[giorgino1]

I've been volunteered as unofficial hifi consultant to a pal.  
He wants to keep the complete system below £1000 (USD1200 inc tax/freight).

Looking at the Norh Pyramid - I am am if there are owners out there who might like to give their opinion of it as stereo speakers? What impedance rating are they?

I intend to partner them up with the Decware Zen C and a low cost CDP like a NAD/cambridge audio.

Kind regards

George

[Andrikos]

From what I've read, pyramids are NOT the way to go.
Try the 3.0's or 4.0s.
Look at the trading forum, somebody is selling 5 ceramic 4.0s for a good price.
That would probably be a much better system than the pyramids.
Good luck.

[nathanm]

From what I've read, pyramids are NOT the way to go.
Try the 3.0's or 4.0s

This is SO true.  Run, do not walk as fast as you can from the idea of trying the Pyramids.  It's a conceptual failure IMHO.  Second worst sounding speakers I ever owned, easily.  Don't get me wrong, they are cool and weird looking and reasonably well built, but they sound about as good as a soup can and string telephone system.  How the 3.0s, which use the same damn drivers and cost half the price can perform SO much better is quite staggering.  Put the 3.0 drums and the Pyramids side by side and you will immediately know which speaker is superior.   You know how people like to use the metaphor of a "veil" over the sound?  Well the Pyramids have a metaphorical cardboard box over the sound!  It's not a veil it's a burka!

Unless you want to hang them on the ceiling or wall, or are intrigued by weird\bad sound I'd steer clear of 'em.

[Jay S]

I agree about the 3.0 -- great little speaker!  You can't go wrong.  

I got a friend to buy the nOrh SE9 tube integrated amp + nOrh 3.0 drums and he is very happy.  

I also bought a pair of 3.0s for my mom.  Paired with a Korsun u2 50 wpc SS integrated amp it truly rocked even in a large bedroom.  I had them placed in corners of the room.  It was loud even listening from another room separated from the bedroom by a living room and a hallway.  

One thing the 3.0 won't do is mid/low bass, but it still sounds satisfying.  

By the way, doesn't the Zen C put out something like 2 watts?  You may want to consider the nOrh SE9 (9 watts/channel), which will give you much more volume (I have used my Radii 300B SET 8 watt/ch amp with the nOrh 3.0) and more flexbility in case your friend decides to try different speakers down the road.

Also, it would also be worth the time (and $5 in Blue Tak) to dampen the transport of the cd player.  http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=9365&start=40

[giorgino1]

Thanks guys for the advice. The question is whether your experiences is due to a gear mis-match/burn-in or if what Michael C. Barnes says about the Pyramids:
"I realized I was listening to some of the most musical sounding loudspeakers I had ever heard. The sound was live. It sounded real. The image was perfect",
was incorrect.

Interms of descriptions, "Second worst sounding speakers I ever owned" and "the most musical sounding loudspeakers I had ever heard" are poles apart.

[nathanm]

Of course he said that, he created them and sells them.  "It sounds like drivers mounted backwards in a cardboard box" doesn't make for good copy does it?  Also the term "musical sounding" is rather an innocuous phrase if you ask me.  I really don't understand what people are trying to describe by that.  If you are listening to music it's gonna be musical sounding isn't it?  

One could probably hook them up to the most expensive front end gear  from any manufacturer out there and play them for a room full of people and I don't think anyone would be impressed.  I played them for a friend who couldn't give two shits about hifi and even he was incredulous.  I think the big pyramid cabinet is too large for the chosen drivers.  They do great in the little drum but four of them in that pyramid cab was a mess.  The only way I could imagine them working well would be to hang one in the middle of the ceiling like a light fixture in kind of a public address manner.  I would think they'd be great to put in your garage rafters to listen to tunes while you're fixing the lawnmower or whatever but as far as home audio goes you can do much better for your 450 smackers IMO.