FS: North Creek Music Okara II's in rosewood[SOLD]

poseidonsvoice · « **on:** 20 Feb 2010, 03:51 am »

My NCMS Okara II's are finally for sale. This is a 2 way monopole loudspeaker, ported in the rear (and loaded with optional straws), in an EBS alignment. Few scratches are noted on the back, most notably a dried white paint mark but not noticeable at all when facing the front. The cabinet is built by Lee Taylor and is extremely substantial. 1.5 inch front baffle, 1 inch rear baffle, baltic birch bracing, etc...Bottom of the cabinet can be loaded with sand. The crossover is completely isolated in its own compartment. Biwirable and has Vampire binding posts. Tweeter is the Scan Speak 9500 and the woofer is Vifa P13WH (5.25 inch). It was also designed as a bookshelf specific loudspeaker so it works really well in small rooms. I remember that I used to have it in a room about 7 feet wide and 10 feet deep. Nearfield was awesome. Works fine in larger rooms although a subwoofer is recommended. I am the first and only owner.

Lot's of information, including measurements right here and here.

Needless to say it measures supremely flat, a very smooth 59 Hz to 20kHz ± 2dB.
Input impedance is 8 Ohm nominal, 6 ohm minimum.
Reference sensitivity is 85.5dB for 2.83V, 1 meter input.
They are 39 inches tall (without spikes), 7 inches wide and 9.25 inches deep.

Original retail price when North Creek was selling it through North Acoustics was $1599 to $1999 in a Lee Taylor built cabinet.

I will sell for $400/pair firm. Shipping is additional but I want to keep it to the continental U.S. If you live in North Carolina, South Carolina, Eastern Tennessee or Southern Virginia, I could probably meet you halfway or deliver it to you (i.e. within 3 hours of the Winston-Salem area).

Thanks for looking, Anand.

Bemopti123 · « **Reply #1 on:** 20 Feb 2010, 03:58 am »

This is a STEAL, if there is one worth calling it. Amazing. Bump for a great pair.

jackman · « **Reply #2 on:** 20 Feb 2010, 06:12 pm »

Very cool speakers. I can't think they will last long at this price. North Creek made some great sounding speakers.

Cheers,

J

poseidonsvoice · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 Feb 2010, 10:03 pm »

Guess what? They are still here.

C'mon guys, I'm selling them for the price of a good interconnect, power cord, receiver, etc...

One more week. If not, then off it goes to the 'Gon. And I will probably raise the price by a hundred bucks over there since they are so underpriced anyway.

Anand.

jackman · « **Reply #4 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 12:23 am »

I don't know you and I don't need speakers but if you lived close to Chicago, I would buy these immediately at this price. It's shocking they have not sold. Good luck with the sale but you should probably put these on Audioasylum classified and some other classifieds before Agon. Once you put them on Audiogon, they will sell quickly.

Good luck with the sale.

J

drphoto · « **Reply #5 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 01:20 am »

What a steal! Anyone wanting the foundation of great entry level system should jump on this deal. Hell, I'm tempted to get 'em and sell my Merlins!

mgalusha · « **Reply #6 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 08:59 pm »

Also, Anand is one of the good guys and you can feel confident in dealing with him.

polishpowerlifter · « **Reply #7 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 09:34 pm »

pm sent...

poseidonsvoice · « **Reply #8 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 11:20 pm »

PM returned. Okay, I think I need to start boxing these up. That's the challenging part since I overbox everything.

Anand.

nunhgrader · « **Reply #9 on:** 9 Apr 2010, 07:27 pm »

Damn - I always live to far away from everything cool

gprro · « **Reply #10 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 01:19 am »

Oh man, just saw this, I'm in Raleigh. Always wanted a north creek system. If you still have them I'm intereted! Pm sent

satfrat · « **Reply #11 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 01:28 am »

Quote from: gprro on 10 Apr 2010, 01:19 am

Oh man, just saw this, I'm in Raleigh. Always wanted a north creek system. If you still have them I'm intereted! Pm sent

This loudspeaker was on my short list years ago til I found Odyssey's Lorelei's with all Scan Speak drivers. Absolutely no regrets but I've always wished to have had an opportunity to listen to a North Creek loudspeaker.

