Hot Scoop ! Norge Pre-Power Exclusive 1st Look & Review

Wharfedale EVO 4.2 Speakers
The pre and power should have been made similar cosmetically atleast.:sad:

The remote is an epitome of ugliness :eek:hyeah:

But really appreciate the spirit of Mr Bajaj.
 
How exactly is the sound?Soundstage & compared to other hifi amps?Specifications of amp?
 
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miroflex said:
Hi,

What is the definite position on the phono input? Is it there? If not, will it be added or not? Which are the other inputs? What are the prices of the pre and power amps likely to be?

Regards.
Click to expand...

Pls read my post no.15 in this thread for your answers :)
 
rikhav said:
Hi Denom
Since you were at Hammersmith you should have also auditioned the Genelacs.
If possible do it next time when you are there
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Hi rikhav,

have been to Hammersimth soo many times but never could bring myself to pay Pandam Audio a visit that too their premises is diagonally opp Mr. Bajaj's :rolleyes:
Go figure :cool:

Maybe if someone accompanies me next time;)
 
vivek.saikia said:
The pre and power should have been made similar cosmetically atleast.:sad:

The remote is an epitome of ugliness :eek:hyeah:

But really appreciate the spirit of Mr Bajaj.
Click to expand...

See my post no.7 pls!

Yes Mr. Bajaj nearing 80 & still going strong!!! May the force be with him forever!:clapping:

He truly is hugely inspirational for me:)
 
spirovious said:
How exactly is the sound?Soundstage & compared to other hifi amps?Specifications of amp?
Click to expand...

Spiro, am multitasking sitting at work staring at me - answering during lunch break - give me some time, will try to put forward a decent review for sure.
 
This does sound interesting to say the least :). Unfortunately, not able to see them images :mad:

Looking forward to more detailed impressions.

Cheers
 
Music played was as much as possible run of the mill (nothing extra heavy or metal influenced except for the last one :D) to give you all a fairer idea & also for not being kicked out by Mr. Bajaj:p
Tracks heard during the demo were as follows:-

Alan Parsons Project The Raven - YouTube
The Alan Parsons Project- I Robot - YouTube
No Doubt - Hella Good - YouTube
No Doubt - Hey Baby - YouTube
Woman - Wolfmother - YouTube
Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby - YouTube
Keane - A Bad Dream - YouTube
Dashboard Confessional - Stolen - YouTube
Supergrass - Going Out - YouTube
Rob Halford - Resurrection - YouTube

Couple of things to be cleared here before I write about my impressions:
The demo room of Mr. Bajaj is really a very bad one, with lots of faults with respect to reflections, bass booms, glass partition vibrations + no ventilation & cooling for yourself - so one literally sweats it out whilst listening to the music. Also the seating is bare basic & either you sit on the rickety chair, on the floor or stand it out in case some others have also come for a demo:mad:

Knowing the source (The Good Old Philips 930 CDP) I had to take CDs with me else I would have not been able to hear my music & Mr. Bajaj would have given me a tongue lashing for carrying mp3s :lol: as he does not entertain people carrying mp3s & has even stopped keeping a mp3 player for that reason.
Initial impressions were a disappointment as the music sounded very mellow, laidback & neutral. I was waiting for it to grow on me but somehow got the impression that it wont. Having heard the 2000 mosfet, felt it was sounding very similar to it. Maybe people who listen to classical/jazz/ghazals would appreciate that kind of sound, but definitely not for a person listening to hard rock/metal :cool:
Then decided to play around with the bass & treble knobs of the pre & wow its a different beast:licklips: Suddenly the sound delivery changed for the better, like it was alive. The musicians were suddenly given a shot of adrenaline or they were high on narcotics:D. I was now liking the way the tracks were sounding & continued to play around to see whether I could improve the sound further or not. Realised a couple of things in the bargain:

Bass knob pointed on nos. 7&8 on the dial & treble knob pointing towards again 7&8 made the best sound & I now was happy :p
The Volume knob pointed between 3&4 on the dial was more than loud & Mr. Bajaj kept coming & tapping me on the shoulder, gesticulating at me to lower the volume :D as I would be lost in the tracks being played ;) & also the fact that some others had come over for a demo (read about them in my earlier post)
As for the details of the amp, Mr. Bajaj only informed me that the power amp was rated at 125 W / channel @ 4 ohms & that he has used a better set of caps & such for the pre/pro amps than what he uses currently for the existing line up.
I could hear all the finer nuances in the tracks being played, channel separation & detailing was clear & well defined. I was happy with whatever I heard post tweaking the bass & treble knobs as indicated above. So in a nutshell the pre-pro amps have a jekyl & hyde personality. They can be tweaked to your liking which is so very important for each one of us has their likes/dislikes & am sure most of the people listening to the combo will like their performance & sound output.
Now comes some more interesting news from Mr. Bajaj
1)He has already got plans for adding a 200 W/channel @ 4 ohms power amp
2)Tube Amps also in the pipe line, the details he did not reveal but he confirmed that they purely will be valve based no hybrids!

So some interesting times & products await us in the near future from Norge!
Lets hope we get to hear them ASAP :)
 
denom said:
Then decided to play around with the bass & treble knobs of the pre & wow its a different beast:licklips: Suddenly the sound delivery changed for the better, like it was alive. The musicians were suddenly given a shot of adrenaline or they were high on narcotics:D. I was now liking the way the tracks were sounding & continued to play around to see whether I could improve the sound further or not.
Click to expand...

