Heimdall, the son of Odin and nine sister giantesses, is known as the warden of the gods. He is often depicted on horseback at the edge of heaven with his sword and trumpet in hand, guarding the rainbow bridge that connects the human world with Asgard. In order to help Heimdall in his watch, the gods heightened his senses so that he can hear the grass grow on a hillside and see a 100 league distance in both day and night.
Monthly Archives: November 2014
Questions and Answers (November 2014)
Our product specialists receive questions on a daily basis about Nordost products, their application, and hifi in general. We thought that we would take a minute to share some of our most recent and frequently asked questions here so that everyone can get the answers they are looking for!
Is it safe to run my Nordost speaker cables under carpets?
Nordost’s loudspeaker cables are made with extruded FEP, and as a result they are extremely durable. They were designed with installation in mind. Not only will you have no problem running your cables under carpets and rugs, but they can also be folded or bent to get around corners without delaminating or damaging the insulation
I have read several reviews in different magazines about your Sort Kones. I have read enough positive reports to believe that they work well, but I would like to understand HOW they work.
Sort Kones work like diodes by channeling mechanical energy to ground. The ball bearing within the device acts like any sphere would, moving energy away from the upper pivot point. This energy is then moved down into the lower plate, where the ball bearing makes contact, where it is then dispersed.
I have recently purchased a new pair of Nordost speaker cables, and I have heard that the more they are used, the better they will sound. How long will it take for my new speaker cables to sound their best?
Yes, what you have heard is true, cables do sound better after extended use. It is a process that we like to call “burn-in”. The very best way to burn-in a set of cables is to have them burned-in by your Nordost dealer on the VIDAR burn-in machine for about 100hrs. They will burn-in on your system over time, but the VIDAR really makes a huge difference. The VIDAR is designed to put a very wide band signal of varying amplitude through the cables connected to it. In the normal course of use, cables such as tonearm and analog interconnects never get a high level of signal. This means it can take a long time for them to burn-in fully. The VIDAR speeds up this process by the combination of frequencies it puts through the cables. The results from the VIDAR will always be better than any other burn-in method used.
I would like to buy some short runs of cabling, but before I make my purchase, are there any minimum cable lengths that Nordost recommends using?
Nordost cables can run over longer distances with less signal loss than those of other brands due to the use of extruded FEP insulation and Micro Mono-Filament technology. However, on the other end of the spectrum, the shortest lengths of Nordost cables that we recommend for optimum performance are as follows:
Power Cords – 2 meters
Analog Interconnects – 1 meter
Digital Interconnects – 1.5 meters
Tonearm Cables – 1.25 meters
Loudspeaker Cables – 2 meters
Nordost Playlist – November 2014
Nordost is lucky to have a wonderful team of representatives and product trainers who travel around the world educating and demonstrating the effects of Nordost’s products. As part of these demonstrations, it is our job to find an interesting and diverse selection of music to showcase our cables, power devices, sort system and accessories. Whether at shows, visiting our dealers and distributors or even in our own listening room in our headquarters in Holliston, we are constantly getting asked what music we are playing (or if our audience is not so bold to ask, we can see their Shazams working overtime). So we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to share our favorite songs of the moment. Some may be classics, some may be brand new, some may not even be to your taste, but one thing is for sure …it’s all great music.
Here are some of the songs that we will have on rotation this November.
- Bag Lady—Erykah Badu—Mama’s Gun
- Dream a Little Dream—Pink Martini, The Von Trapps—Dream a Little Dream
- Ya Rayah—Rachid Taha—Cheba Louisa
- Stay Closer—Zhu—THE NIGHT DAY
- Czardas Variation for Gypsy Guitar—Andrei Krylov—Gypsy Jazz Café Music for Guitar and Violin Traditional and Folk Russian Tzigane Songs
- Freight Train—Sara Jackson-Holman—Cardiology
- Jubilee Street—Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds—Push the Sky Away
- Ponderosa—Tricky—Maxinquaye
- In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning—Frank Sinatra—Sinatra: Best Of The Best
- Beggin For Thread—Banks—Goddess (Deluxe)
TAVES 2014 Recap
Nordost has completed another successful show at TAVES. This year was a special treat since we had the opportunity to reconnect with so many old industry friends and customers, as well as see a whole bunch of new faces!
It is always great to see how much support Nordost has and the Canadian market is no exception. It was hard to enter a room with seeing (and hearing) our cables! For those of you who missed out on the event, here are a few of our pictures from TAVES.