Cheers,
Robin

srb · « **Reply #12 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 01:30 am »

Quote from: gprro on 10 Apr 2010, 01:19 am

Oh man, just saw this, I'm in Raleigh. Always wanted a north creek system. If you still have them I'm intereted! Pm sent

Good luck, hope you get them! A really great buy.

Steve

gprro · « **Reply #13 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 01:47 am »

Me too,

I'm buying so much stuff lately. Picked up a second turntable because I was looking for the cartridge that was mounted to it. This is another one of those too good a deals to pass up. I'll have to set up a complete second system. I should probably try to sell my unused projector now I think!

gprro · « **Reply #14 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 02:08 am »

Just a couple questions too. What do these look like? Just realized the included pic is the north creek stock photo, guessing it's the same, just wanted to check though. What crossover package is used also? Inductor size, type and brand of resistors and caps, etc. And to clarify, the bottom section of cabinet is sectioned off, the woofer only see's the small upper portion?

Thanks,
Giyan

poseidonsvoice · « **Reply #15 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 01:56 pm »

Wow! Didn't think this would generate so many posts, and to think I've only had a few pm's about them, mostly from fellas too far off. I would really prefer to sell them close by, since I am selling them at a ridiculously low price. Why lose the speaker in $100's of dollars worth of shipping, right?

Giyan, The included picture is the picture that Lee Taylor took just after he built them for me, so they are exactly the same. The crossover uses North Creek's premium parts. 12 gauge woofer inductor, crescendo capacitors throughout in the tweeter section, crescendo and zen capacitors in the woofer section, north creek ohmite resistors (similar to Mills) for all the resistors. It's about as much money I would spend on the Vifa P13 midwoofer and SS 9500 tweeter. The crossover is COMPLETELY isolated from the woofer/tweeter section in its own compartment. The bottom of the speaker is fully sand loadable as all you do is remove the base and suddenly there is a HOLE for you to fill sand/leadshot to your heart's desire.

Again, there is nothing noticeable for the most part when facing the front of the speaker, however on the back there are a few light white paint scuffs on the black rear finish on only one speaker. One or two corner scratches (hate to call it a scratch, its really just a smear) on the other speaker. Honestly for the price, if you are going to make a stink about it, I don't care cause there will be another buyer or I'll keep them for a bedroom system anyway!

Reason why I am selling? Look in my systems page and you'll see why. I've upgraded in a major way, however the little NCMS Okara's served me very well and are a wonderful neutral loudspeaker whose only faults are of omission and low sensitivity. Still, I've used this speaker with a 3.5 watt Bottlehead Paraglow and in a 10 by 10 foot room it was plenty loud!

Anand.

jackman · « **Reply #16 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 04:10 pm »

I think you are crazy for selling these so cheap! I don't need speakers, can't spare the cash and live far away from you and it's way too tempting! George is one of the best speaker designers in the industry and these are really nice. You should tack on an extra hundo and fifty and put them on agon.

gprro · « **Reply #17 on:** 10 Apr 2010, 07:46 pm »

Awesome! Done deal, I'm working a ton, but usually can get out on tues, or am available Sundays, and some weekdays before 3 pm. Consider them sold! I may be able to get them tomorrow, I'll check schedule, and look for a pm later.
Thanks,
Giyan

poseidonsvoice · « **Reply #18 on:** 18 Apr 2010, 04:01 am »

Delivered to Giyan today. Great guy, very smooth sale. This is how it should always be. Goodbye Okara's. I'll miss ya

.

Anand.

satfrat · « **Reply #19 on:** 18 Apr 2010, 04:10 am »

Congrates Anand.

Maybe Glyan will post some impressions for someone who has always wanted to sample a set of North Creek's.

Cheers,
Robin