At the price at which the 2000 system is available, it ... - Norge Audio

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Norge Millennium Spkrs & Ref 2000 Amp Brand Model Category : Norge : Millennium Speakers & Reference 2000 Amplifier : Bookshelf Speakers Price : Rs. 19,900 * Warranty Aesthetics : Build : Sound : VFM : : 1 Year No this company is not from Norway, it just means Norway. Established about four decades ago by a passionate audiophile, Norge Audiophile Systems has really come a long way. With an impressive history of legends like RD Burman, Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi as its clientele and proudly holding its ground as one of the very few audiophile companies based in India, they have been catering to their own select crust of clients. Until now, we have reviewed a handful of products from Norge and when we got these two boxes one Monday morning; we knew that we could look forward to some quality in these boxes. Out Of The Box Norge has never tried to do anything fancy with their equipment design. Their amps and speakers have always maintained minimalist designs — they just don’t shout for attention. The Norge Millennium bookshelf speakers and the Reference 2000 amplifier were just the same — a very humble set of speakers and a sturdy amplifier. The vinyl finish of the speakers lends them a vintage look, just like those furniture style radiogram consoles from the sixties. The amplifier is pitch back in colour. It reminded us of the big black box; you put in anything and it will never come back. Technology In terms of technology Norge has been doing it their way. They have Edge Of Norge All set to give a tough match to all the big players, Norge slowly but steadily moves forward as one commendable rival in the ring with their new 2000 range of speakers and amplifiers. always made it a point to use high quality components across their products. First the speakers: it is a twoway bass reflex system with a crossover frequency of 2kHz. There is 1” silk dome tweeter and 6.5” woofer. The drivers are made up of dual neodymium magnets that ensure efficiency and optimal Thiele parameters (factors which define the overall performance of the speakers, like the volume of the cabinet, size of the drivers, etc), and simultaneously provide extremely good magnetic shielding. The amplifier unit has a toroid transformer, which has now become like a tradition with all the Norge amplifier units. It ensures effective rendition of the low frequencies. The unit has tape, CD and auxiliary as input options with RCA jacks. Neat looking tonal controls and input selection switches for DVD, iPod and auxiliary are provided in the front along with a headphone out. There is a tone defeat switch, which basically bypasses all the tonal controls. So if you want, you can listen to the mixes just as the mixing engineer made it with minimum influence of the amplifier. The remote is optional at an extra cost. Let’s see how the two bookshelves sound as they come right out of the factory. Performance First, we loaded ‘OVO’ by Peter Gabriel. It did not take long for us to realise that this set of speakers would take some time before it could optimise its performance. But the amplifier did give us a glimpse of its strength. Thus went in a 'Sheffield Test' CD. Just for your information, the test CD with all its test signals and burn in tones is quiet a workout for any given system. Having religiously completed all the testing rituals, we played some reference tracks from the test CD itself. There is a very elaborately recorded track in the CD, which really tests any given system for each and every detail to its extreme limits. It was clearly evident that the little ones were emerging from their shell. The pair sounded much better than what they did in the beginning. The bass was now more pronounced and was just making its presence felt. However still there were small traces of gain in the high frequencies. Going further, we played a mono track from the test CD. PECIFICATIONS Millennium Bookshelf Spkrs Design: 2-way Bass Reflex | Drivers: 1 x 1” Silk dome Tweeter, 1 x 6.5” woofer | Frequency Response: 30Hz–30 KHz | Crossover Frequency: 2KHz | Sensitivity: 91.5dB @ 2.83 V/ 1m | Power Handling: 100-watts /channel | Impedance: 4W | Dimensions (H x W x D): 17.2” x 8.11” x 10.55” | Weight: 10kgs each november 2007 | av max 63
The 2000 system is at par with most of the better products available out there. Now the point is that whenever you play a mono track, the entire sound should appear to be coming from exactly the centre of the two speakers, as if it coming from one single point — smaller the point, better the performance of the speakers in the stereo mode. So coming back to the speakers, the pair faired well in this test. Just to confirm the same we played ‘The Binary Universe’ by BT. The speakers did reproduce all the complex panning and the intricate synthesis with good detail. To check if all the burning in and the test tones helped or not, we played ‘OVO’ again. There was a considerable difference in the way the speakers performed and it was for good. Now the bass was tight and subtle. The speakers nicely rendered the midfrequency range, which is in fact the most important factor in any form of music. Generally, this range defines the entire tone of the music. The high frequencies had now mellowed down a little bit, though still not the sweetest. Excited with change in the performance we played a CD by Venetian Snares. The speakers produced the fantastic orchestration and the amazing blend of modern classical and electronic beats impressively. The speakers had good dispersion and a satisfactory transient response. What makes us say so is the convincing directivity shown by the speakers. With the intention to see how this system would sound in a hometheatre set-up we hooked it up to our DVD player and put in ‘War Of The Worlds’. Its performance pumped life into the overall experience; it almost rained thunder and lightning. The low frequency rumbles of the blasts and the sharp and crisp lightning with the gunshots were effectively rendered. As we tried a number of CDs, the speakers were just getting better and better, CD after CD. Most of the good things generally take time to show their entire potential. This set of speakers and the amplifier is a perfect example of this. Conclusion Any audiophile company, having been there for long, would have come out with a wide range of products, but it is not so with Norge. This company has come out with very few products as such, thus it is lesser known to the masses. However this does not come in way of their high-class standards and high quality that they offer and the Reference 2000 amplifier and the Millennium 2000 speakers are no exception to that. The 2000 system is at par with most of the better products available out there. On top of that, at the price at which the Norge 2000 system is available, it can surely give its bigger competitors a run for their money. SUMIT BHOSLE * The price is inclusive of both the products. PECIFICATIONS Reference 2000 Amplifier Power: 100-watts+ 100-watts@ 4W| THD: < 0.04 % @ 1KHz | Frequency Response: 10Hz–80KHz (+ 0.5dB) | S/N Ratio: 100dB | Damping Factor: NA | Dimensions (H x W x D): 4.5” x 16.9” x 12.99” 64 av max | november 2007
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At the price at which the 2000 system is available, it ... - Norge Audio

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