you must here these . i have 2 systems in my home . my first one is a nakamichi system with matin logan speakers, its ok not for rock/metal. i use north creek more more .

none

well its like 7 months now i have the speaker .. its really a kick ass speaker . i have tried a few differnt amps. i'am using a proceed 2 by wired. i have a a real real good friend . i went to his home the other day . i went there to pick up a nakamiche pre amp and a cd player. so he aske me to listen to the new speakers he just bought , there were a great BW speaker. I did not have the heart to tell hime i did not like them . i know for a fact i would of started a fight if i told him the north creek sounded better , they do!!! I been in to stereo since i was 13 ,, i allways had the best i can afford . when i was 13 i had a pair of KLH that cost bout 400 bucks. for a kid from the city both parents bust there ass for a check. i did ok . i had a ear for good sound . i been told by a lot of people . also people that sell and fix hi end audio. get these kits . i would love to here the better speaker kist Chris NY city

Similar Products Used:

polk . enegry . klepish .BW .canton .warfdale . mission

For one was the price for the sound you get. Also the people at north creek!!

None yet

I just finished North Creek Music Systems Borealis speakers. I have not even fully broke them in yet . I have about 20 hours on them. And i agree with all of the post on the sound, I like to buy new stuff every few months. But since 911 here in NY work is kind of hard to find. i wanted a new pair of speakers since a friend gave me a proceed amp. And since there was not much money to spend . i wanted to try a kit cause the price was rite and i was ok with wood. i heard a lot of good things about north creek. The sound That they have is relly clean. It is so amazing. I cant wait till the really break in . The people at north creek were also cool .I just don't understand how to tune them with the straws. if someone can help?

Similar Products Used:

polk Mission kef klipsh energy

price/performance ratio optimal. In my opinion absolute the best musical soundstage and imaging. Incredible fine and heavy dynamics with most accurate frequency response.

none

I use the finished Borealis Unlimited Kit with a CD-Player and a Bi-Amping Stage from Cambridge Audio (D500/A500/P500). I spent lot of time experimenting with other amps and CD-Players, but right now for me this combo together with the Borealis delivers the ultimate musical experience. The Borealis are the kind of speakers that make me forget that I am listening to my home stereo- they make make me a part of the musical performance. To achieve this, they had to be placed on stands away from the room walls,slightly toed into the listening position. All this is described in the manual. They benefit from good stands (I use selfmade sandfilled ones). Coupling to the stand is made by fat spikes that are glued into the stand; to the floor by Sicomin anti-spikes from Audioplan. This added an extra portion of punch in the low and mid bass, as well as the body of the instruments is defined much better when the Borealis speakers are mechanically grounded that way. On Santanas Album "Supernatural" I can now feel how Carlos' guitar sings and breathes. The whole soul and body of the instrument is present in the middle of the room. Dynamic contrasts are simply incredible. From the slightest touch of an acoustic passage to the guitar solo that nearly blows the windows- everything is possible. Mark Knopfler on "Golden Heart" just sitting right in front of me with his remarkable low voice. Buena Vista Social Club is so frightening realistic- think I am just in front of the microphones in the recording room with Ruben, Ibrahim, Compay and the others next to me! Never thought Suzanne Vega could be so close. Savatage's "Poets and Madmen" take my amps to the limits- but the Borealis stay cool, precise and natural, even if the air around them seems to explode when all the drums and heavy amplified guitar stacks are crashing through them. Not to mention the piano sections of this CD: they are reproduced so natural, I think the instrument is placed right in my living room. The fine thing is: The Borealis can reproduce acoustic, classic, rock, blues or any kind of music with the same incredible precision,accuracy, fine and heavy dynamics and above all emotion. While performing, the Borealis have the unique ability to make the image of the music and its depth extend far beyond the listening room. As mentioned above, the listener becomes a part of the musical event. These s

Good sound that''s not silly-expensive. Included speaker cabinet booklet gives useful tips which can be applied to any other speakers you might care to buy or modify.

If you add stands, they take up the same amount of floor space as North Creek''s Rhythm, and the Rhythm is a more efficient speaker. Assembly instructions glossed over the importance of the Dacron cabinet stuffing and how NOT to install it. Not particularly efficient: I''m doing great with a 7 watt amp in a small room, but if I find larger quarters..?

