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The Charlottesville Business Journal
Building a better speaker, Area man looks to best Bose
From Staff Reporter
Oslo, Norway is an unusual point of origin for a Fluvanna County entrepreneur.
But that is where Harald Aasland started his lifelong love of high quality sound that has led to his own business.
Aasland, from Oslo, Norway, designs, manufactures, and tests every pair of his norwex speakers.
Aasland traces his interest in high quality speakers to 1969, when, living in Norway, he read about the Bose 901 loudspeakers in hi-fi magazines.
The speakers so interested him that he looked into the research and design features, then contacted Bose to buy a demonstration set.
Soon after, he was the exclusive Bose importer for Norway.
When Bose opened its Scandinavian branch, he became national sales manager for Norway, and stayed there until Bose closed the office in 1979.
Aasland then sold his hi-fi import and distribution business and moved to the U.S. to work as an automotive engineer for Peugeot and Hyundai Motor America, among others.
But he never lost his love of speakers. What he found in stores was unsatisfying, and in 1989, he set out to design a better-sounding, yet smaller, speaker.
His goal - to make the speakers sound more natural than Bose, but also better than some highly-regarded direct radiating speakers.
Aasland uses top notch European components and solid, vibration-free, professionally-finished cabinets.
He builds his own hard-wired crossover networks, and does all assembly, testing, and break in by himself, using his auditory senses.
Aasland has four systems to meet a range of demands for music lovers, audiophiles, or home theater owners. The speakers have what he calls a very high "Spouse Acceptance Factor," as they are about nine inches tall, and therefore true bookshelf speakers. All norwex speakers are backed by a five-year limited warranty.
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Loudspeaker Manufactured in Central Virginia
High-end loudspeakers for natural reproduction of music and home theatre sound
For Immediate Release - Sunday, October 12, 1997
Palmyra "If you want perfection, don't skimp on quality in order to meet a price point. Conversely, do not use more expensive components claimed to be better when you can detect no sonic improvement."--Harald Aasland
Harald Aasland, hailing from Oslo, Norway, lives in Palmyra, VA, outside of Charlottesville; where he designs, manufactures and tests every single pair of norwex speakers.
In 1969, after reading about the Bose 901 loudspeakers in American Hi-Fi magazines, Harald became so interested in the design and the research behind them, that he contacted the factory to buy a set for evaluation. After buying a set and listening, he applied for, and became the exclusive, importer for Norway. When Bose opened up their Bose Scandinavia branch, he became the National Sales Manager for Norway, and remained in that position until Bose closed their Scandinavian office in 1979. Harald then sold his Hi-Fi import/distribution business and decided, with his family, to move to the US. Being an Automotive Engineer, he re-entered the Automotive industry, working for Peugeot and Hyundai Motor America, among others.
Hi-Fi remained his hobby and interest, although speakers available in stores did not satisfy him. 8 years ago (1989) he decided to design a superior sounding, yet very small speaker. The goal was to make them more natural sounding than Bose, but also better than some highly regarded direct radiating speakers. Harald uses top quality European components, and solid, vibration free, professionally finished cabinets. He builds his own hard-wired crossover networks, and does all assembly, testing and breaking in of the speakers himself, utilizing the most complex and discriminating evaluation device available: the human ear!
Currently, he has four fully developed systems which should satisfy any music lover, audiophile or home theater owner who wants natural reproduction of music or movie sound. In addition, these speakers have very high SAF (Spouse Acceptance Factor), as they are not taller than a typical novel (approximately 9 inches), and therefore are true bookshelf speakers, and high-end speakers at the same time.
All norwex speakers are backed by a 5 year limited warranty.
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Loudspeaker Manufacturer Established in Central Virginia
norwex high-end loudspeakers for natural reproduction of music and home theater sound
In 1969, after reading about the Bose 901 loudspeakers in American Hi-Fi magazines, Harald Aasland, living in Oslo, Norway, became so interested in the design and the research behind them, that he contacted the factory to buy a set for evaluation. He was referred to Bose Europe in Germany, and after buying a set and listening, he applied for the franchise and became the exclusive importer for Norway. Concentrating on the 901s plus the professional 800 models as well as their big 2x250 Watt amplifiers (2x400 into 4 Ohm), he did real well with bands as well as fixed installations in theaters, concert halls, discotheques etc., and with Hi-Fi enthusiasts. When Bose opened up their Bose Scandinavia branch, he was offered the position as National Sales Manager for Norway, and remained in that position until Bose closed their Scandinavian office in 1979.
