Introducing the QK1!

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The QKOIL is a load resonating coil (LRC) which generates a passive electronic field that provides a vital solution to the issues of AC quality in audio/video performance. The QK1 uses Nordost’s proprietary Micro Mono-Filament technology in a loading application to prevent time delay and distortion of the transmitted signal, making the AC current as close as possible to the desired “distortionless condition”. In addtion to improving the overtones and pacing of music, the QKOIL opens up midrange frequencies and improves the attack of transient details in the music. Visually, the QK1 increases clarity of imaging by adding depth and focus.

The QK1 is housed in a mechanically tuned carbon-fiber body and equipped with either a US (NEMA) or EU (Schuko) connector. It is compatible with voltages from 110V to 240V, and can be used with an AUS or UK adaptor if required. The QKOIL is now available at select Nordost dealers, worldwide. To find the Nordost dealer nearest you, visit the “Where to Buy” page on www.nordost.com.

Like all QRT products, the benefits are cumulative and the QK1s are even more impressive when applied collectively. It can be used as a “stand alone” product or to complement a full QRT system with a QBASE, QX2, QX4 and especially the QV2. Plug the QKOIL into any spare socket on your system’s AC line and experience first-hand the surprising yet indisputable effect it will have on your A/V components.

QKOIL: QK1

 

Origin of the name: TYR

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Origin-of-the-name-tyr

Tyr, the bravest of all gods, is called the ancient god of war and is the lawgiver of the gods. Men ready for war invoke Tyr since he has power over victory in battle. In fact, due to his courage, tenacity and knowledge, the people who share these attributes are known as “Tyr-wise” and “Tyr-valiant”. In a display of his fearlessness, Tyr offered to stick his hand in the mouth of the great wolf, Fenrir, in order to show the wolf that the gods would set him free. When Fenrir saw he would never be set loose, he bit off Tyr’s hand. This is why Tyr is usually depicted as a one-handed god.

Tyr 2 Loudspeaker Cable

Tyr 2 Interconnect

 

 

 

Nordost Playlist – April 2014

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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 April.

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  1. Swing Low – Bobby McFerrin, Esperanza Spalding – spirityouall
  2. Chegada — Naná Vasconcelos — Chegada
  3. Dream On — Depeche Mode — Exciter
  4. human — Christina Perri — human
  5. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg-Prelude — Iván Fischer, Budapest Festival Orchestra — Wagner
  6. Digital Witness — St. Vincent — Self titled
  7. Loved Me Back to Life — Céline Dion — Loved Me Back to Life
  8. Bonnie and Clyde — Brigitte Bardot, Serge Gainsbourg — Initials BB
  9. Nightcall — London Grammar — If You Wait
  10. 3 Intermezzos, Op.117:No. 1 in E-Flat Major — Johannes Brahms, Géza Anda — Géza Anda plays Bartók & Tchaikovsky

What songs have made it onto your playlist this month?

Nordost is going to AXPONA!

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Nordost is excited to be showing at AXPONA in Chicago next month, April 25-27.  This should prove to be an excellent event.  Nordost will be well represented by various local dealers.  AXPONA is a great opportunity to hear a variety of Nordost products including full looms of our Supreme Reference and Reference ranges, Odin and Valhalla 2.  Stay tuned to Nordost’s Facebook page for more information as the show day approaches.  We hope to see you there!

axpona chicago

 

Three Ways to Address Vibration Control

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resonance control blog

Vibration is both a blessing and a curse in the high-end audio world. While vibration is the main reason we can enjoy this hobby of ours (it is, after all, through vibrations that we can hear!), it is also one of the most notorious culprits of sound degradation. Adverse effects of vibration on an audio system include confusion of imagery, timing errors and musical distortion. There are three increasingly popular methods of dealing with harmful vibrations: isolation, coupling, and resonance control. 

Isolation devices are de-coupling devices, meaning that their objective is to separate (or isolate) the component from its surface. When employing a de-coupling device, one must assume that all of the harmful vibrations are coming from the outside. These products absorb external energy before it can get into the product.

Coupling devices, on the other hand, merge the component to the surface it rests on. If you are using a coupling device, you adhere to the belief that the most powerful and damaging vibrations that occur are generated from the components themselves, which vibrate as they operate.

Resonance control addresses both the internal and external vibration at the same time. Resonance control devices act as a mechanical diode—allowing a one-way escape route for the extraneous energy produced from electronics. The construction of resonance control devices, like Nordost’s Sort Kone and Sort Füt, simultaneously prevents any external vibrations from traveling back into the component being protected.

Once the vibrations are eliminated from your audio components (amps, DACs, CD players, loudspeakers, etc), a whole new layer of tonal and textural details will be unveiled to you, as well as a transformed soundstage.  

For more information on vibration control, including purchase-free tips on how to reduce harmful vibrations from your own home system, see our NEW download: The Importance of Vibration Control.

Origin of the name: ODIN

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Origin of the name Odin

In Norse mythology, Odin is recognized as the father of all gods and the creator of heaven, earth and everything in between. He is the god of magic, wisdom, wit, learning and war. As the overseer of nine worlds, Odin sits on his throne in Valhalla and awaits the news received from his two ravens, Huginn (thought) and Munin (Memory), who are sent to all corners of the worlds each day to bring back what they see to their master. In pursuit of knowledge, Odin has gone hungry and has even sacrificed an eye for a drink from the well of wisdom.

