Update on Le Amp 2

mbarnes · « **on:** 22 Jan 2004, 01:36 pm »

I have received many e-mails telling me that someone is posting as me
and a lot of other similar news on some of the boards but I am told that has never happened here (Audio Circle).

For the past couple of months, I have been very bogged down with computer
projects. NorhTec, a seperate company, received a $3 million USD contract
to build a very special computer. Curt is playing a key role designing the entire electrical system for the computer so both of us are really quite busy.

We also were notified we were the apparent winner in a contract to build a custom computer for a biometric solution for retail. That contract is for about
5,000 to 20,000 units.

Finally we have been shipping units to Canada for a very well known fast food resteraunt that is pilot testing our systems for hot spots.

Despite all of this, I have not stopped working on nOrh. I have answered all e-mails that come to me. It is impossible for me to check this and other forums hunting down people who might post here. First of all, nobody really knows who is whom anyway.

We shipped out 30 amplifier recently. Of these, four people had an issue with a hum. We tested the amps we had and could not duplicate the problem.

We have communicated to the customers and we now have a fix for these people that will resolve the issue. I have already written to all of these customers and told them what they can do on their own or they can wait for us to issue them a kit they can use.

If anyone needs service or support on any issue, it is important they contact us and give us an opprotunity to respond directly. I have not read any of the posts here for some time and I probably won't until all the foolishness with people using false identitiies stop.

We continue to sell lots of SE 9s and SE 18s. The 3.0s an 4.0s are still selling very well. I spent a lot of time getting the next newsletter ready and I am working on some ideas.

Today, while working with the head engineer for the new company doing Le Amps, I learned something amazing.

Le Amp 2

Le Amp 2s are now shipping regularly. As mentioned in this newsletter, our new ISP had problems transferring all
the data from the previous ISP. We lost some customer data and Namphung is trying to recreate this as best we can.

Our original supplier took off and nobody seems to know where he is. We contracted with his head engineer who
started his own business. What I learned today is another unbelievable part of the story which I thought I would pass
on.

Our previous supplier apparently had run a factory for ten years. He got himself into financial problems when the economy
turned down in Thailand. He borrowed from one project to pay for the next and he wound up getting deeper and deeper
in debt.

It turns out that all of his workers were amputees or crippled. I don't have the background to know how all of this one company
wound up with only employees with challenges but that is the case. When things got bad for our supplier, he had no money
to pay his workers but his workers stayed on simply to have food and shelter. Not one of these workers received any salary
for a full year.

Today, I met with the head engineer. He has taken over the company and he is holding this group together and trying
to build a company out of all of this. The money that we provided to build Le Amp 2 is now enough to allow his team
to have some cash for the first time in a year.

I talked to him about some of the ideas that I had. His group would like to work with us to make this happen. One of the
first projects will be to create a higher end Le Amp. The circuit would be the same but we would use silver wiring and more
expensive connectors. We would also include a high-end power cord.

In any case, for the first time since I started working on Le Amp 2, I finally am starting to feel better about the project. I
was quite frustrated about the personal money I put into the project and all of the mail I got from people who were upset
about how long it took.

I now know feel better that this project is not only giving work to seven challenged Thais, it is also giving them a chance
to build their own business. This was not something I set out to do nor did I know was happening. I am only proud to
be part of it.

Marbles · « **Reply #1 on:** 22 Jan 2004, 01:45 pm »

Quote from: mbarnes

I have not read any of the posts here for some time and I probably won't until all the foolishness with people using false identitiies stop.
...

Congratulations on all the new Nortec business!

That is also exciting on the upgraded LA2.

Did you really mean to post the above quote on Audiocircle, or did you mean for this to be posted on Harmonic Discord?

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #2 on:** 22 Jan 2004, 01:48 pm »

I'm glad to see it's finally coming together. Definately a tough situation. Will the upgraded LAII supercede/replace the stock version or be offered as an upcharge?

mbarnes · « **Reply #3 on:** 23 Jan 2004, 05:39 am »

I met with the new engineer for the first time yesterday. As most people know, the owner of the company got into financial trouble and left with our money. We were able to salvage enough parts that we were able to produce about 50 or so units. These were all shipped.

The next units will be new units. The PCBs will be laid out a bid differently but there is no difference of specifications or performance.

When I met with the head engineer, he asked me if we were interested in reselling high-end silver cables. He said that they were doing this work for a high-end company under contract and he could offer these cables to me as well. I said that I would be interested but I would be more interested in offering a special edition version of Le Amp that would have more expensive connectors, silver wiring, and a high end power cord. It certainly is cheaper to do that at the factory than to add all that stuff.

This would not be a replacement. Personally, I think a lot of these sort of add-ons simply make us feel better about our equipment than to make them sound better -- sorry for anyone I have offended here.

I will not be A/Bing the two and declaring one better than the other.

If we do this, we will not charge an outrageous differnece. We will simply add what our costs are and a markup.

This Le Amp thing was like a money sink hole. The previous owner would extract more money in chunks -- always promising that with a little more money, we could get the units.

The good news is that is all in the past. Once Le Amps are shipping in quantity, we can make a small profit of the amps and grow that line.

Right now, our best sellers are the SE 9 and the 3.0s. Everyone who buys these are quite pleased. After two years, we are seeing almost no problems.

The SE 18 is now growing in popularity.

I recently donated my two expensive Plinius systems to nOrh. I told them that they could sell these and put the money back into the company. I will be using the ACA 2b and a pair of Le Amp 2s for one system and the SE 18 on the other system.

I want to buy one of Curt's preamps as well. I hate to admit it but I think that Curt's preamp is probably one of the best I have ever seen. I am just glad Curt doesn't make speakers.