During these years Harald kept the ownership of his import business, which had the exclusivity for Luxman, Onkyo, Empire, dbx (consumer line), Wharfedale, Infinity etc..
When Bose closed their Scandinavian office, Harald sold his Hi-Fi import/distribution business, and decided, together with his Norwegian wife, to move with their 2 sons to the U.S.
Being an Automotive Engineer, he bought into a car dealership in Minnesota, and after a few years sold the business and started to work for the French car manufacturer Peugeot at the main office in New Jersey. He was with them for 5 years, most of the time as Product Quality Engineer. When Peugeot decided to stop importing cars to the U.S., his services were no longer needed, and he was then with Hyundai Motor America as Service Training Instructor and then District Parts and Service Manager for a total of 6 years.
Hi-Fi remained his hobby and interest, though, and 8 years ago he decided to design a better sounding, but at the same time very small speaker, as what was available in stores did not satisfy him. The goal was to make them more natural sounding than Bose, for sure, but also better than some highly regarded direct radiating speakers. For reference he therefore bought a pair of LS3/5a BBC studio monitors. BBC developed these for use in their recording vans, where space is at a premium. (These British speakers have been manufactured under license from BBC by Rogers, Harbeth, KEF, Spendor & Audiomaster.)
It did not take long for Harald to surpass their performance, and they were consequently sold. The greatest difficulty he encountered in developing his speakers, was to find a natural sounding tweeter. After testing numerous drivers with metal, cloth or plastic domes, he finally found a soft dome tweeter in Europe, which could satisfy his demands for clarity, detail and openness, without being shrill. Also the woofers are imported from Europe, and the capacitors in the crossover network as well.
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What kind of high tech. testing equipment did Harald use in developing these speakers? The most sophisticated testing device available: The human ear! Surely he measured frequency responses, had impedance curves printed etc., but mostly in order to confirm heard changes and to quantify them.
During a visit to the factory in Europe which supplies the tweeters, he had his speaker system tested in their anechoic chamber (an acoustically "dead" room with virtually no reflections off walls, ceiling or floor). The measured frequency response curve looked pretty "bad", and the top engineer at the factory suggested some "corrections" that could be made to the crossover network. Then he paused, looked at the curve and said: "But they probably sound good!" (in a typical listening room.) This in essence sums up Harald's design philosophy: "If it sounds natural, I don't care how it measures!"
Listening to classical music, jazz, some C & W, folk, male and female voices, any strictly acoustical sound, and going to jazz clubs, and classical and jazz concerts, Harald keeps his testing device, his ears, constantly tuned.
Being an Engineer by profession, and with an inquisitive mind, and being a perfectionist, Harald decided to use top quality components, build the cabinets solid and vibration free, and have the final product finished professionally. Consequently he lets a professional cabinetmaker and a professional painter do what they know best, while he builds his own hard-wired crossover networks, and does all assembly, testing and breaking in of the speakers himself.
Price was not a concern; if you want perfection, you don't skimp on quality in order to meet a price point. On the other hand, when no improvement could be detected, he would not use more expensive components claimed to be "better"; he hates waste. As an Engineer, Harald also dislikes "specmanship", which he describes as an "improvement" that can be measured, but not heard.
Examples are treble frequency response to 40,000 Hertz, when people typically can only hear to between 16,000 and 20,000 Hertz (cycles per second), or signal-to-noise ratio of 110dB or more, when anything over approximately 70dB is indiscernible. By designing products with these "impressive" but useless specifications, the products will cost more, because they are more complicated, and reliability may be affected negatively as well.
To conclude, Harald uses a simplistic approach: "Less is more. "Living outside Charlottesville, Virginia, Harald has now started his speaker company, and the name of the registered business as well as the products and the trademark is norwex.
