[smfins]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this board, and i discovered this by doing a search on Norh amps. I came across a listing on my local craigslist for a lot of audio equipment. It was a good deal, so I bought it. it included parasound amps Some denon ,paradigm, polk Audio and two 'Norh" amps. Well, i had never heard of them before, but they came with the lot so i figured what the heck! Well let me tell you. I love these little amps! i have them pushing a pair of phase technology 9.1's($2,000 a pair when i bought them) and they are killing it! these speakers happen to be 4 ohm so the little amps are  capable of 400 watts at that impedence......Well anyway, please fill me in a little on these little gems! I am going to hold on to these and sell the two parasound mono block amps! The parasounds sound nice, but the Norhs are better. And also, do they still make amps??

[smfins]

I meant Norh!!

[KKM]

They don't make them any more, I had a pair years ago and sold them. There were not many of the Le Amp II sold due to reliability issues. They sold a lot of the original Le Amp ( same as IRD).

They do sound nice and run very hot, you might not want to sell your other amp due to reliability just yet.

[smfins]

How much is the going rate used for these usually? also, what about the IRD amp you spoke of? how are they sound and quality wise? thanks!

[jqp]

I have no info on the LeAmp IIs, but I have 3 LeAmp/MB-100s

Many people love the overengineered, overacheiving, chip amp MB-100s - they are a later incarnation of the LeAmps with only a few differences - DC blocking capacitor removed (many were spending good money to get the the LeAmps modded this way), blue LED, different IRD faceplate.

Here is the IRD page for the MB-100s

http://www.irdaudio.com/products/mb100.htm

here is a 6Moons review with good pictures of the monoblock, and some good history.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/norh/leamp.html

I'll bet you can still get them new, possibly for $269 each from Curt Wishman at IRD Audio/Buffalo Electronics in Charlotte.

[smfins]

Is the IRD MB-100 the same as the le amps? Mine says it's 200 watts into 8 ohms and 400 into 4. I believe that the mb-100 is only rated at 100 watts? Also, the reason i asked about how much the leamp 2's may sell for is because the day after I bought this pair  , the guy had a guy from 4 hours away offer to drive there and pay him twice his actual asking price which was $250 for the pair. So there's somebody out there that really wants these amps!They were willing to pay $500 for a pair and drive 4 hours. having said that and even after being told about reliability issues, I'm still going to hold on to mine becuase I love the way they sound, and I love the blue display on the front!

[jqp]

The MB-100 is the same as the Le Amp, not the Le Amp II - you have the Le AMP II, which was an exciting successor to the Le Amp at the time - unfortunately it was not a successful product release and also apparently did not have the overall build quality of the Le Amp (MB-100).

The MB-100s/Le Amps are 100 Watt monoblocks. They can give peaks of 125 into 8 ohms and 250 into 4 ohms. The chip theses amps are based on is rated at 100W.

Here are the stated features

    True high-end audio at a reasonable price
    Heavy duty 400 watt oversized power supply
    Easily drives most 8/4 ohm loudspeakers (handles impedance dips to 3 ohms)
    Music program peaks of 125+ watts @8 and 250+ watts @4 ohm loads (observed on Oscilloscope)
    Low THD+N performance
    Powerful DMOS output stage - accurate bass, smooth midrange and extended highs - no irritating SS distortions
    Superior build quality at this price point, designed to last a lifetime
    Excellent thermal management, never gets hot even at full power for extended periods
    Built-in SOA overload, short circuit protection, and thermal shutdown protection

Again, I don't know much about the Le Amp II, but if your pair is reliable you may have a real steal. Keep in mind the MB-100s are about $600 a pair new, but they are VERY reliable and run cool.

Maybe KKM can give some more info on the Le Amp IIs that he sold.

====== Facilitator's editorial comments on nOrh =======

nOrh is not the same company they used to be, hence this is a nOrh owners circle, not a vendor circle. mbarnes is back in the US now, with a "real" job again - in the past, before the dot-com bubble burst and its effects, he had the luxury of running an internet audio company in Thailand, with his Thai friends who needed the jobs, where a lot of OEM manufacturing is done for the audio industry. Many of us all over the world have benefited from that scenario. Now, many of the products are no longer available from the current nOhr company, and the customer service is not at all what it was.

I will probably do a topic on this at some point, having communicated with mbarnes on many occaisions over the years and recently...

[tkp]

I did not realize Mr. Barnes is now back in the US.  It has been so long (probably close to 10 years now) since I last contacted nOrh.  I was planing to contact Mr. Barnes to get a single nOrh marble 9.0 cabinet so I can build a center channel to complete the front 3 for home theater.  I still have a few pairs of wood 4.0, a pair of Multiamp and four LeAmp/MB100.  I still regret until this day that I sold the marble 4.0 .  I should have never done that. 

The MB100 is a very good ompare to high end amp.  The only thing it lacks (relatively) compare to multi-FET pairs amplifier is the bottom end.  For most bookshelf it is more than good enough if you filter out the low bass and complement the system with a pair of subwoofers.

[fredgarvin]

http://www.buffaloelectronics.com/audio/mb100.htm

[jqp]

I did not realize Mr. Barnes is now back in the US.  It has been so long (probably close to 10 years now) since I last contacted nOrh.  I was planing to contact Mr. Barnes to get a single nOrh marble 9.0 cabinet so I can build a center channel to complete the front 3 for home theater.  I still have a few pairs of wood 4.0, a pair of Multiamp and four LeAmp/MB100.  I still regret until this day that I sold the marble 4.0 .  I should have never done that. 

tkp, you can probably find some eventually if you look hard enough 

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=102097.0    <---- for example

[tkp]

I did tried to buy those speakers but I was one step too late .  He sold them to someone locally.

[yeldarb]

I bought the LeAmp 2 when they were first available.  They use a switching power supply which is the reason I no longer have them.  If you have a dirty AC source, the hash, noise, whatever just goes on through.  Norh even upgraded these with an AC line filter.  Didn't help in my situation.  Still got noise.  When they were not making random noises they sounded great.

Just to get them out of the way I sold mine to a guy that works with me.  At his house, depending on cables and which wall receptacle they are plugged into, they sound great.  This after sitting for years in the boxes.  My luck, I guess.  I have had similar trouble with switcher power supply on a sub.  Had to send it back.  So give me a transformer in my equipment, please.
If I remember, the intro price on these was $199 each.  There are many posts detailing the crap Norh went through trying to get these built.  Try a google search.

[smfins]

Thanks for all the info regarding these! I am going to give this pair  a shot in my new Home theater setup running my left/rights. I may sell them on ebay in the near future, but It depends on how much I like them. thanks again!

[jqp]

Do they look like this ?

[smfins]

Yep! Thats them! I just got them hooked up in my Home Theater setup running my left/right speakers. They are hooked up to a pair of Phase technology 9.1 tower speakers which are 4 ohms. I was using a couple Parasound mono amps and these Norh leamp 2's sound better too me. However, I do have ALOT of equipment under my tv, so i may go back to just my HK receiver. I will add a pic of the setup asap. If I decide to sell these , i will let everyone know incase anyone is interested.

[smfins]

[smfins]

  I really like these so far! They have alot of power so it seems!  The speakers are phase technology PC9.1 towers and a PC 3.1 center. these speakers sound great by the way! the Receiver is a HK AVR 3600. I'm using it's left rear/right rear and back left rear/  back right rear channels on the 4 surround speakers. I'm using the Norh leamp 2's on the left/right, and then i have a marantz MA 700 monblock amp(Not Pictured) on the center. The sub is a custom made sub with an earthquake amp on it.