Finally received my Le Amp II (LA II) this past week. It was somewhat of a painful experience but worth the wait at the end. The order was placed sometime around 4/03 after much discussion and info from nOrh. I did finally receive my pair this past January, it’s a good thing I have plenty of amps sitting around so patience was the key here. But the units I received were plagued with problems. It was fairly noisy with hiss and hums and one of the mono’s blew after 45 minutes of play, I could smell something had burned up, I’ve fried tweeters before so its not a very pleasant scent. I also popped off the tops of both units to inspect the innards, I’m not an engineer, but I could tell the lay out is not as clean as some other amps I’ve seen, this looks more like someone’s DIY project. My understanding is that the parts used are good quality parts. But I did see a fuse that was smaller than any fuse I’ve ever seen and had a hair thin filament, if the signal goes through that, how does that affect the sound? On one unit there was even some screws protruding from between the heat sink.. But what was even more disturbing was that between the 2 units, some of the parts were different, how are they suppose to sound the same if the parts are different? A quick email got a quick response from Michael. I don’t know the details , and I didn’t prod too much, but apparently in their haste to try to get the amps to the customer they didn’t properly test and monitor the suppliers who were supplying some of the boards and parts. I believe they now spend more time burning them in and checking more carefully before shipping. I’m not going to belabor the issue, but past experience with nOrh told me they will make good any issue and resolve them. They did promise me replacements but it was frustrating trying to get info when that was going to occur, 3 months later 2 boxes appeared on my front door unannounced.
First, I’m going to list all the equipment I have: Magnepan 3.6, Magnepan CCC1, nOrh 6.9SM, Von Schweikert TS200, Sound Dynamic RTS-3, Bryston 4B-ST, Acurus A200, nOrh Le Amp, PS Audio PP600, Adcom ACE515, ARC LS-1, ARC LS-3, Acurus ACT 3, Marsh P2000t, ACI Titan II LE, Philips SACD1000, Heart tubed CD5000, Bolder cable type 2 PC, PS Audio Xtreme Plus PC, PS Audio Xtreme Statement IC, AQ GR8 Spkr cable, and some other misc. stuff. The only reason I listed all my equipment is so that you can get an idea of my experience with different set ups, the fun part of this hobby is there you can have countless combination here. For this particular review I am using the 2 LA II (with Bolder type 2 PC), Magnepan 3.6, Phillips SACD1000, ARC LS-3, AQ GR8, and PS Audio Xtreme Statement IC.
Fit and finish:
The amps came in the old multi-amp box, they must have an excess in inventory, they are good sturdy boxes but the amp was packed with cut up sheets of styrofoam with the amp wrapped with single sheet of bubble wrap, both units came in perfect shape. Like everything I’ve bought from nOrh, there were no written instructions or warranty card like you would get from other components one buys. A simple 18 awg (?) PC came with it. The units are fairly well built but I feel the original LA was better. The front with the light is somewhat cheesy, the uneven glow detracts from otherwise good appearance. There was a difference in feel from one power switch to the other, one had more resistance then the other, not a big deal to me as long as they are reliable. The rubber feet seems cheap, little specks of rubber starting to come off. I did not have a chance to open up the units to compare to the first set I received, I might do that this weekend.
Listening impression:
Upon turn on, there was that hiss again, but after about 5 seconds it disappeared. In one of Michael’s email, he indicated that they now have line filters built into the amp, maybe it takes about 5 seconds to kick in, it is now dead quiet. My past experience from visiting numerous shops, CES, and HE told me that amps don’t make as much of a difference as a good preamp and source component , but my experience with the LA II changed that. The first disc was a SACD sampler followed by a multitude of different music. After pressing “play” I could not believe the music that was coming from my Maggies, it filled the room with sound that truthfully reflects the source, all the instruments were distinct and airy. The sonic images were convincing in scale and those images were precise and focus. The Maggie ribbons are well known for revealing both good and bad high frequencies, in this case they took on the ethereal good qualities that made them so famous. The decay and shimmer of the cymbals were so realistic, I feel them in front of me. The bass drums were powerful and gut moving, the amp can play loud and clean. There is a purity in the music I heard that is hard to descibe, it is transparent in its purity which means the virtual absence of all the normal electronic additives and artifacts you get from the jumbo hook-up of all the components and just getting the music straight from the source. Also the reproduction of transients was immediate and quick given you that “thereness”, Piano music were freakin’ AMAZING, especially with the big wave launch of real estate from Maggies, 9 foot grand pianos sound like 9 foot grand pianos, unlike piano music from 6 inch cones. For orchestral music there isn’t a big jumbo of instruments, rather each instrument appears in its own pocket of air having a fully developed harmonic entity unto itself that was identifiable and distinct. I could also tell that the violin section consists of numerous individuals, each with their own minor idiosyncrasies of tone and bowing. For mutiple vocalist, this is where it really shines, they are consistently presented with whole bodies and unique voices rather than as disembodied bi-dimensional singing heads. But the biggest surprise is how one could here all the noise between quiet passages, the shuffling of bodies , movement of instruments, and parting of lips. I think partner with a good source and preamp, these amps are ruthlessly revealing and can pick up all information from the source.
Summary:
I’ve only been listening for a few days and am not certain that it is fully burned in yet, knowing that nOrh do leave them running for a while before shipping now. I was so excited about these amps and had to share my initial impressions. Last year I did put together a fact sheet of info that I cut and paste from various discussion about this amp and a section on the pro/con of the switching power supply, but looks like its been deleted from the archives. A lot of the info can be found at nOrhs website, but if anyone wants, I do have it saved on MS Word at work if you want to PM me. In conclusion, this amp is a stunning achievement for the price, I need to place my Bryston in this exact set-up for comparison, but from my experience, I have never heard my Maggies sing and sound like this before. In nOrh’s website, it states: "Norh encourages individuals to compare this product with any amplifier, at any price level" it’s a bold statement, and from what I heard it might have some legs to stand on.
Pros: Oh so musical, price, clean, quiet, just read the above.
Cons: Runs very hot, some quality issues, cheesy front light, reliability?