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At this point in time he has 4 fully developed systems which should satisfy not only audiophiles, but any music lover, or home theater owners who want natural reproduction of the movie sound. In addition, these speakers have very high SAF (Spouse Acceptance Factor), as they are not taller than a typical novel (approx. 9 inches), and therefore are true bookshelf speakers, and high-end speakers at the same time. Place them in a wall unit and observe people asking where this big sound is coming from! For an octave lower bass there is a small subwoofer in the program, which can be used as an end table, used for additional seating capacity with a pillow on it, or you can hide it behind a sofa or drapes.
One of the 9 in. high bookshelf speakers, the norwex B-2 Nisse, will go down to 53 Hertz at the -3dB point by itself, so you might not even need a subwoofer! Equally well suited for stereo music or home theater sound, all models have the same tonal character, so one can mix and match according to need, or when using the building block system from a simple 2 speaker stereo system to a full 5.1 home theater system.
Instead of trying to get a home theater "package" with all the speakers at once at a low price, Harald suggests you start with a pair of norwex B-2 Nisse in stereo. Later you can add the SW-1 Troll subwoofer, if you want deeper bass. Then you can add a pair of B-1 Gnom for the rear surround channels (maybe in white on white wall brackets; remember the SAF-Spouse Acceptance Factor).
Finally one can then add the C-1 Dverg center channel on top of the TV set (shielded). The finish is in black, gray or white lacquer (all for same price), or red oak, walnut or mahogany real wood veneers (on special order), with matching grill clotch in black, gray, brown or white. (Other finishes on special order.)
All norwex speakers are backed by a 5 year limited warranty.
You owe it to yourself to give these speakers a listen, and compare them to any other speaker, no matter what their price or size!.
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Norwex B-2 Nisse Compact Monitor Loudspeaker: Through the Looking Glass of Sound, and into Music - Carl Eberhart
For the past two decades and more, "mini-monitor" speakers have been very popular amongst audiophiles, music enthusiasts, and studio recording engineers. It has been a niche market within a niche market, perhaps, but small speakers will always be with us. Unfortunately, the "mass consumer market" is forcing the larger manufacturers to focus on designing small speakers that function solely as rear channels in a home theater system. That is a shame to those of us who enjoy our music from a "mere" two channels, but still want bang for our audio buck, especially if we spend time listening in a small room.
When I unboxed the Norwex B-2 Nisse speakers, I couldn't believe how small they were! I thought, "These are the smallest stand alone mini-monitors I've ever laid eyes on!" My second thought was, "They have even more understated elegance than the photographs allow". Harald Aasland, the founder and designer of the Norwex line, was kind enough to lend me these to try for eight months in order to get my opinion of them, with the understanding that my thoughts would then be fired all over the internet (what can I say, I love trying audio stuff...I live for it!). So here goes:
Firstly, I realize they have been reviewed elsewhere, but I conducted my evaluation, and also wrote the review, before reading the other reviews. I felt this was important. However, I do respond to two of these in an addendum following this review (and I hold back nothing!).
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WHAT'S A NORWEX?
Norwex is a small manufacturer of loudspeakers, located in Palmyra, Virginia. Harald Aasland is a Norwegian immigrant, with a justifiable preference for speaker drivers emanating from Scandinavia, namely of the Seas variety. The ones found in the Nisse are both from the manufacturer Seas: a one inch polyamide dome tweeter, and a 4 1/2 inch mineral filled polypropylene midwoofer. They are used to terrific effect here. Seas drivers are found elsewhere in the highend marketplace, in products from Wilson Audio, Coincident, and Joseph Audio speakers, amongst others.
The woofer's chassis is cast zinc, which is the preferred chassis material these days for rigidity. And most importantly, the coil/pole piece are vented to the rear via a nice hole through the rear plate. No "shielded" midwoofer anywhere has this feature! If you want to have a performance system, you have to start with woofers having vented pole pieces...remember I told you that, it will come in handy someday. Ask before you buy your next speaker...if not, I say move on!