What could be a more fitting name for our top tier cable range than the father of all gods: Odin

 

 

Introducing the brand new Heimdall 2 USB 2.0 Data Cable!

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lg-heimdall-USB_blogAs the use of music servers, hard-drive stored music and high-resolution audio downloading grows increasingly popular, and in some cases becomes the standard choice, it is critical to use a high quality USB cable that can meet the demands of music fidelity. Improving upon Nordost’s Blue Heaven USB 2.0, the new Heimdall 2 USB 2.0 is the high-end digital cable that will deliver ones and zeroes with the efficiency and diligence necessary to maintain the correct impedance to dramatically lift your hifi system to a whole new level of performance.

Thanks to the experience acquired in the fabrication of successful products such as the Blue Heaven HDMI and USB 2.0 cables, Nordost can now further refine digital leads through its most current, proprietary technology. The Heimdall 2 USB 2.0 is constructed from 4×20 AWG stranded, silver-plated 99.99999% OFC conductors, arranged in a precise, twisted double helix in order to ensure character impedance, reduce noise and minimize cross-talk contamination. In order to increase dielectric, the conductors are suspended in Nordost’s proprietary FEP Dual Mono-Filament, which is newly optimized to increase flexibility and mechanical dampening.  Add a dual layer silver foil jacket and silver braided shield and the Heimdall 2’s extreme data transmission speeds surpass the USB 2.0 standards.

To further up the ante, the new Heimdall 2 USB 2.0 is now implementing mechanically tuned lengths. This technique, used in Nordost’s Odin, Norse 2 and Valhalla 2 ranges, reduces internal microphonics and high-frequency impedance resonance, which ultimately allows you to enjoy the dynamics, coherence and balance of live music played in the comfort of your own listening room.

Heimdall 2 usb_2

Steve Dickinson Reviews Heimdall 2 in Hi-Fi+ Magazine

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If you haven’t checked it out yet, you should take a moment to read Steve Dickinson’s review, Nordost Norse cables: Heimdall 2, which was published in the December 2013 edition of Hi-Fi + magazine.  Reviews like this are a great way to stay informed and they give you a firsthand account of premium products, like our cables. In this piece, Steve takes a look at our Heimdall 2 range in comparison to the first generation of the Norse family, which is impressive in its own right. We are happy that Mr. Dickenson appreciates the improvements that we have made with our Norse 2 cables.

 

The Heimdall gives a strong sense of scale and authority, but without adding the sort of mass and inertia which drags a system down…The added sense of impetus brought by the Heimdall brings out the extra little kick from the in-between beats which separate a 2/2 from a 4/4 time signature. Tiny inflections are also better resolved, most obviously in vocals but also noticeable elsewhere. This means performances that are carefully weighed and nuanced can be more affectingly portrayed.

 

Steve’s full review is now available on the Nordost website under reviews. Or, to read now, click here

Speaker Placement in 5 Easy Steps:

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Implementing correct speaker placement could be one of the most beneficial changes one can make in an audio system. The slightest shift or rotation in your loudspeakers can completely transform your soundstage, for better or worse. And when even one centimeter could be responsible for transforming the sound system that you have invested so much in, the idea of tackling and perfecting speaker placement may seem daunting. Because speaker placement is heavily dependent on the room and loudspeaker being used, there are no precise rules. We have simplified the process into 5 easy steps here.  (For a more detailed walkthrough of this process, consult our Speaker Set-up Guide.)

1.  Come Prepared

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While this process of placing your speakers is simple, and even fun, it becomes infinitely more so when you are working with the right tools to get the job done. Besides the more obvious appliances that are specific to the particular loudspeaker you are working with, before starting your speaker placement make sure you have the following: masking tape, a felt tipped pen, tape measure and a level.

2.  Voice the Room

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As many of you already know, the positioning of your loudspeakers in relation to the wall can have a significant effect on the speakers’ performance. For example, speakers placed with a close proximity to the wall tend to register as “bass-heavy”. In order to find the best positioning for your listening room, you can use a technique called “voicing the room”. Essentially, this tests the acoustics of the space.

Standing with your back to the far wall behind your speakers, simply start speaking in a loud, even voice while taking small steps into the center of the room. Once you have found a spot in the room where your voice takes on a natural quality, mark it with your masking tape and continue to advance until your voice begins to lose that characteristic. Continue the same process, now starting at the side wall, and walk towards the center of your initial marks. Once finished, you should have a squared off area. You will place your speaker a third of the way into this area.

This should be repeated on the opposite side of the room for the second speaker.

3.  Get Centered

Once you have placed your speakers, it is now time to determine your “sweet spot”. In order to do this, imagine that your speakers and “sweet spot” make a triangle. You can use your tape measure to find the vertex where the legs extending from both speakers converge. As a starting point, your sweet spot is the same distance in front of your speakers as the distance between them.

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4.  Toe-in

When you “toe-in” your speakers, what you are really doing is angling them towards your sweet spot to truly shape your soundstage. There is no hard-fast rule for a proper toe-in since so much of the results depend on the speaker model and the room itself. What is sure, is that the adjustments you make should be made little by little and should be identical for each speaker. The difference in focus and tonal balance after toe-in is powerful.

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5.  Leveling

Make sure that both loudspeakers are leveled horizontally and vertically. This last step ensures that the tweeter, mid-range and woofers are vertically aligned so that the cone and tweeter disbursement is coming from the center vertical line. It also ensures that the driver assembly of your woofers has a firm base and can move with maximum efficiency.

To get more detailed information on other methods of speaker placement: