[ABEX]

First it is said that it would be the end of May,then the first week June and in another  place a few weeks into June.

Well the Last of May is out and the first week in June looks like it's out and now what?

It also looks like I will not get a chance to Eval the Amp to see weather  there are synergy issues to get another set at the introductory price!

Whats the deal MB?

[azryan]

Seriously dude,

Give it a rest.

You've got about a million posts here asking when it's coming out/shipping.

I'm sure they're going as fast as they can, and you're certainly not helping by OVER and OVER and OVER asking 'when'.

Normally I wouldn't say anything 'cuz I know you're just excited to get them, but it's getting really annoying and I really felt the need now to ask you to stop it.

[bhiggins]

From the June news on the Norh website:

We expect the amplifiers to ship in three weeks. As nice as the case looks, I want it to be even better. We want the switch to be recessed. We want the front to have a brushed finish and we want to use stainless steel screws. We need three more weeks to make these modifications and we will be ready to ship.

Until then, I would recommend that you have a Coke and a smile.

[wshuff]

Or choke down a Pepsi and earn a chance to win 1 billion.  You could afford a few more amps on that.

[ABEX]

Yeah well I count 3 times I have asked .Once May 14th and it was said they would ship by the end of May the other times I did not get an answer and it was confusing to read it ion the news.

Not no Million times ,sorry I asked!

Thanks for the clarification MB!

[ABEX]

BTW-I might be buying 3sets of these amps and I will not know weather or not they will be good for driving my speakers till I try a set.

If I had a set before the June 30 deadline I could save a bunch of $$. If not I will have to pay the extra $$.

Thanks for the consideration guys!

[nathanm]

I was just about to make a post, but Azryan took the words right out of my mouth!  Somebody give ABEX a sedative!  Sheesh! He's like that kid in the store going, "Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom?"

When you get the e-mail saying the amps have shipped, THAT'S when they will ship.  Amazing how that works, isn't it?  

I dunno about anyone else, but whenever someone was expecting something from me they NEVER got it any sooner by breathing down my neck about it.  The freaggin' amp will be ready when it's ready, okay?

[ABEX]

Well if you were trying to save $$ Nathan I think it would be a different story now would it not?

I just wanted to know if I could get a dfinitive answer so I could count on getting 2 more sets before the June deadline to save $$.

Guess that is asking to much!

[Dozer]

These delays upon delays are par for the course with nOrh.   You should accept it or switch - don't agonize over it.  Even though MB will answer his own email and a problem will ultimately be set right - nOrh earns a poor score on nuts&bolts customer service.  Almost never is a straight answer delivered.  Normally it's  "sorry for delay - I will inform".

Their performance at meeting announced target dates is abysmal.

But their gear is pretty darn good for the dollar.  Probably never been a better $250 monoblock than a LeAmp!

If you're in a hurry - choose something else.   The nOrh stuff will hit the used market in, say, 3 months - since nOrh customers are upgradeaholics of the highest order.    Once they realize it can't beat a Plinius or Krell, they'll be dumping them on Audiogon.   Wait till then.

[nathanm]

Well if you were trying to save $$ Nathan I think it would be a different story now would it not?

What's that got to do with the price of tea in China? All I am saying ABEX, is why don't you hound Barnes via e-mail instead of filling the message board with numerous duplicate-content posts about when the dang amps are gonna ship!?  I mean, look at the list - it's ridiculous!  Give it a rest, man!  Posting a slightly different version of "Hey When Are The LeAmp IIs Gonna Ship?" every day ain't gonna make it go any quicker.

[ABEX]

Dozer
Yes,I have heard this before.

I have waited for other components like my speakers which I got after a 3 month wait,but I also gave him the time because he was doing it as a favor not so much as to make $$.A $3500set for $1K and they are the only known set made to my specs. My speaker designer no longer makes Home Speakers and the deal I got was almost unheard of.

 I just wanted to get all the amps at the introductory offer price and it looks like that will not happen now. Always can use my present amp for the Mid\High region so all is not lost.

Thx,ABEX!

[azryan]

"-I just wanted to get all the amps at the introductory offer price and it looks like that will not happen now."

Good.

That intro price that we've already been told he's LOSING money on should only be for those who are brave enough to order them with the risk that they won't be what they want them to be.

I like getting the best deal I can, but you're incredibly demanding for someone who wants a hi end 200W monoblock amp for $195, and is bitching about having to maybe pay $300 for it which would only be if it kicked ass and you wanted more of them.
 
Wow, that'd be horrible wouldn't it.

Time for you to shut up now please.

[mbarnes]

The delay was the case.  We were originally given a price for the case.  When we got the sample case, the case vendor told us that he had under estimated the cost by 2/3rds.  It turns out that the heat sinks are 3.5 kg or 7.716 pounds of aluminum that is custom molded.  

We had ordered 200 cases but when the supplier showed us what we had, he ony had 2 because he wanted to see if we could accept the price.  We had no choice but to accept the price but because he had not done the complete run, we were able to suggest some changes that we think improve the look.

We were told that cases would be done three weeks from last week.  We met with the case vendor today.  They said we are still on schedule.  

The audio boards and power supplies are done.  

Once the cases are done, we need to assemble them but we can do that pretty quickly.

All in all, the deal everyone is getting now is better than if they built 200 of them themselves.  We will loose about $10.00 each amp we sell at $195.00.

We are used to this.  We lost money on the initial shipments of Le Amps because we expected them to go by boat but we wound up shipping by air.  We lost a lot of money on the Multiamps.  

We had the choice of dropping the power of the unit and using less heat sink or making the case cheaper.  We didn't do that.  We wanted this to be something that would really wake people up.

If you look through Stereophile, you will probably note something.  There are quite a few amplifiers from $695.00 to $1400 or so. Some of these sound very good.  Most of these do not have large heatsinks on the side.  If you look at the really expensive amplifiers -- the ones selling for a few thousand dollars, they all have heat sinks--large heat sinks.  

When a company makes a design decision to go for CLASS A gain stage or to build something with lots of guts, you either have to use a large heatsink or use a fan.  You can put a heat sink inside the case but inside the case.  However if you are generating enough power, you need to get the heatsink to contact the outside air rather than just releasing more and more heat inside the case.

Le Amp 2 is built like a very expensive amplifier because it has a CLASS A gain stage and because it is biased to get the best sound.

[hk29]

thanks Mbarnes for once again for letting us know what's going on.  I too wished that I could wait for someone to hear the amp before I purchased.   But I'm willing to wait and to put my order in.  

I can't wait until the new pictures of the new case!