Harald has spent years refining the design of the Nisse, and this now seems obvious to me. The bass system is a rear ported reflex alignment, with the vent cut at an angle on the inside to reduce chuffing noises. The enclosure is constructed of 3/4 inch MDF, and is moderately filled with Dacron fiber. The drive units are elegantly mounted flush with the front fascia, and the finish is a thick polished lacquer, available in either black or white (veneers are optional). Matching cloth grilles are included, but I did all of my critical listening with them removed...the way you're supposed to do!
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DESIGN CHOICES THAT STAND OUT
There are two things which are most unique about this small speaker. One is the fact that both woofer and tweeter are laterally offset on the baffle. It's a unique aesthetic choice that just endears itself over time; at least it did for me. This also does a terrific job of providing the sound waves that the drivers launch, with an asymmetric surface to bounce off of...essentially cancelling laterally diffracted, surface reflection effects altogether. This feature, along with the most beautiful radiused side edges I've seen on a wooden speaker fascia anywhere near this price range are, in my opinion, what really unlock the performance of these little beasts!
IMAGING...BUT I DIGRESS
So transparent was the imaging afforded by the Nisses in my smallish, fully acoustically treated room, that I was able to hear minute differences between various power cords that were used to plug my PS 300 into the wall. The Nisses served almost as a sonic electron microscope for my "endless" comparisons of all sorts of cables. They weren't analytical at all, they were just an open window on the music. I found that they effortlessly revealed the character of upstream audio electronics, and cabling alike. Yawn....I won't burden you with the minutia of that pandora's box here. I have tended to be "anal" about cabling lately, but I should mention that the Nisse speaker is quite happy with most of the cable combos I tried; it is not fussy at all. By comparison, my Magneplanar MMG's are quite fussy, about most everything. I still love them, though...
I tend to think of my Nisse experience in two parts. The part before, and the part after, I bypassed the fuses that came with this particular pair. I used a piece of 10 gauge solid core copper wire, cleaned it with ProGold, and shaped it to fit tightly into the fuse recepticle. The sound went from musical, to incredible. This, and the binding posts in use here, are my only real complaints about the B-2 Nisse's apparent parts quality.
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LET THERE BE ROCK...OR AT LEAST BLONDE AMBITION
I recall that several reviewers enjoy using Roger Waters' "Amused to Death" CD, to test the imaging of out-of-phase information in recordings, especially for reviewing loudspeakers. But Mr. Waters, and Pink Floyd, weren't the only people to make use of "Q-Sound". My favorite artist that has utilized this process, is Madonna. Listening to "The Immaculate Collection", and in particular to "Vogue", I was bowled over by hearing not just the bongo drum FAR behind and above my right shoulder, but also the distinctly close acoustic space it occupied when it was first recorded, before its phase was manipulated in the Q-Sound process to shift its point of origin so far behind me.
My cousin Mark came over for a listen, after the Nisses had been in my system for about 6 weeks (and the fuses weren't yet bypassed). He was bowled over, just could not believe so much sound was coming from such tiny speakers. My Rogue Model 88 tube amplifier was driving the Nisses at the time, and in triode mode it's only 30 wpc. I put Metallica's "Load" CD into my Resolution Audio CD50, and played two tracks at what I thought to be full power from the Rogue. I hadn't yet told Mark that the Rogue was a tube amplifier, and I asked him to guess how many watts he thought this power amplifier was capable of putting out. He answered, "300 watts". His jaw practically dropped when I informed him it was only 30. He was also agasp at how much detail came out of a tube amplifier (and the Nisses). He might have been thinking the same thing I was thinking...that the Rogue might sound better in many ways, than my Krell. When I put in another Madonna disc, a CD-R made from MP-3 music files, Mark still could not get over the detail. He said, "I can't believe that song was downloaded off the internet; I never thought those files could sound that good!"
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WHAT ABOUT BASS EXTENSION?
Playing the Sheffield "My Disc" test CD, I could easily hear the 30 Hz third octave pink noise track, but it was likely down about 14 dB. However, the 40 Hz track was only about 4 dB down. This confirmed my guess when playing music only, and demonstrates useful and even authoritative bass to just below 40 Hz, with my room and placement (the specs say the Nisses go down to 53 Hz). The room helps here a lot, but I found that it wasn't a necessity to have the speakers any closer than 38 inches to the wall behind. In addition, there were my huge 16 inch full round ASC traps in the corners of the room behind the speakers, as well as two Frescoes along the walls behind, and two beside the speakers...so the room isn't "adding" anything to dynamic impact. That's the way I likes it, and it's also the way it's supposed to be.