I mostly agree with Edward M. (see below) regarding the Okara''s sonics, but note that there is a significant break-in time involved, and a newly completed set of Okaras can sound lean and dry: Rest assured that they are neither when they''ve been run-in for a few weeks. Soon after purchasing the Okara kits, I got to hear my first single-ended triode amplifier and horn speakers (Art Audio PX25/Avantgarde Duo @ $5K and $14K respectively) and was blown away by the lively, dynamic sound: Almost enough to make a person forget about buying more hardware and spend the rest of his time buying LPs and CDs! That stuff you read about in Listener Magazine about even noisy old mono recordings really coming alive on a good system? It''s true, I''ve heard it really happening with the PX25/Avantgarde combo. And that discovery bothered me because the PX25 puts out just 5 precious watts, and the Avantgardes are efficient enough to really fill a room with it. But the Okara II''s are North Creek''s least efficient speaker, and 30 watts is the smallest recommended amp size, so what to do? Fortunately, I had a 15 watt solid state Advent 300 receiver onhand for experimentation and my listening space measures just 10'' x 11'', so I didn''t have a lot of space to fill. Initial tests were promising: In my small room, I had no sense that the little amplifier was running out of steam when driving the Okaras: Far from it! Classical, jazz, reggae, hip hop, heavy metal--the Okaras seemed to take them all in stride on just 15 watts, and delivered surprisingly wicked bass when called upon to do so. But as nice as the Advent/Okara combo turned out, I still wanted to try a single ended triode (SET)amp. Fortunately, a friend had just completed a homebrewed 7 watt SET amp built around Electra-Print iron, and I was able to get an extended loan: How do the Okaras get along with such a small amp? To make a long story short, they kick butt! I''m so pleased that I''ve got a set of Welborne Labs Laurel 8 watt SETs on order for myself. No, the Okaras do not equal the Avantgardes, but when I come back home to the Okaras, I don''t feel bummed, and that''s saying a bunch.

Similar Products Used:

Spica, Magneplanar, etc.

Soundstage, Imaging

Too accurate, you get out what you put in

Let me start by saying I have been auditioning several Class A&B speakers and was getting frustrated by both pricing and sound quality. I have built speakers in the past and never had much luck on sound quality. Something was always missing, I always used good drivers but thought either the phasing and levels were never right. After modifying my Klipsh crossovers with better components it opened my eyes and interested me in building a speaker. After some research I stumbled upon Northcreekmusic.com and knew this was what I was looking for. They also offer a cabinet custom built for those not handy with wood. The Borealis uses the same drivers as the Proacs only less than 10% of the cost. After about 50hrs in the garage two words- kick butt, better than expected. I was truly impressed by these speakers. I really didnt think the smaller drivers would be that dynamic...wrong!! Well it kind of helped using a ML No23 to push these babies. I used a cheap Carver CD w/ variable out into the Levinson at first. These speakers are damn near flat, they beat the older Magnepan, Acoustat for imaging hands down(my opinion). I believe there is a slight break-in period, so be patient. After several days breaking in I connected these to my home theater system in 2 channel mode using a Bryston4b, Rotel RCD971 highly modified, and a Velodyne sub. Wow, I was flabbergasted, like George states on his wesite "it becomes almost impossible to subjectively evaluate because one enjoys listening to the music too much, and realizes only after the goose bumps have subsided that the goose bump test was passed". I found myself listening to all my CD's again. Dont let the 7" driver fool you, it performs like a 12". Before you go out and spend over $1500 on B&W 805 or similar try these bad boys out you will not regret it.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch,Magnepan,Acoustat,Infinity,AR....

outstanding musical performance

none

I never thought such a pure, dynamic, natural open and living sound could ever be created by a speaker system. I also never thought it would be possible to reproduce such
a tremendous fine AND heavy dynamics range at very low, mid, AND very high volumes- its unbelievable.

I usually do not like to describe bass, mid and high separately, but I will try do so for those interested here. The point is the overall performance of the Borealis is so revealing that there are rarely words for this listening experience.

Bass is super dynamic, deeper than I ever expected from 7" Woofers, very crisp, very fast and natural sounding. I own an active subwoofer system, but since I built the Borealis I
use it only to give ultra poor recordings some extra kick. With good recordings, the bass produced by the Borealis is very powerful.

Lower and upper midrange and highs are extraordinary detailed, warm,natural, in no way agressive even when played very loud.

Image and soundstage of the music from the Borealis is fully three-dimensional.

When placed correctly, best on small 12"-14" stands, the image has a great extension into the listening room, so you can walk around the room enjoying your favourite music.

The crossovers and the cable setup are highly sophisticated designs, its a pity they are now built into the speakers, for they look impressive and consist of exclusively selected components. I built the Unlimited project with even greater coils and more capacitors.

I came to North Creek by looking for an exceptional speaker that was not too big and not too expensive. But the result of the finished Borealis Kit was far beyond my expectations.
I am highly pleased and recommend the Borealis to any serious music lover.

Sound, Price

None

See my review of my Rhythm Unlimited for detailed info of other NCMS products.

I use the Borealis Values for Surrounds. I have connected them as mains just to see how they sound. . . GREAT!!!! If you can build cabinets, for $700 these are great speakers!!!

