance of the "drum" model that are very satisfying; but, that does not in my opinion qualify as high-end. This comment is not intended to be smug or elitist, but a conclusion based on what I have read and heard. If this company had an outlet to audition their product, I would surely take advantage of it before reaching any final conclusion. But, I think asking a customer to purchase a product from a relatively unknow company on the recommendations of a few owners is not a strong or positive business practice. This type of "marketing" seems to be more evident everyday, especially accomodated by the internet. It would be wonderful to "find" a speaker that far exceeds the performance of similar products from well-know manufacturers, that is, an extraordinary bargain in sound and appearance. Unfortunately, such products seem fewer than were available 20 years ago.