This is where I differ from Harald's suggestion at the outset, to "make sure they are close against the back wall". I think if he (or ANY doubter) had visited my system, he would have agreed with my choice of placement, and perhaps would rethink his philosophy. And as for augmenting with my subwoofer, I never felt the need for it in this small room. So fast, natural, and deep was the bass quality of the Nisses, that I felt it would be totally unnecessary, and could even detract from the bass quality. The reason the subwoofer works so well with my Maggie MMG's in this small room, is because they roll off about 10 Hz earlier, than do the Nisses. In my larger concrete basement, I need the subwoofer to augment my larger floorstanding Radiant speakers, because the room's volume is quite large at over 4000 cubic feet. I also place the Radiants about 6 feet away from the wall behind down there in "the cave", partially to smooth out the bass response of this room (it has an "L" shaped floorplan), and also to get an imaging solidity and specifity that is without peer in my experience. I didn't have occasion to try the Nisses in this large basement room, though I'm sure they would have lacked bass in it without being placed inches from the wall behind them. That ruins imaging, in my experience. Why ruin it if you don't have to?
And if you want to quickly learn a vast amount of handy information about bass in audio systems and music, I cannot recommend highly enough Robert E. Greene's latest "How Low is Low", available through TAS/TPV's website; it's an extremely fun and authoritative read. I gain nothing from recommending this, other than that you will learn something!
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HOW LOUD IS LOUD?
How loud could the Nisse play with my 30 watt Rogue in this smallish room? With rock music possessing loud vocals, but lacking overwhelming bass information, I did see a 95 dB peak on my SPL meter very briefly, in my listening chair. Generally, and with music having lots of bass, they could not go above 89 dB peak, with the Rogue. Even with the Krell, the Nisse started to sound veiled if played too loudly; 93 dB peaks at the chair were the absolute loudest they could go, if the music had heavy bass notes. Of course they could go much louder than 93 dB, and present greater clarity with the Krell, provided the music did not comprise a "bass torture test". I would occasionally watch the excursion of the woofers, and even the Rogue could move them through most of their travel (their max excursion is about 1 cm), when the "boom boom" music was played. However, with the Rogue, I found myself listening quite often at peaks of only 74 dB. Even at this soft level, I felt I was hearing the full measure of dynamic resolution, and of extension into the frequency extremes, from the music...even very quiet, small scale music. Such is life with the best value today in tube amplification, in my opinion. And the Nisses certainly "got out of the way", and "let it run". (This is quite the opposite from what the other reviewers have found with this speaker...go figure, cause I'm right on here!)
WHERE'S MY HEAD IN ALL THIS?
The listening chair placed my head a distance of just under 7 feet to each speaker (room volume is 1070 cubic feet; this is a small one). The speakers were 5 1/2 feet apart (to the tweeter centers), their faces 38 inches out from the wall behind them, and the sidewalls were 28 inches from the outside edge of each speaker (the sidewalls have both Frescoes and Echobusters). They sat atop 29 inch Lovan sand-filled speaker stands. I spent about a month tweaking placement "to the millimeter", and wound up with 10 degrees of toe-in. Also, they seemed to work best with the drivers arranged so that they were along the insides of both enclosures, leaving the blank part of the front baffle on the outside, toward the side walls. I used Audioquest Little Feet to isolate the speaker from the stand (many of you will take issue with this, but try before you judge...I much prefer them to Blu Tak, at least with these stands), so the tweeters still wound up being 36 1/2 inches off the fully carpeted wood floor...just right. Incidentally, this wood floor is built from 2x12 inch joists on 16 inch centers. The flooring is a sandwich of half inch plywood and .75 inch heavy particle board. The wall and ceiling studs/joists are also on 16 inch centers, and the wall studs are custom 2x5's. Additionally, there is fiberglass insulation packed tightly into every wall, covered by a half inch of true sheetrock.
