I have owned and enjoyed these speakers for about a year. Their purchase is the smartest thing I ever did with regards to enjoying music. I get lots of
detail, an easy laid back sound with a tight bass and I can listen to them for
hours without getting fatigued. I could not ask for more.

Besides the R8-1-30 the rest of my system is unremarkable (Denon receiver,
Teac CD, regular cables). I suspect that the R8-1-30 's have made my sound
decidedly high-end (however that is defined).

These speakers are easy to locate for optimum results, but they are unique
in their appearance. Personally I have grown to love the looks, considering
their other virtues. At their price (low for what you get) they
may be one of Hi-Fi's best kept secrets.
The only down-side is that your ears must be level with the ribbon tweeter in order to properly hear the music.

Check out all the Internet reviews for yourself.

I replaced my Totem Model 1,s with a pair of NR 630,s. The desighn is a 30 inch ribbon tweeter crossed over at about 1.5 khz, to a 6 1/2 in scanspeak mib/bass driver. On the upside; Excellent imaging,depth,space,etc(the usualsuspects). The tweeter has an almost ideal blend of detail and extension, but still manages to stay sweet and listenable(Something which over time I have come to realise is the achilles heel of the Model 1). Value for money is right up their with the very best. On the downside; The mid/bass driver and its box are not of the same quality as the ribbon tweeter. Integration of these different types of drivers, is not an easy thing and the desighn could use alittle work in this area.Can only be bought factory direct which usually precludes auditioning. Final thoughts. Caveats aside,this is a very, very good speaker.

I recieved a pair of R630(6 1/2" Scanspeak instead of the 8" Peerless) via UPS about a month ago. I'm really pleased with my purchase. Classical and Jazz music sounds really great. The ribbon driver provides exceptional clarity and detail. Vocals sound very realistic. I've noticed that they are very truthful speakers. The better the engineering job on the recording the better they sound. It's a lot more noticable than with my Boston Acoustic VR20's. I love'm and than look cool too! Give John a call and ask him all the questions you want. I was VERY impressed with the customer service.

The Newform R8--1-30 has some rather amazing qualities at its price point. The soundstaging and detail are the equal to many more expensive speakers. The R8-1-30 is very tolerant to rear wall placement (front firing port) but they need some space from the sidewalls to breathe (due to the of the extremely wide horizontal dispersion of the ribbon midrange-tweeter). There are several reviews available on the web (try www.sstage.com).
The drawbacks are the following:
Not the prettiest girl/boy at the dance.
If you two don't hit it off, cab fare home (Canada) ain't cheap.

If you have a chance to listen, by all means. And the designer (John Meyer) is one of the nicest men you'd ever want to chat with. I didn't keep the speakers, but only because my wife wanted a prettier boy. (I'm hanging by a thread)

Ribbon is fast,VERY detailed, without being bright or "zingy".

8" Peerless driver not in same league as the ribbon. To be fair, the woofer costs $80 while the ribbon costs $340!

The ribbon tweeter is simply awesome ! Wow! I spent hours listening to music again.
John Meyer at Newform has recently discontinued the R830. The new R630 addresses the R830's weakness - the woofer. With the 6.5" Scanspeak driver I'm sure the drivers integrate much better, albeit at a much higher price. While I just sold the speakers (believe me, I got over 20 emails from people when I had them on eBay ) I am going to make my own - I just bought another pair of 30" ribbons. If you like to hear your music walking around then you need the 45" ribbons. However, being Asian (5'6") and having a low couch the 30" worked fine for me.
I initially use my Musical Fidelity A1 amp (25W/side, Class A) with disappointing results. While a benign load to drive, the speakers simply needed more power. I had much better results using a B&K AVR-202 receiver (105 W/channel) and a Sumo Andromeda amp (200 W/side). Bass went down low, I'm guessing, to 30-35 Hz but could have been more controlled. The cabinet also seemed to be vibrating a fair bit too so I took the driver off to peek inside.
The cabinet is 3/4" particleboard with a bit of internal bracing. The crossover used an iron core inductor; the capacitors are just run-of-the mill ones.
So what I'll be building will be:
Tweeter: 30" newform ribbon, 1 Khz-20 Khz driven with th M-F A1
Midrange/Woofer: Scanspeak 15W/8530 5" ($380 for just the 2 raw drivers. Ouch! They better be good !)
Enclosures for Scanspeak 5" - Custom Spherical enclosures from Ultimate Speaker Co. (http://members.aol.com/Ultspeaker). Kris builds custom spheres(minimal diffraction) with ovoid interiors (minimal refraction)out of mult-layer composites. Should be good!
Subwoofer: haven't decided yet. Either Scanspeak 10", Avatar Shiva 12", or Hsu 12". North Creek is coming out with a 11" Mini-Leviathan in January. Unfortunately I do not the room or cash for their 18" Leviathan. Subwoofers to be in tubes a la Hsu (no flexing of walls except for ends). I'm also going to investigate using large flower planters : )
Electronic Crossover: probably from Marchand Electronics.
In Conclusion: I'f you're not a tinkerer buy the R630 645 or NHB. The 830 is great for what a paid for it. You'd be happy. (I emailed the new owner last week and yes - he's happy. His wife is also happy that he didn't get large Maggies instead).