I hope I'm not going to much of topic. Personally I've got a rather passionate distaste for bass, treble and balance pots. Their only use is to ease the listening experience of either a very bad source (bad recordings or bad media like mp3 or other compressed material) or just plain, bad components. In fact they greatly reduce sound quality.

I will give you an example: About 15 years ago I had a huge Onkyo integrated amplifier. 150w in 8 ohm and about 18kg. I can't rememer the model number at the moment. This was in my hifi "awakening" period and I had just moved on from Cerwin Vega and Pioneer amps to the Onkyo and some Snell type D speakers. In the beginning I missed the earth shaking bass of the Cerwins (and throttled the bass pot acordingly). But slowly I started appreciate the qualities of my new equipment. To my surprise I found a great difference from having all pots in neutral and pressing 'Source Direct' (the equivalent of the Norge amps 'Tone Defeat'). It was literally like lifting a thick blanket away from the speakers. Suddenly the sound was more defined, open, dynamic and more "three dimensional".

The morale, as I see it, is keep the signal path as short as possible. Everything you add to the signal path only degrade the signal and move you away from what you want to achieve. High Fidelity.
 
Morten said:
I hope I'm not going to much of topic. Personally I've got a rather passionate distaste for bass, treble and balance pots. Their only use is to ease the listening experience of either a very bad source (bad recordings or bad media like mp3 or other compressed material) or just plain, bad components. In fact they greatly reduce sound quality.

I will give you an example: About 15 years ago I had a huge Onkyo integrated amplifier. 150w in 8 ohm and about 18kg. I can't rememer the model number at the moment. This was in my hifi "awakening" period and I had just moved on from Cerwin Vega and Pioneer amps to the Onkyo and some Snell type D speakers. In the beginning I missed the earth shaking bass of the Cerwins (and throttled the bass pot acordingly). But slowly I started appreciate the qualities of my new equipment. To my surprise I found a great difference from having all pots in neutral and pressing 'Source Direct' (the equivalent of the Norge amps 'Tone Defeat'). It was literally like lifting a thick blanket away from the speakers. Suddenly the sound was more defined, open, dynamic and more "three dimensional".

The morale, as I see it, is keep the signal path as short as possible. Everything you add to the signal path only degrade the signal and move you away from what you want to achieve. High Fidelity.
Click to expand...

I agree with you Morten, but in this case, it made the music I was listening to alive or lets say I liked it better after playing with the settings, hence my observation of the same.

Yes, I have also mentioned to Mr. Bajaj about getting rid of the bass/treble/balance pots on his amps altogether to which he said that for every 1 like me there will be another who wants these present in their amps. He makes some amps sans these pots but they are only for his close friends so he said.
 
Morten said:
I hope I'm not going to much of topic. Personally I've got a rather passionate distaste for bass, treble and balance pots. Their only use is to ease the listening experience of either a very bad source In fact they greatly reduce sound quality.
.
Click to expand...

Hey no hard feeling BUT
Sorry my friend they are not only there to compensate for bad recording but also to suite your taste. Each individual likes to hear either more bass, high, mid or maybe neutral sound. Those tone control are there for you. However good the recording maybe but sometime you like to hear what you like. My Friend likes more musical and bright sound he bought the Marantz. I like more bass I went for the Nad but my Techincs had more tighter bass the Nad quality is very nice but I am not used to having the mids so clear. I like the drums and the bass locked if feels correct to me. So end results different Amps sound diffrent as taste may differ. What may be tone defeat good recording to you may not be the same for someone else.

Differences in speakers, Amps and room acoustics make it nearly impossible to produce a recording that will sound the same everywhere it is played. Thankfully, Tone controls and equalizers allow us to fine-tune playback according to our environment and personal taste. Correctly configuring your home stereo's Tone Control or equalizer is an essential step in getting the most out of your music collection.


Tone control is good. :licklips:
 
MAYHEM_METAL said:
Hey no hard feeling BUT
Sorry my friend they are not only there to compensate for bad recording but also to suite your taste. Each individual likes to hear either more bass, high, mid or maybe neutral sound. Those tone control are there for you. However good the recording maybe but sometime you like to hear what you like. My Friend likes more musical and bright sound he bought the Marantz. I like more bass I went for the Nad but my Techincs had more tighter bass the Nad quality is very nice but I am not used to having the mids so clear. I like the drums and the bass locked if feels correct to me. So end results different Amps sound diffrent as taste may differ. What may be tone defeat good recording to you may not be the same for someone else.

Differences in speakers, Amps and room acoustics make it nearly impossible to produce a recording that will sound the same everywhere it is played. Thankfully, Tone controls and equalizers allow us to fine-tune playback according to our environment and personal taste. Correctly configuring your home stereo's Tone Control or equalizer is an essential step in getting the most out of your music collection.


Tone control is good. :licklips:
Click to expand...

Sorry if I was a bit categorical in my statement. Just airing my personal opinion really :eek: As my current amp I have chosen an amp with only source select and volume. That said, it's acclaimed more for its musical abilities than for its clinical and analytic abilities and hence suites my preferences.

Preferences are highly subjective and not adhering to standards.

Now, let's get back to discussing the Norge products ;)
 
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