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BUT HOW DID THEY REALLY SOUND...REALLY??
Listening to "The Allstar Percussion Ensemble III" CD, I came to realize how stunning the sound can be, from the modest looking dome tweeters in the Nisse. I didn't expect to hear the bells, the upper range of xylophones and wood sticks, the full range of soft to loud from the vast array of cymbols...all with the proper size and front to back layering, surrounded by clear and distinct air in the soundstage...the way the quasi ribbons in my MMG's can reproduce these instruments. I was wrong! Next to the pricey Scanspeak Revelator tweeter, I feel these are the smoothest and most liquid-sounding dome tweeters I have heard.
Playing Mobile Fidelity's LP, "The Moody Blues: On the Threshold of a Dream"...I was transported to an aural dreamscape that was both exciting and frightening, at least with the lights off. "Spooky real" is how I would describe the vocals on this record as they floated with a lifelike size, and eerie perspective. These images were completely without electronic artifice, and possessed a solid weight, a focus, and an authority that merely allowed them to exist...completely free of the speakers! I was slightly drowsy on this particular evening, and for minutes at a time, forgot I was listening to a recording, and was lulled into a sonic netherworld...I didn't actually dose off, but just had my "disbelief fully suspended". If Salvador Dali was a music fan, he might have envied me, or at least may have turned over in his grave once or twice...
On Groove Note's LP, "Jacintha: Here's to Ben", a few things were revealed to me, that were hidden through my otherwise fine Maggie MMG's. For one thing, throughout much of the record, Jacintha's vocal dynamic envelope isn't quite squeezed down via the recording engineer's compressor/limitor, as much so as I had thought it to be via the Maggies. (Yes, I know the jacket notes say "Direct to 2 track ATR-100 at 30 ips", but this is still a "modern mixed" recording; it went through a console and compressor limiters before it got to the precious tape machine). I attribute some of that artifact to a hollow character in the upper midrange of the MMG's, that I've never quite been able to alleviate from these affordable and otherwise terrific panel speakers. However, one artifact remained via the Nisses, and might appear to contradict the above: On both MMG's and Nisses, there's some over-ripe vocal chestiness in the lower mids, particularly on the track, "Tenderly". Personally, I believe much of this is actually there on the recording (the limiter may have "pumped" a little bit, as her voice gets loud...her mouth being inches away from the mic). But the degree to which her voice got sucked into the Nisse speakers, and away from the center image, made me wonder if the speaker's cabinets weren't contributing somewhat. I can't say for certain whether the majority of this congestion was coming from the Nisses. My uncertainty is due to the fact that no other CD or LP exhibited this phenomenon at all, I mean zero...even on ones which had a very similar over ripe tonal balance to female vocals. For now, I will conclude that this is not "the best" vocal recording. It's close miked (spit guard and all, you can see that right on the album cover photo)...so they could have dialed up the dynamic compression ratio so much on this track, that all sorts of amusical electronic and phase nasties spring forth. I still like the music and the artistry of this record very much, though. It's intoxicating.
Actually, perhaps the above might serve to highlight the Nisse's strongest feature: upper midrange transparency (above say 500 Hz). In this regard, it is beyond my recollection of that of a Wilson Watt Puppy 5.1 system, that I once heard at a dealer. It's also beyond that of ANY other speaker I've heard, including Sound Lab Prima and Martin Logan Quest 'stats, at least where macro dynamic contrast is concerned. The Nisse would certainly fall short where micro dynamics, and attack transient speed are concerned, when compared to most any 'stat...but then, so do most any cone/dome speaker...fall short, that is, no matter what price range they fall into. However, I should note that this is MY system arranged the way I like, wheras that Watt Puppy dealer's attention to setup, particularly room setup, was haphazard by comparison to mine. I only mention this because it still seems to point out just how good the little Nisse has performed for me.
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I KNOW I PROMISED, SO SUE ME!!