Equipment Used:
B&K AVR-202
Sumo Andromeda
Musical Fidelity A1
Roksan Kandy CD
NAD 512 CD
Rega Planar 2 w/SME 3S
Home-Made cables w/WBT connectors & Kimber PBJ wire
NHT Superzeros w/mods descibed above.
Target R5 stands

Similar Products Used:

NHT Superzeros w/North Creek Crossovers & Bi-wired, ProAc Response 1's, PSB Silver i's

Ribbon is fast,VERY detailed, without being bright or "zingy".

8" Peerless driver not in same league as the ribbon. To be fair, the woofer costs $80 while the ribbon costs $340!

The ribbon tweeter is simply awesome ! Wow! I spent hours listening to music again.
John Meyer at Newform has recently discontinued the R830. The new R630 addresses the R830's weakness - the woofer. With the 6.5" Scanspeak driver I'm sure the drivers integrate much better, albeit at a much higher price. While I just sold the speakers (believe me, I got over 20 emails from people when I had them on eBay ) I am going to make my own - I just bought another pair of 30" ribbons. If you like to hear your music walking around then you need the 45" ribbons. However, being Asian (5'6") and having a low couch the 30" worked fine for me.
I initially use my Musical Fidelity A1 amp (25W/side, Class A) with disappointing results. While a benign load to drive, the speakers simply needed more power. I had much better results using a B&K AVR-202 receiver (105 W/channel) and a Sumo Andromeda amp (200 W/side). Bass went down low, I'm guessing, to 30-35 Hz but could have been more controlled. The cabinet also seemed to be vibrating a fair bit too so I took the driver off to peek inside.
The cabinet is 3/4" particleboard with a bit of internal bracing. The crossover used an iron core inductor; the capacitors are just run-of-the mill ones.
So what I'll be building will be:
Tweeter: 30" newform ribbon, 1 Khz-20 Khz driven with th M-F A1
Midrange/Woofer: Scanspeak 15W/8530 5" ($380 for just the 2 raw drivers. Ouch! They better be good !)
Enclosures for Scanspeak 5" - Custom Spherical enclosures from Ultimate Speaker Co. (http://members.aol.com/Ultspeaker). Kris builds custom spheres(minimal diffraction) with ovoid interiors (minimal refraction)out of mult-layer composites. Should be good!
Subwoofer: haven't decided yet. Either Scanspeak 10", Avatar Shiva 12", or Hsu 12". North Creek is coming out with a 11" Mini-Leviathan in January. Unfortunately I do not the room or cash for their 18" Leviathan. Subwoofers to be in tubes a la Hsu (no flexing of walls except for ends). I'm also going to investigate using large flower planters : )
Electronic Crossover: probably from Marchand Electronics.
In Conclusion: I'f you're not a tinkerer buy the R630 645 or NHB. The 830 is great for what a paid for it. You'd be happy. (I emailed the new owner last week and yes - he's happy. His wife is also happy that he didn't get large Maggies instead).

Equipment Used:
B&K AVR-202
Sumo Andromeda
Musical Fidelity A1
Roksan Kandy CD
NAD 512 CD
Rega Planar 2 w/SME 3S
Home-Made cables w/WBT connectors & Kimber PBJ wire
NHT Superzeros w/mods descibed above.
Target R5 stands

Similar Products Used:

NHT Superzeros w/North Creek Crossovers & Bi-wired, ProAc Response 1's, PSB Silver i's