My mom owns Polk RT-55i's. They have dual 6.5" drivers and a tweeter. We played my Borealis in place of the Polk's (just hooked to a 100 watt/ch receiver), and the Borealis was the hand's down better speaker. Clarity, loudness, bass response. . .EVERYTHING about them was better than the Polks. Not to down Polk audio, just the only thing in the $700 price range a can say I have directly compared them to. . . .

I forgot to say in my Rhythm review, I use a Sony ES preamp, and a Rotel RMB-1095 to drive these speakers. These speaker sound great for Hometheater or Music. I use an audiophile 2496 card in a HTPC for movies, and a pretty basic Sony CD player for music. CD player will be my next upgrade!!!

Brian

Tight, tight, and very fast,well controlled bass and incredibly detailed highs. Not bright but perfect.
Smooth, silky mid range and highs. Never harsh or brittle

You have to built them!

I recently added a dedicated music listening room and purchased some new speakers but due to a foul up in shipping they were lost so I was stuck for something to listen on. To make a long story short I had these Okara II I built doing duty as surrounds for my video setup so I moved them into the room until something else came along.

To my vast surprise, they sounded wonderful! The new room is 10 X 10 and the Okara's fill it to capacity. Since these are only 5" woofers, you can't expect 20hz performance but they do quite well, in fact amazingly well. I believe they finally broke it some hours ago and deliver tight, fast, dynamic low range; probably down around 40hz or so.

The Scan Speak tweeters are well known, but have to be the best soft domes out there. The detail, transparency, and imaging is just out of this world.

I knew these were good when I just sat for hours, listening to one CD after another, not wanting to get up. Strings, piano, vocals- they do it all. As I had just returned from CES 2002, I am pretty familar with what's out there and North Creek should be exhibiting. These Okaras' would easily beat a good deal of what was at the show.

I experimented with many different placements while my son and I listened. Everything snapped into place when I placed them close to the side and back walls and then toed them in slowly until they were aimed directly at the center of the listening position. Wow! 3D imaging and room filling music floating across the front.

I am liking these so much I think I'm going to forget about getting anything else

For reference I am using the following equipment:
Bryston 4B-ST
Muse 3 PreAmp
Muse 296 DAC
Pioneer PD-59 CD player
Synergistic Research Cables

Similar Products Used:

Energy, Infinity, JBL, Meadowlark, Alon

Simply an incredible speaker. Can't believe the lack of reviews here.
I built the "Borealis Value Project" at $595. Best $600 I've ever spent. Can't imagine ever needing better speakers.

The cabinet isn't unnecessarily complicated, but is slow building for a perfectionist. I built the crossover into the stand, simply out of personal preference.

These are without doubt the strongest part of my system, so I have no idea as to their limitations. Bass extension never ceases to amaze me. I've never heard anything so neutral. I regularly hear things I haven't heard before in music I've listened to for years. Dire straits and The Dave Matthews Band seem to be camped out in my living room. Vocals from the Jewel to Tom Waits are absolutely perfect.

For less than $700 and a couple weeks of afternoons I how have a truly reference set of speakers. The best commercially available speakers I've spent any time with were a set of Snell E.5's. A beautiful speaker, no doubt, but the bass was a little dull, maybe muddy, and the highs were too bright.

Hope this helps someone, even if it's a little thin. I simply can't give the Borealis enough praise.

Kevin E Lee

Darn near everything

none within design parameters

Simply incredible. George Short (the designer) has worked for some big names (Acoustic Research) and has an extremely broad background in loudspeaker design and therefore, I felt, would have designed something well worth the asking price. Well, I thought the speaker would be good, but as it turns out, the borealis is outstanding. One would have to spend at least 7 - 8 times as much to find something that betters the borealis. Detail, air, soundstage, transient attack, rhythm, and even bass, eclipse most commercial designs. As long as the one possesses relatively good wood working skills, accurate tools, and I must add, a great deal of patience, this kit rewards the builder with a speaker that does a whole lot more than any sane person would expect for the money. I include patience on the list of 'must haves' due to the fact that the cabinet must be built to rather close tolerances for everything to fit together perfectly and for all joints to be tight. The cabinet consists of a shell of 19mm MDF with 4 horizontal baces of baltic birch low void plywood running the full length of the cabinet, plus a facia of 38mm MDF attached to the shell, resulting in an extremely massive and inert cabinet. This design is lightyears beyond what the majority of the industry considers adequate.

The only thing the Borealis does not do is ultra low infra-bass, so all of you SPL freaks that wish for nothing other than bass-to-cause-structural-damage-by will be unimpressed. However, the bass that this speaker does produce is tight, clean and aggressive down to the mid to high thirties in my large room. It is impressive.


So there you have it, if you are interested in new speakers and have a table saw, a jig saw, a few clamps and a pile of spare time, look seriously at the kits from North Creek. HIGHLY reccommended!

Similar Products Used:

Mordaunt Short, B&W, Naim, Paradigm, Energy,