It's necessary that I briefly stray from my promise not to talk about cabling, for just a moment. Near the end of the time I spent trying these Nisse speakers, I had rented two Purist Audio Design RCA interconnects from Paul Jenkins at The Cable Company: the Colossus and Proteus. I played the "Here's to Ben" LP mentioned above again, and substituted a Colossus interconnect for Discovery Essence, between linestage and power amp. The vocal chestiness had diminished, and focus increased. Then, I substituted Proteus for my AudioTruth Diamond x3, which had connected the phono stage to the linestage. The vocal chestiness was now radically reduced, and most every performance aspect increased. I then played a terrific acoustic jazz LP, Audioquest's "Mokave: Afrique", and was astounded at the purity and life that vinyl can reveal, especially on the track "Mr. Moore's Neighborhood". And then, for a REAL challenge of midrange purity, I played side 2 of Miles Davis' "Sketches of Spain". Previously, I had a terrible time of making his trumpet sound lifelike without sounding etched (I'd also been creeping upwards with tracking force, to 2.47 grams). This time, I especially enjoyed "Saeta" and "Solea". With these two terrific PAD cables in the chain, I can honestly say that the trumpet, Miles' body, the entire acoustic ensemble, and the space they occupied...they all sounded real! They definitely had lifelike size and perspective. The tonal bouquet of the trumpet's timbre signature, simply came through unimpeded as never before. Perhaps it was missing that last ounce of dynamic weight that was there in life (I can only speculate), but to me this is really saying a lot about such a small speaker...and also underscores the importance of quality cabling. On further reflection from the above experiences, I would probably bet money that none of the earlier bloat in the low mids on the Jacintha LP, was due to the Nisses.
My favorite musical experience with these speakers, has been with a 45 rpm 12 inch record. It's a reissue from Classic Records, called "Balalaika Favorites". The sheer dimensions of that hall in the former Soviet Union so long (40 years) ago, the amazing microphone perspective (they knew how to do it right back then!), and the body and warmth of the instruments, would likely have satisfied even the most jaded 'phile who thinks he's heard it all. On this 45 rpm record, I could hear bass extension within the ambience of this hall, that is simply not plausible if one realizes it's coming from a little 4 1/2 inch woofer in a tiny box, sitting a scant seven feet in front of you! The LP medium, and these 45 rpm reissues, make me extraordinarily grateful that I rediscovered vinyl a few years back. We don't need no stinking SACD! At least not until the price of these titles comes down...and of course for me, not until ALL of the Mercury Living Presence catalog is released in whatever future digital format "wins". I guess at this rate, for SACD to win, Sony would have to "acquisition" all of the major record labels! What a nightmare that would be...
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MY OWN PERSONAL COMPETITION
I want to briefly compare the B-2 Nisse to the other commercially built "cone" loudspeakers that I own: the Paragon Acoustics Radiant, and the Alesis Monitor One. The Radiants are a compact floorstanding "mtm" design, with two 5 inch Dynaudio drivers and Dynaudio tweeter. In the smaller room that I used the Nisses in, these Paragons had more bass extension and slam, but were not as smooth or fast in the middle and upper bass, as were the Nisses. I attribute most of this to the fact that this room is really too small for them, and they easily overload it. The Alesis Monitor One is an inexpensive studio monitor speaker, with a 6 inch woofer, and about twice the cabinet volume of the Nisse. It's bass went slightly lower, and it's macrodynamic contrast was barely greater, than the Nisse. Both the Paragon and the Alesis are more sensitive, and thus play louder than the Nisse. However, in this room, the Nisses' imaging and upper midrange transparency were quite superior to these other speakers. I attribute this primarily to the lightweight midwoofer's cone, the unique layout and design of the Nisse's front baffle, and also the skills of the designer employed to match the driver selection and to design the crossover network...which is never a small feat.
IN SUMMATION....
The time I spent with the Norwex B-2 Nisse speakers was an absolute delight! It was as satisfying as any speaker I've had in my system, if not moreso. However, absolute perfection they aren't (and neither is anyone else's speaker).
This is the sort of product whose appeal might not be readily apparent to the average consumer, or perhaps even many audiophiles. They are miniscule in size, so there is no conspicuous visual "wow-look-at-that-big-shiny-black-speaker" factor, for those who need such things. Their price is relatively high compared to the competition (only a guess, but the Dynaudio Audience 30's might even give the Nisse a run for their money...but chiefly from a dollars/cents/sheer loudness perspective...not necessarily from one of musical refinement, and I'd bet not from one of imaging transparency). The Nisses aren't very sensitive, so those who have a passion for excruciatingly loud music playback, should look elsewhere (and should start saving cash for audiologist visits, and hearing aids). They don't reach down to the last octave of bass, but then no one really expects that of a mini-monitor this small. But, what they do achieve in the bass is on par with the best small speakers available, in my opinion. Lastly, Norwex isn't a quasi-household name like Wilson, so not many people are familiar with this company. Here's hoping that in the future, this turns around like gangbusters!
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CARL'S FINAL WORD, THANK GOODNESS!
Here's hoping that Wes Phillips, an honest to goodness REAL REVIEWER, will finally do the B-2 Nisses justice, and earn what he's paid. I make no excuses, and no apologies for my criticisms above, those guys should know better!
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System context:
Analog: VPI HW-19 Jr with AQ PT-8 arm and Benz Micro Lo4; Phonomena phono stage. Digital: Resolution Audio CD50 Linestage: Bel Canto Sep 2, or Audio Alchemy DLC (neither used with CD50) Amplifier: Rogue Audio Model 88, or Krell KAV 250a Speakers: Paragon Acoustics Radiant, Magneplanar MMG, Alesis Monitor One; Sunfire MkII subwoofer Stands: Lovan speaker; Salamander equipment Acoustic Treatment: ASC Frescoes and 16 inch full rounds; Echobusters; RPG Profoam AC Treatment: PS 300 Cables: (some were rented or borrowed) AT Diamond x3; HT Pro-9; Purist Audio Design Colossus and Proteus; PS Audio Lab Cord; MIT 330 Shotgun Proline; 350 Shotgun EVO; MIT Terminator 2 and 3; Discovery Essence; Magnan Silver Bronze; Wireworld Atlantis 2; Silent Source AC cord; Music Metre Silver; XLO Signature 1.1
Recordings in heavy rotation during this review:
Balalaika Favorites, Classic Records 12 inch 45 rpm Offenbach, Gaite Parisienne, gold reissue CD Ataulfo Argenta Edition, Alto reissue LP collection The Allstar Percussion Ensemble III, CD Tutti, Reference Recordings' orchestral sampler, HDCD Starker Plays Kodaly, CD Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall, Classic Records gold CD The Moody Blues, several MFSL and other reissues Sonny Meets Hawk!, Classic Records gold CD and LP Sonny Boy Williamson, Keep it to Ourselves, HDCD and LP Mokave, Afrique, Audioquest LP Jacintha, Here's to Ben, Groove Note LP Ella Fitzgerald, Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie, reissue LP Diana Krall, When I look in Your Eyes & Love Scenes, CD Jazz at the Pawn Shop, Proprious FIM XRCD Teresa Perez, The Last Rose of Summer, FIM XRCD Jimi Hendrix, all of the MCA and Classic vinyl reissues Led Zeppelin 1 & 2, Classic Records vinyl reissue Crosby Stills Nash & Young, So Far, CD Def Leppard, Euphoria CD, Hysteria and Pyromania on LP Tesla, Mechanical Resonance, CD Rage Against the Machine, '92 CD & Renegades LP Seal, 1994, CD ZZ Top, Sixpack, CD Sarah McLachlin, Mirrorball, CD Madonna, The Immaculate Collection, CD U2, Pop and ...Behind, CD Toto, Past to Present, CD Simply Red, Greatest Hits, CD Bryan Adams, MTV Unplugged, CD
Norwex B-2 Nisse Loudspeakers Price: $995 USD per pair, $100 premium on wood veneer finishes Warranty: Five years parts and labor. System type: Bass Reflex Sensitivity: 86 dB 1w/1m Nominal Impedance: 8 ohms Frequency Response: 53 Hz to 20kHz (-3dB) Crossover: 2.9 kHz, first order slopes Recommended Amplifier: 60 to 250 watts Nominal power handling: 60 watts Weight: 10 pounds each Dimensions: 9.2"H x 7.27"W x 8.76"D
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Planethifi
- Mar/Apr'01-
- May/Jun '01-
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